Nutrition Part 1: Research Surrounding Vegan Benefits to Health

In Part One of the two-part series on science and health with T. Colin Campbell, PhD., Campbell discusses his findings on what science is actually saying about health and nutrition and the vegan benefits to health.  Dr. Campell is the author of The China Study, a Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and the Project Director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project.

Click here to read how Dennis McCuistion applied the principles of this episode in his vegetarian diet experiment.

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There is an obvious health problem in the United States.  While, American citizens spend more on health care than any other country, two-thirds of the country is overweight. Greater than 15 million Americans have diabetes, more than 1 million have high cholesterol and half of all Americans have a health problem that requires them to use a prescription drug.  Dr. Campbell sought to discover what, if any, are the changes that could be made to the American diet to better prevent disease. Partnering with Cornell, Oxford and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Dr. Campbell conducted his study.

The American diet consists of high quantities of protein. However, the findings of The China Study suggest that there are significant vegan benefits to health.  Disease increases when a person consumes more than 10% protein in comparison to his or her daily caloric intake. The average American has a protein consumption of 17-18%  and 70-75% of that is from animal foods. Through Campbell’s research, it became very clear that there is a direct relationship between animal protein intake and disease increase. The findings showed that as soon as animal protein started to show up in the diet, there was an increase in cholesterol, cancer and heart disease.

Dr. Campbell, closes his conversation noting that his intention in his message is not to push an opinion on listeners, but rather to provide information to the public that unfortunately has not been taught. His concern is that the information the public tends to receive is incorrect, therefore consumers cannot make educated choices on healthy diets.  The facts from his study clearly point toward strong vegan benefits to healthy living.

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04.12.09 – 1713