Kristine and I have made a lifestyle choice – eating a raw vegan diet. We are not employing a short term diet remedy but rather embracing a philosophy to take control of our health. We have not made this decision overnight or on a whim. Instead it’s the result of over a year’s worth of hardship and our ongoing motivation to learn more about all sides of the health debate.
I’ll be the first to admit my own skepticism. No matter how much I read on health and nutrition there are still a lot of gaps in the argument for this lifestyle leaving me with plenty of uncertainty. However, a good majority of what I continue to uncover supports our decision, or at least most of it. I am 95% convinced that moving to an organic vegan diet – that is, one comprised entirely of whole, plant-based foods and no diary products – is beneficial if not critical to our lifelong health. However, I am not as convinced (only about 50%) that one need go raw in order to get all the benefits. None-the-less I intend to do my best to support Kristine in this choice.
I have put this special blog entry together to summarize some of what I have learned that has driven me to go from meat lover to reluctant vegan. Like many of you I too was a defender of my own addiction to delicious salty pork, caffeinated beverages and processed foods (among other things) not too long ago. And please don’t think that Kristine and I are now evangelical ministers of veganism pushing our lifestyle onto others at every opportunity. We share our experiences and beliefs when and if people ask (and, of course, via the blog) but we certainly have no hidden motives to turn everyone we meet into a vegan. In fact, we’re not even that good at it ourselves so we would be huge hypocrites if we did. But we do hope to peak your curiosity to learn more for yourself and maybe even share something back with us.
One of the pivotal points for me was reading a book called The China Study. I read it after our Hippocrates experience. It really helped me to put more fact around the stuff they taught at the institute as I was still quite skeptical when I left. The book was written and published in 2006 by a Cornell research professor who spent his entire career studying the health effects of diet and nutrition. He is a recognized leader in pushing independent, evidence based policy through major government bodies. He provides evidence from a vast number of studies that support a whole food, plant based diet for good health. He also discusses the corruption that continues to stand in the way of people’s access to the truth about nutrition and health.
THE STATISTICS
The U.S. spends twice as much on health care as any other industrialized nation in the world ($6,100/person/year). Yet, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) we are ranked 46th in life expectancy and 42nd in infant mortality. The infant mortality rate in the U.S. is twice that of Japan’s and most other industrialized nations. In the last 100 years, mortality rates from cancer have risen from 3% of all deaths to over 20%; incidences of diabetes have gone from 0.1% of the population to 20%; and heart disease now kills over 700,000 people per year when a century ago it was almost non existent. Breast cancer incidence rates in the 1960s were about 1 in 20 women. In 2005 the rate was 1 in 3 women. Since the 1950’s incidences of colon cancer in males has increased 60%, testicular cancer 100%, adult brain cancer 80% and childhood cancers 20%. About 15% of U.S. children are obese with another 15% severely overweight. Obesity among all individuals doubled in just the last 25 years from 15% to 30%.
WHAT IS CAUSING THESE PATTERNS?
Of course, no one can nor probably ever will be able answer this question definitively. It is far too complex to draw causal links between any one thing and a specific disease. In fact most agree that it’s not one thing but a host of different factors acting together that are to blame. However, it’s also not likely a coincidence that we have seen such a rapid growth in the incidence of serious disease, especially in the last 50-60 years. In this time period synthetic chemicals have been developed and introduced for market consumption, processed foods and fast food have become a main staple in our western diet, and more recently genetically modified foods have been approved for use.
All of this has happened with little or no testing of the long term effects of any of these products on our health. In the 1940s about 1 billion new synthetic chemicals were introduced, in the ‘80s that number had grown to 500 billion. The fact is that we can’t keep up. To illustrate this, if just the most common 1000 chemicals were tested for compatibility in unique combinations of three, it would take 166 million different experiments to cover all possibilities. Of course, the actual problem is enormously larger given the number of chemicals we produce. Not to mention, this still only looks at initial chemical reactions, the long term effects of these combinations would be an impossible task to explore.
To compound the problem we have substituted refined and processed foods for whole foods, the kind that humans have been living on and have adapted to for thousands of years. Additionally, studies continue to show a link between the risk of many diseases and the consumption of animal products including dairy.
HOW IS A PLANT BASED DIET SUPPOSED TO HELP?
In The China Study the author goes into detail about the available research on diet and its link to disease. He makes a compelling argument that animal products (including dairy), while maybe not the cause of disease do act as a catalyst for many diseases to manifest. I have given a sample of some of these research findings below, but I encourage you to read the book if you’re at all interested as it will completely alter your perspective on how you view food.
- Perhaps one of the most fascinating studies cited is some of the authors own research work. His team was able to “turn on and off” tumor activity by increasing or decreasing the amount of animal protein that was administered to lab rats (his experiments have been subsequently reproduced). Lab rates were exposed to a toxic chemical known to cause cancer. Studies found that rats given levels of animal protein below 5% saw no incidence of tumor growth despite exposure to a highly carcinogenic substance. Of the rats feed 20% animal protein, however, 100% saw tumor growth. What was even more impressive was that when tumor cells had begun to take form and protein levels were reduced, tumor growth was also reduced. Effectively the team could turn the tumors on and off by changing the levels of protein given. This effect was not, however, true for plant proteins where tumor activity remained low no matter what level was given.
- A 2001 Harvard Review reported that 12 or 14 separate studies observed a positive association between dairy products and prostate cancer. Men with the highest intakes of dairy had approximation double the risk of prostate cancer as those with lower intakes and up to four times the likelihood of fatal prostate cancer.
- In studies out of the University of Oregon Medical School researchers found that they could reduce the progression of MS (Multiple Sclerosis) even in advanced cases by lowering saturated fat levels in patients’ diets (effectively reducing considerably the amount of meat and dairy they ate). In the study only 5% died within 3 years vs. 80% of those who ate higher saturated fat levels. Patents also had fewer symptoms under the diet.
- A report out of Yale University School of Medicine summarized 34 independent studies in 16 countries on the link between bone fractures and dairy intake. They found that over 70% of fracture rates were attributed to higher levels of dairy in ones diet. This is a staggering conclusion since it is commonly accepted in the medical community that fracture rates are an indicator of low bone density and osteoporosis. The researchers’ explanation for this was that animal protein, especially from milk, increases the body’s acidity level. Since our body prefers a pH neutral state it calls on chemicals to neutralize the acidity. The major player in neutralizing the acidity is calcium that is pulled from the bones. So just to be clear, this summary of several worldwide studies provides strong evidence that the milk that the dairy industry advertises as helping to build strong bones and doing the body good is actually weakening our bones and depleting our body of needed calcium. (By the way vegetables are a great source of calcium.)
- There is an incredible relationship between disease rates and protein intake when compared across other countries. For example, breast cancer rates are over 5 times higher in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. compared to Thailand, Japan and the Philippines all of which have a much lower consumption of animal fats and proteins. This strong correlation between consuming meat and dairy and diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes holds true in every case along a diagonal in a scatter plot diagram. What’s even more amazing is that it’s not in most cases (as is commonly argued) genetic. When researchers look at immigrant populations they find that people assume the same disease rates as the people where they have moved – Japanese in the U.S. take on the same high disease rates as native born Americans.
- In studies of Type 1 diabetics, individuals placed on a plant based, non dairy diet were able to lower their insulin medication by 40%. Additionally, a New England Journal of Medicine reported in 1992 that the introduction of cow’s milk to infants too soon after birth shows a strong link as a possible cause of Type 1 diabetes. Other studies have shown a similar link between cow’s milk and autoimmune disease (rheumatoid arthritis, MS, Lupus, etc.) The theory is that our bodies don’t have the ability to break down cow’s milk fully. The chemical product of digestion introduces many foreign proteins into our bloodstream that have an identical composition to our own body’s proteins. Our immune system attacks these foreign proteins but in some cases also attacks our own body in the form of joints (rheumatoid arthritis), the nervous system (MS) or the pancreas (Type 1 diabetes).
- Pediatrics Journal reported in 1997 that puberty in U.S. girls was occurring alarmingly earlier and concluded that this was linked to diet. They found that puberty was occurring at age 8 for 1 in 7 white girls and 1 in 2 African American girls. More startling was that 1 in 100 white girls and 3 in 100 African American girls began to show signs of puberty at age 3. This is worrisome because it has been shown that there is a link between increased exposure to female hormones (estrogen) and breast cancer. Women are beginning menstruation earlier and experiencing menopause later, which is increasing there natural exposure to estrogen. The China Study reveals that Rural Chinese girls menstruate 5 years later than the average U.S. girl. However, those Chinese girls who did begin menstruating earlier had a higher likelihood of getting breast cancer.
Again these are just a few of the startling findings from The China Study that support a plant-based diet.
WHY IS THIS INFORMATION NOT MORE READILY AVAILABLE?
We have heard a lot of political rhetoric in this past campaign year about the influence of deep pocket corporate lobbyists on government policies, especially related to pharmaceuticals and health care. But the problem runs much deeper and is much more complex than just Congressional lobbying. Food and drug corporations not only spend millions of dollars on lobbying government to influence public policy ($91 million annually just from pharmaceuticals) but they also establish complex networks of individuals on influential associations and groups as well as huge PR and advertising campaigns to support their products. Millions of dollars are spent to disseminate corporate sponsored studies that support the claims they want us to hear and advertising is used to reinforce myths about food. In fact, most of the nutrition education literature that public schools disseminate to children is supplied by the food industry: Dannon Institute, the Egg Nutritional Board, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Dairy Council, etc. All groups that have an economic interest in maintaining the idea that animal products are healthy and important to good nutrition.
This is not some kind of conspiracy. It is much more overt than that. It is the way that business is done in every industry. It just so happens that the industries that have the most to hide seem to do the most to maintain their product's reputation. These are very similar tactics to those used by big tobacco companies. I know what you’re thinking drugs and food are not as bad as tobacco. But how do you know? For example, we all take our doctors word for it when he/she prescribes us a drug to solve our ailments. Yet the Government Accountability Office (GAO) the investigative arm of Congress recently reported that over 50% of drugs approved by the FDA between 1975 and 1985 turned out to demonstrate serious health risks. The fact is that drugs, processed and genetically engineered foods, and chemical compounds are not tested adequately prior to being put into the market. As a result, medical care is now the third leading cause of death in the U.S. according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). You read correctly, medical care including adverse drug effect and medication errors kills more people than any other disease except cancer and heart disease.
With all this misinformation it’s no wonder we are so confused about what we should eat.
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