The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health

Rating:
Summary: Worth the money
Review: I just ordered a book for my sister, I'm halfway through with my copy and have learned so much from this book and I typically read one new book a week. It just makes common sense to me and I grew up in Montana where my dad used to buy a whole cow and have someone butcher it up for us to stick in the freezer. Now he's had lung cancer (asbetos from work) and he had a stroke 2 summers ago. I hope that this book knocks some sense into the people supporting the high animal protein way of life.

Rating:
Summary: This is an excellent book
Review: If you want to know the truth about the foods we eat everyday and how they affect our health, read this book. There IS something we can do about cancer, heart disease as well as many other diseases and it is as simple as the foods we eat.

This is a book that will change your life.

Rating:
Summary: Do you want to look better, feel better and perform better?
Review: Read The China Study!
Startling implications for diet, weight loss and long term health is an understatement... finally, scientifically valid guidance on how much protein we need, where we should get it and why... and that's the tip of iceberg.

The impact of the books findings is enormous! That this is the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted will become evident in the introduction. You will not be able to put this book down.

You won't be cluttered with commercially biased "studies that show..." in The China Study, as this is the epitome of great work and uncompromised integrity.

China presented the 'Perfect Storm' to further discover and validate the core principles of nutrition that will last you a lifetime, and help you side step with ease, all the jargon that can keep your mind busy but your body overweight and unhealthy.

I have followed Mr Campbells work for many years and I believe wholeheartedly that it is amongst, if not THE finest work in nutrition ever. Substantiated first hand, at the highest levels... comprehensive, yet simple and profound.

T Colin Campbell's work is a treasure that will be read centuries over and I challenge you to fine a more conscientious warrior for the truth than T Colin Campbell.

This book is that good.

John Allen, MyTrainer.com


Rating:
Summary: Every doctor, teacher and parent needs to read this book!
Review: T. Colin Campbell has made a career of challenging the conventional wisdom around nutrition, and this book is the culmination of his work. His integrity, brilliance, and unflinching courage shine through every page.

The main point of this book is that most nutritional studies that we hear about in the media are poorly constructed because of what the author terms "scientific reductionism." That is, they attempt to pin down the effects of a single nutrient in isolation from all other aspects of diet and lifestyle.

While this is the "gold standard" for clinical trials in the pharmaceutical world, it just doesn't work when it comes to nutrition. Given that the Western diet is extremely high fat and high protein compared to most of the rest of the world, studies that examine slight variations in this diet (i.e., adding a few grams of fiber or substituting skim milk for full fat milk) are like comparing the mortality rates of people who smoke five packs of cigarettes a day vs. people who smoke only 97 cigarettes a day.

Campbell's research, which he describes in a very accessible and engaging fashion, has two tremendous advantages over the typical nutritional study. First, there is the China Study itself - a massive series of snapshots of the relationship between diet and disease in over 100 villages all over China. The rates of disease differ greatly from region to region, and Campbell and his research partners (including some of the most distinguished scholars and epidemiologists in the world) carefully correlated these differences with the varying diets of the communities.

It's not lazy "survey research" either - the researchers don't rely on their subjects' memory to determine what they ate and drank. The researchers also observed shopping patterns and took blood samples to cross-validate all the data.

The second amazing part of Campbell's research method is his refusal to accept any finding without taking it back to his lab and finding out how exactly it works. In other words, we discover in The China Study not only in what way, but precisely how, the foods we eat can either promote or compromise our health.

The book is part intellectual biography / hero's journey (although Campbell is always wonderfully humble - there's no trace of self-congratulation, just a deep gratitude for what he has experienced), part nutrition guide (the most honest and unflinching one you'll ever read), and part expose. The final section leaves no sacred cow standing, and names names! From the food industry, to the government, to academia, Campbell calmly reports on a coverup of nutritional truth so widespread and insidious that all citizens should be enraged.

I have a PhD in health education and a Masters in Public Health - and I can honestly say that no book has shaken my worldview like this one. Anyone interested in health - their own, or that of their family, friends, or community - must read this book and share it. Campbell has started a revolution. Skip this work at your own peril.

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Summary: The Praise for Book is Amazing
Review: The China Study describes a monumental survey of diet and death rates from cancer in more than 2,400 Chinese counties and the equally monumental efforts to explore its significance and implications for nutrition and health. Dr. Campbell and his son, Thomas, have written a lively, provocative and important book that deserves widespread attention.

Frank Rhodes, Ph.D., President (1978-1995) Emeritus, Cornell University

Colin Campbell's The China Study is an important book, and a highly readable one. With his son, Tom, Colin studies the relationship between diet and disease, and his conclusions are startling. The China Study is a story that needs to be heard.

Robert C. Richardson, Ph.D., Nobel Prize Winner,
Professor of Physics and Vice Provost of Research,
Cornell University

The China Study is the account of a ground-breaking research study that provides the answers long sought by physicians, scientists, and health-conscious readers. Based on painstaking investigations over many years, it unearths surprising answers to the most important nutritional questions of our time: What really causes cancer? How can we extend our lives? What will turn around the obesity epidemic? The China Study quickly and easily dispenses with fad diets, relying on solid and convincing evidence. Clearly and beautifully written by one of the world's most respected nutrition authorities, The China Study represents a major turning point in our understanding of health.

Neal Barnard, M.D., President, Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine

Everyone in the field of nutrition science stands on the shoulders of T. Colin Campbell, who is one of the giants in the field. This is one of the most important books about nutrition ever written -- reading it may save your life.

Dean Ornish, M.D.
Founder & President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Author, Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease and Love & Survival

The China Study is the most convincing evidence yet on preventing heart disease, cancer and other Western diseases by dietary means. It is the book of choice both for economically developed countries and for countries undergoing rapid economical transition and lifestyle change.

Junshi Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Research
Professor, Institute of Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

All concerned with the obesity epidemic, their own health, and the staggering environmental and social impacts of the Western diet will find wise and practical solutions in Dr. Campbell's The China Study.

Robert Goodland, Lead Advisor on the Environment, The World Bank Group (1978-2001)

Dr. Campbell's book, The China Study is a moving and insightful history of the struggle, still ongoing, to understand and explain the vital connection between our health and what we eat. Dr. Campbell knows this subject from the inside: he has pioneered the investigation of the diet-cancer link since the days of the seminal "China Study," the 1982 NAS report, "Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer," and American Institute for Cancer Research's expert panel report, "Food, Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective."

Consequently, he is able to illuminate every aspect of this question. Today, AICR advocates a predominantly plant-based diet for lower cancer risk because of the great work Dr. Campbell and just a few other visionaries began 25 years ago.

Marilyn Gentry, President, American Institute for Cancer Research

The China Study is a well-documented analysis of the fallacies of the modern diet, lifestyle, and medicine and the quick fix approach that often fails. The lessons from China provide compelling rationale for a plant-based diet to promote health and reduce the risk of the diseases of affluence.

Sushma Palmer, Ph.D., Former Executive Director, Food and Nutrition Board, U.S. National Academy of Sciences

The China Study is extraordinarily helpful, superbly written, and profoundly important. Dr. Campbell's work is revolutionary in its implications and spectacular in its clarity. I learned an immense amount from this brave and wise book.

If you want to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast and then take cholesterol lowering medication, that's your right. But if you want to truly take charge of your health, read The China Study and do it soon! If you heed the counsel of this outstanding guide, your body will thank you every day for the rest of your life.

John Robbins, Author of the best-selling books,
Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution

The China Study is a rare treat. Finally, a world-renowned nutritional scholar has explained the truth about diet and health in a way that everyone can easily understand--a startling truth that everyone needs to know. In this superb volume, Dr. Campbell has distilled, with his son Tom, for us the wisdom of his brilliant career. If you feel any confusion about how to find the healthiest path for yourself and your family, you will find precious answers in The China Study. Don't miss it!

Douglas J. Lisle, Ph.D. & Alan Goldhamer, D.C., Authors of The Pleasure Trap

So many diet and health books contain conflicting advice, but most have one thing in common-an agenda to sell something. Dr. Campbell's only agenda is truth. As a distinguished professor at Cornell University, Dr. Campbell is the Einstein of nutrition. The China Study is based on hardcore scientific research, not the rank speculation of a Zone, Atkins, SugarBusters or any other current fad. Dr. Campbell lays out his lifetime of research in an accessible, entertaining way. Read this book and you will know why.

Jeff Nelson, President, VegSource.com (most visited food website in the world)

The China Study gives critical, life-saving nutritional information for every health-seeker in America. But, it is much more; Dr. Campbell's exposé of the research and medical establishment makes this book a fascinating read and one that could change the future for all of us. Every health care provider and researcher in the world must read it.

Joel Fuhrman, M.D., Author of the bestselling book,
Eat To Live



Rating:
Summary: This book demands attention!
Review: The China Study is a courageous survey of the best science has to offer about your health and what you eat. In addition, the China Study reveals a system of nutrition misinformation that has created public confusion equal to that which surrounded the health implications of smoking. Remember the days when "no one knew" that smoking was bad for you? That all ended when a few morally courageous individuals spoke out and demanded examination of the topic. We now know that the tobacco industry not only knew the health risks, they added ingredients to make their products more addictive. The current state of nutrition information is just as convoluted - and the food industry is just as interested in keeping you confused and addicted to its products. Dr. Campbell (writing with his son, Thomas) is the morally courageous voice in this field and he speaks the truth about what he has found, above the clamor of the objecting voices in "the establishment".

The book is organized into four parts. The first part follows the compelling life story / research career of Dr. Campbell. Campbell grew up on a dairy farm in Virginia and began his professional life trying to discover more efficient ways of raising cattle to deliver protein to our diets. Through an accidental series of discoveries, he became interested in the relationship between high levels of protein consumption and cancer development. He ended up with astonishing research that showed high levels of protein consumption to be a more potent promoter of cancer than high level exposures to Aflotoxin. This startling evidence led him to organize "The China Study" (namesake for the book) - a uniquely comprehensive study of the relationship between diet and disease in 65 counties of rural China. The study examined approximately 6,500 adults and looked at blood samples, urine samples, and food intake records (researchers went into homes to observe and collect this data), to document over 367 variables related to health status and diet. This data was systematically compared with disease rates for 48 different diseases.

The second part of the book is a survey of professional scientific research from around the world, regarding the relationship between diet and a whole host of diseases. Campbell focuses on a class of diseases - referred to as "diseases of affluence" - that are experienced at higher rates in developed countries than in developing countries. This part of the book meticulously documents the relationship between various diets and the following diseases: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, common cancers (breast, prostate, large bowel), auto-immune diseases (including type I diabetes, MS), osteoporosis, kidney stones, macular degeneration, dementia and Alzheimer's. This survey reveals that across this broad range of diseases, there is one diet that consistently prevents these diseases, and one diet that consistently promotes these diseases.

The third part of the book is a brief nutritional guide. It discusses eight principles of food and health, and gives advice on how to eat. In essence, these eight principles present Campbell's theory of nutrition - what is important to health and what is not. Principle six, for example, says "the same nutrition that prevents disease in its early stages (before diagnosis) can also halt or reverse disease in its later stages (after diagnosis)." The principles create a well-founded summary derived from the evidence presented earlier in the book.

The fourth and final part of the book answers the question "so why haven't I heard all this before?" Campbell sits in a unique position to answer this question. He has been involved in the relationship between nutritional scientific research and public health information at all levels. As a university researcher, he built a career on publicly funded grant research, he sat on the approval boards for similar grant programs, and he experienced the politics involved. As a well-respected expert in his field, he was called to testify before Congress on food safety, he sat on the panel that developed nutrition information labeling for packaged foods, and he has been on the National Academy of Science's expert panel on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer. As a dedicated scientist, he helped found the American Institute for Cancer Research, and he is familiar with the policy and funding priorities of this and other cancer research groups. From this unique position, Campbell reveals a public health information system that is biased. Although he is deliberate to state that he does not see a back room conspiracy here, he is conclusive in arguing that our system is corrupted and unreliable.

The fourth section, combined with the strength of the scientific evidence presented in this book, strongly establishes that this book should have an appeal that is MUCH broader than the alternative crowd, the "vegan" crowd, or the "health nut" crowd. This is more than a diet book, more than a book for people who are already suffering from disease and looking for help, and more than a fringe perspective. This is a book that demands attention, demands answers and should be given not only deep thought but also wide publicity. Who will answer for this system of corruption, and how will we get them to do it? Ignoring the information in this book would be as grave as ignoring the first courageous individuals that presented reliable evidence against the tobacco industry. Read this book, share it with someone you love, and call your Congressman to demand action. This book should change lives. Though it sounds an alarm, it also pronounces that we have strong hope - a simple, proven and economically efficient means to prevent and treat a host of diseases and to create long, vibrantly healthy lives.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant book that will save lives
Review: The China Study is a must-read breakthrough book for anyone interested in issues concerning scientific integrity and the fields of health and nutrition. Through this brilliantly written and highly readable book, Professor T. Colin Campbell and son Tom tell both a personal and global story that make it clear what the political forces have been to undermine the fields of nutrition and health and confuse the public. This book is so well researched and compelling, it will have a profound influence on the way many people think about truth in science and nutrition, as well as the way they eat. This book will improve health and save lives.

Rating:
Summary: The Vegan Bible
Review: This book is a gift to humanity. I only hope its wisdom shall be heeded by the many, not the few, so that we can begin to heal ourselves and restore the intended balance between Nature, the animals and human beings. It is particularly incumbent upon politicians to embrace the implications of this book so they can act responsibly towards their citizens by advising them what the correct diet to eat is. This book is not just stiff science however. Inbetween the massive revelations, that we've been doing everything totally wrong for past millennia, there is humour. I particularly like the way the authors have managed to refer to George Dubya Bush exclusively in relation to his two-hour colorectal cancer check-up in 2002, perhaps the most distinguishing and telling feature of his presidency. It should only be a matter of time before medical insurance companies catch up with this book and put the final nail in the coffin of the diabolical trinity (the meat, dairy and egg industries). Bring it on I say. Prevention is always better than cure. We are herbivores after all. Viva The Vegan Revolution!

Rating:
Summary: Loaded with scientific studies
Review: This is one of the best books I've read on nutrition and health. It gives the reader the "big picture". Conclusions from a single study can be questioned, but when the "weight of evidence" from hundreds of studies from all over the world point the same direction, it's impressive.

The studies on animal protein and cancer fascinated me. Also, how industry influences government is clearly laid out from an insider's perspective.

In my view, this book is right up there with "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman. If you want to experience good health and well being, read these books!