The China Study, Angelina Jolie and beyond...

As Hippocrates said-let food be your healer--lots on this forum to ponder...

The China Study, Angelina Jolie and beyond...

Postby Judith » Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:24 pm

This article was in a vegan magazine someone gave me in New York—it’s written about and by Colin Campbell who wrote The China Study, now reviewed extensively by Isobel in the Library part of the site, and his son. Then there’s a piece also by Colin Campbell, about double mastectomies, Angelina Jolie and BRCA2 gene which is thought provoking...

ChinaStudy.jpg
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Drs.T. Colin Campbell andThomas
Campbell, M.D.

are the father and son team who co-authored
the ground breaking, best-selling book, The China Study (also
featured in the film ‘Forks Over Knives’).

T. Colin Campbell is
the author of over 300 research papers on the health benefits of a
low-fat, whole-food, plant-based
diet. T. Colin Campbell was a lead
scientist involved in the China-
Oxford-Co r n el I study, w hi ch
culminated in the book The China
Study. This study is widely known
as the most comprehensive and
important nutritional study ever
conducted.
T. Colin Campbell has
also recently authored another
book called "Whole: Rethinking
the Science of Nutrition" which
is destined to be another highly
renowned best-seller. T. Colin
he is a professor emeritus of Nutritional
Biochemistry.

D r. Thomas Campbell, M.D. (T.
Colin's son) is a board-certified
family physician and instructor of clinical family medicine at
the University of Rochester School of Medicine. He is also executive
director of the T. Colin Campbell Foundation.

What have been the biggest challenges (to being a vegan)?

Thomas: Completing my training in medicine,
I was often disappointed by how much of an
'outsider' l was in eating a whole-food, plant-based
diet and by advocating for diet and lifestyle
approaches. lt was not because people around
me were hateful pill-pushers-- In fact, many of
the most selfless, generous, intelligent and kind
people that I have ever known are doctors. But
they learn the same things about food that
everyone else does. lt is so entrenched in their
mindset, just like other people. In addition,
there is resistance because doctors must, from
early in their training, assume the expert role. In
that expert role, to suddenly be faced with this
viewpoint on health and disease that is different
from what they learned as a kid, and what they
learned in their training- it is difficult to remove
the expert cap and admit that you know very
little about nutrition and health.

Socially, I also have a hard time expecting anyone
to do anything special for me, but everytime we
plan eating events, I must do exactly that. l've
never gotten terribly comfortable with that.
green food.jpg
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Colin: I think mine is the sometimes real
intense hostility to this message (and
the message bearer!) by people, almost
all of whom have little or no training
in the science, who will seldom want
even to hear of the evidence. They have
no reluctance to delve into unethical,
irrational behavior to promote their
criticism. This would not be so bad were
it not for the fact that these people often
pose as science expert resources for a
non-professional public audience.

What are the best rewards?

Thomas:The best rewards are being
healthy, trim, vigorous, and knowing that
I am making important choices to stay
that way. I love knowing that the food
that I eat and enjoy is helping me and my
wife feel great and stay healthy.

Colin: With age, not having to suffer the
usual infirmities and use of drugs.

Did the weight of the science in your father's
research make it easier to make the decision to be
a vegan family?

Thomas: I was in my early teens when we slowly
phased out meat (over years), so I mostly went
through that transition without much thought,
just eating what my family ate. I continued to
eat dairy until my early-mid 2Os, when I started
working on The China Study, living back in lthaca
(New York). This was an easy transition because,
again, I had the support of my parents and we
shared a common eating pattern.

What benefits did you notice after making this
switch?

Thomas: I was fortunate to have been very
healthy prior to the switch and I was healthy after.
Because these transitions happened when I was
young, I had not developed any known health
problems. At this point, 10-15 years since being
mostly whole-food, plant-based, I have remained
at a healthy weight with excellent energy.
I
exercise and accomplish all the things throughout
the day that I want to do without problem.


ls there anything you'd like to add about
being a vegan family?

,
Thomas: It's very important that those who
adopt a whole-food, plant-based diet find
support.
Trying to do this in a household full
of people who do not want to go along with
you is difficult. lt's also important that people
don't define their diet solely based on what
they exclude (animal products), but that they
actively include the healthiest foods: fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, and especially
legumes and leafy greens.
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Colin: I agree with Tom. I have been a
participant in several official bodies
responsible for developing national and
international recommendations on diet
and health and we all agree that to teach,
especially for those ideas generally soaked in
much skepticism, it is best to accentuate the
positive, not the negative
.

Any favorite family recipes you'd like to share?

Thomas: See The China Study Cookbook,by my
sister LeAnne.

Do you exercise together?

Thomas: We have gone jogging together
in the past. I have completed 5 marathons,
several half marathons and other shorter
races, mostly because of the example that
was set by my parents when they started
exercising more.

Colin: Except for those days that I am traveling,
I follow a varying 1-2 hour exercise program
every day, jogging or walking 4-5 miles
(almost always with my wife, Karen), cross-country
skiing, biking and/or golfing. I am very
much an outdoors person, having been raised
on a farm. When traveling, I have enjoyed
jogging in many famous places: around Red
Square in Moscow, Tianammen Square(Bejing),
along the Pacific Ocean / LaJolla California,
city streets/San Juan Puerto Rico, mountains/
Dominican Republic, Hyde Park/London,
streets/Singapore, beaches/North Carolina,
hills/near Venice ltaly and streets of Cape
Town/South Africa. ...,My wife and I cover at
least a minimum of 30 miles per week.
Have any members of the family overcome
illness or obesity or other problems?

Thomas: I have not needed to overcome
ilIness.


Colin: As told in ‘Whole’, my wife refused
conventional chemo treatment and
lymphadenectomy for advanced melanoma
nine years ago and is fine
. Early in my
career, I isolated the extremely toxic dioxin
compound at MIT and suffered years of a
speech problem before resolution. Both of
us became strict with our diet concerning
these health problems and resolved them.

Please add anything else that you would like
to complete your vegan family story.

Colin: I am most fortunate to have married
Karen more than 51 years ago because
without her active support in my work
and in raising the family, I could not have
accomplished what I have. I also have a deep
sense of gratitude for my father
who, with
only a couple years of formal education,
strongly urged education, personal integrity
and compassion for others

Any further plans for continuing to educate
the world about the plant-based diet?

Thomas: I will hopefully be completing a
book soon that goes into the specifics of a
whole-food, plant-based diet. In addition, I
am assuming the role of executive director
of the T. Colin Campbell Foundation, which
is a nonprofit foundation offering online
learning about plant-based diets. I also will
be joining a primary care family medicine
practice in Rochester, NY..

Colin: I continue to lecture and am working
on plant-based diet projects with Tom and
with my sons Nelson and Keith who are
developing a new wellness program.
-----------------------------------------------------I

America's preeminent
nutritional expert weighs in
on the BRCA-I gene controversy:
T. COLIN CAMPBELL, PhD
author of The China Study and
Professor Emeritus of Nutritional
Biochemistry at Cornell University

The commentaries on Angelina Jolie may
have run their course for the time being.
But I am confident that some version of
this story will continue to be with us for a long
time, as long as the Lords of Science and Medicine
prefer technological solutions over a more
natural healing process involving nutrition.

I first encountered this story about twenty
years ago, at the time when the story first broke
about BRCA-1, the gene for breast cancer.
Because we had published some of our findings
on breast cancer in China along with our
findings on the gene-nutrition relationship, I
began to receive inquiries about my thoughts
on this exciting new genetic discovery. Mothers,
for example, called me to see whether their
pre-menarche 10-12 year old daughters should
have mastectomies in case they had that gene
or there was evidence in the family that breast
cancer was more common than usual.
Aside from reminding them that I was not
qualified to give personal medical advice, I was,
myself, not clear as to what to say. I certainly
thought the question was bizarre, but I also
understood the angst of these mothers when
they were being told that the risk of getting
breast cancer was 87o/o if the mutated qene was
present.

I had several concerns. First, I did not believe
that a single gene could cause this disease, as
was being broadcast. In much of our research
on cancer, many factors and events affect
cancer, each of which begin with a gene(s). Second,
on the basis of the evidence at that time,
including our own research findings, it was
not the presence or the absence of a gene that
matters most but the expression of genes (to
produce enzymes) that is far more important
.

And third, for these reasons, it was my opinion
that this risk estimate could be much lower,
if proper nutrition were practiced, because
we were showing that a major role for nutrition'
is its ability to control genetic expression.
A large and impressive body of evidence now makes a
strong case that breast cancer is primarily the result
of nutrition, not genes.


Since then, estimates of breast cancer risk for
women with the mutated BRCA-1 gene (the
type that harbors the risk) in different studies
has been reported to be as low as 50%, not
87%. lndeed the range is about 50-65%- not
87%. Also, a seconrfgere;BRCA-2, as well aSother
genes have been discovered and when
they are mutated, they can raise the risk both
for breast and ovarian cancer. And, there may
be many different conditions that cause mutations.
So risk can be related more to factors
that favor or prevent mutations.

Here's my concern. We know that a good case
can be made that diet is a major factor in
determining whether breast cancer occurs,
with high fat, high animal protein, low fiber
and low antioxidant diets increasing risk, at
least for the 95o/o of non-BRCA-1 /2 breast
cancer victims. For these women, an animal-food
based diet substantially increases but
plant-based food decreases breast cancer
risk, although it could be a large number of
factors in these foods that work in concert to
cause the effect.
Plant based diet.jpg
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There now is a 'ton' of studies
demonstrating this relationship. Most of this
effect is nutritional in origin, but also some
may be due to increased mutations. For the
minority of breast cancers, women with the
mutated BRCA-1/2 and related genes, this can
put them at a very high cancer risk.

We have known, for example, in our own
research of more than 40 years ago that a diet
high in animal protein increases the activity of
a major enzyme that increases the frequency
for mutations. What I thought 20 years ago
and what I now see over these past two
decades only makes my doubts about this
prognosis for Angelina Jolie even more troublesome
.

A large and impressive body of evidence
now makes a strong case that breast cancer
is primarily the result of nutrition, not genes.
Science has not yet shown the nutritional effect
in positive BRCA 1/2 women but, because the
nutritional effect is so prominent in the vast
majority of cancers and other diseases, I see
no reason why there isn't more research on the
possible effect of nutrition on these women.
And by nutrition, I am not talking about nutrient
supplements or so-called low fat diets at
about 25-300/o of total calories. I am talking
about a whole food, plant-based diet at about
10% fat and 100% protein
.

Yet, in medical practice, prognoses are given
to highly vulnerable and frightened patients
by oncology professionals who really know
nothing about this nutritional evidence
. About
the only evidence that they think they know
are figures derived from genetic and chemotherapy
studies, information that encourages
patients to undertake disfiguring and dangerous
surgery as a means of prevention or, later,
to relatively ineffective chemotherapy and
radiation as a means of treatment.


This is only a small part of the evidence for my
argument. Although I have recently presented
this information to professional oncology and
medical audiences-and some open-minded
individuals do become enthused-most ignore
such information and continue their narrow-minded
practices.

In Angelina Jolie's case, I am wondering why
she was given the highest possible estimate of
risk (87%). Was it intended to frighten her, leaving
her almost no option other than surgery?
Unfortunately, she recently made known that
she uses a diet high in the very foods ( dairy,
meat and other animal based foods) that will
increase her risk for other cancers, especially
since these same BRCA genes may give rise to
other cancers. Recently, she told how she did
not want to use a plant-based diet because she
felt it did not have the ability to give her proper
nutrition. I can only wonder what professional
advice she got
and what ignorant and arrogant
professional was advising her. To deny this
information to her is medical malpractice.

The most important part of my concern and
frustration is that most medical professionals,
both researchers and practitioners, remain
untrained and ill-prepared to even entertain
the idea that there is strong evidence to suggest
a far more effective option, both to avoid
mastectomies and ovariectomies but also to
avoid breast and ovarian cancers as well
. This
scenario of Angelina Jolie and her physician is
tragic and only feeds those who want to profit
from the misfortunes of others. This practice
and arrogance is shameless!
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Judith
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