The Power of Nutrition
Please note that the following are personal notes from my readings. None of it should be viewed as medical advice. Please always consult with your physicians to determine what decisions are best for you and your family.
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One of the more exciting benefits of good nutrition is the prevention of diseases that are thought to be due to genetic predisposition. We now know that we can largely avoid these “genetic” diseases even though we may harbor the gene (or genes) that is (are) responsible for the disease. (Click on Epigenetics to read more.)
… In my own laboratory we have shown in experimental animals that cancer growth can be turned on and off by nutrition, despite very strong genetic predisposition. We have studied these effects in great detail and have published our findings in the very best scientific journals… These findings are nothing short of spectacular, and the same effects have been indicated over and over again in humans.
– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; page 23
The authors of a major review on diet and cancer, prepared for the U.S. Congress in 1981, estimated that genetics only determines about 2-3% of the total cancer risk.
– The China Study by Dr. Campbell (2006); page 71
The results of many studies showed nutrition to be far more important in controlling cancer promotion than the dose of the initiating carcinogen… The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, which is the official publication of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, took note of these studies and featured some of our findings on its cover… Furthermore, a pattern was beginning to emerge: nutrients from animal-based foods increased tumor development while nutrients from plant-based foods decreased tumor development.
– The China Study by Dr. Campbell (2006); page 66
The vast majority of adult cancers are avoidable if any excellent diet is begun and maintained from early childhood.
– Disease-Proof Your Child by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.; page xx
Interest in the role of diet, nutrition, and cancer increased rapidly during the 1960s, when the World Health Organization examined diet and lifestyle factors and concluded that the majority of human cancers are preventable.
Data collected in the last forty years have generally come to the same conclusion: a high-calorie, high-fat, low-fiber, low-nutrient diet increases cancer risk at all ages. An increasing number of scientific organizations in the United States — including the National Cancer Society, the American Cancer Society, and the Department of Health and Human Services — support this conclusion and have issued dietary guidelines for the general public aimed at reducing the risk of cancer as well as other chronic diseases.
Although the evidence linking diet to cancer is strong, for some reason the fundamental lessons learned over the last forty years through scientific research have not filtered down to the public or created significant dietary modifications in our population. Cancer incidence has changed little…
A plethora of scientific information remains hidden from the general public…
The concept that we are in control of our own health destiny as a result of what we eat is discussed in scientific research papers but has not been appreciated by the medical profession or made widely known to the general public. As a result of this lack of awareness, we are a nation suffering from premature degenerative and life-shortening diseases. We are also burdened by escalating health care costs. We futilely attempt to deal with the tragic consequences of poor nutrition too late.
Epidemiologic Studies Tell Us
- Saturated fat is a powerful cancer promoter
- Refined sugar and white flour promote cancer
- Root vegetables and whole grains offer minimal cancer protection
- Unrefined plant foods, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans are powerful cancer protectors.
The largest and most impressive epidemiologic study was the China Project. The New York Times called this investigation the “Grand Prix of all epidemiologic studies” and “the most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease.”
The reason this large undertaking, involving hundreds of researchers from Cornell and Oxford universities, produced such respected data is because China was the perfect test tube, a “living laboratory,” to detect the effects food has on the incidence of different cancers. The people in one small area of China eat a certain diet, while just 100 miles away they may eat a vastly different one. The investigators were able to study populations with a broad range of dietary differences. In addition, the Chinese individuals who were tested had lived their entire lives in the same town, and therefore the dietary effects were present for the subjects’ entire lives. In America, there is comparatively little difference in diet from one city to the next.
This project reported disease rates from towns that ate almost a complete plant-based diet and from other areas that ate a significant amount of animal products. The researchers found that as the amount of animal products increased in the diet, even in relatively small increments, so did the emergence of the types of cancers that are common in the West. The researchers noted that most cancers increased in direct proportion to the quantity of animal products eaten and decreased relative to the amount of fruits, vegetables, and beans consumed.
The more animal products in the diet, the greater the cancer occurrence.
The more fruits and vegetables in the diet, the less cancer they found.
Areas of China with exceptionally low intakes of animal products were virtually free of the cancers and heart disease that develop in most people living in Western countries. Even lean meats, chicken, eggs, and wild and naturally raised livestock (without hormones and antibiotics) were shown to increase the heart attack and cancer rates in proportion to the amount consumed by the population under study. Green vegetable consumption showed a strong protective effect.
– Disease-Proof Your Child (2005) by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.; pages 72 – 77
Even though information and opinions are plentiful, very few people truly know what they should be doing to improve their health.
This isn’t because the research hasn’t been done. it has. We know an enormous amount about the links between nutrition and health. But the real science has been buried beneath a clutter of irrelevant or even harmful information — junk science, fad diets and food industry propaganda.
… After a long career in research and policy making, I now understand why Americans are so confused. As a taxpayer who foots the bill for research and health policy in America, you deserve to know that many of the common notions you have been told about food, health and disease are wrong:
- Synthetic chemicals in the environment and in your food, as problematic as they may be, are not the main cause of cancer.
- The genes that you inherit from your parents are not the most important factors in determining whether you fall prey to any of the ten leading causes of death.
- The hope that genetic research will eventually lead to drug cures for diseases ignores more powerful solutions that can be employed today.
- Obsessively controlling your intake of any one nutrient, such as carbohydrates, fat, cholesterol or omega-3 fats, will not result in long-term health.
- Vitamins and nutrient supplements do not give you long-term protection against disease.
- Drugs and surgery don’t cure the diseases that kill most Americans.
- Your doctor probably does not know what you need to do to be the healthiest you can be.
– The China Study (2006) by Dr. Campbell; pages 1 – 2
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The information contained throughout this blog / website should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician / physician.
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