The China Study

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health is a book by T. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. The book argues for health benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. It was first published in the United States in January 2005 and had sold over one million copies as of October 2013, making it one of America's best-selling books about nutrition.[2][3]

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health
AuthorT. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II, M.D.
CountryUnited States
SubjectNutritional science
PublisherBenBella Books
Publication date
2005[1]
Pages417 (first edition)
ISBN1-932100-38-5
Websitewww.benbellavegan.com/book/the-china-study/

Synopsis

The China Study examines the link between the consumption of animal products (including dairy) and chronic illnesses such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and bowel cancer.[4] The book is "loosely based"[5] on the China–Cornell–Oxford Project, a 20-year study which looked at mortality rates from cancer and other chronic diseases from 1973 to 1975 in 65 counties in China, and correlated this data with 1983–84 dietary surveys and blood work from 100 people in each county.

The authors conclude that people who eat a predominantly whole-food, vegan diet—avoiding animal products as a source of nutrition, including beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, and milk, and reducing their intake of processed foods and refined carbohydrates—will escape, reduce, or reverse the development of numerous diseases. They write that "eating foods that contain any cholesterol above 0 mg is unhealthy."[6] The book recommends sunshine exposure or dietary supplements to maintain adequate levels of vitamin D, and supplements of vitamin B12 in case of complete avoidance of animal products.[7] It criticizes low-carb diets, such as the Atkins diet, which include restrictions on the percentage of calories derived from carbohydrates.[8] The authors are critical of reductionist approaches to the study of nutrition, whereby certain nutrients are blamed for disease, as opposed to studying patterns of nutrition and the interactions between nutrients.[9]

Publication

The book was first published in 2005.[1][10] A revised and expanded edition was published in 2016.[11] The book has also been published in German, Polish, Slovenian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Swedish and Urdu.[12]

Companion volumes
  • Campbell, Thomas (2015). The Campbell Plan : the simple way to lose weight and reverse illness, using the China Study's whole-food, plant-based diet. Rodale Books. ISBN 9781623364106.
  • Campbell, Thomas (2016). The China study solution : the simple way to lose weight and reverse illness, using a whole-food, plant-based diet. Rodale Books. ISBN 9781623367572.
  • Campbell, LeAnne; Campbell, T. Colin; Disla, Steven Campbell (2013). The China study cookbook : over 120 whole-food, plant-based recipes. BenBella Books. ISBN 9781937856762.[13]

Reception

Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, said in his documentary The Last Heart Attack in 2011 that The China Study had changed the way people all over the world eat.[14] Former American president Bill Clinton became a supporter when he adopted a plant-based diet after a heart attack.[4][15]

Wilfred Niels Arnold, professor of biochemistry at the University of Kansas Medical Center, reviewed the book in Leonardo reviews in 2005: "[T]he authors anticipate resistant and hostile sources, sail on with escalating enthusiasm, and furnish a working hypothesis that is valuable. In fact, the surprising data are difficult to interpret in any other way."[16]

Harriet Hall, writing for Science-Based Medicine, said that the book had references which do not support directly the claims made by the authors and that it did not explain the exceptions to his data, such as high rates of stomach cancer in China.[17]

Stephan Guyenet reviewing the book for Red Pen Reviews commented that The China Study is a "scholarly and well-written book" but three of its key scientific claims are "not very well supported overall".[18]

Denise Minger presents the most sustained critique of Campbell's methodology and conclusions in The China Study: Fact or Fallacy? [19]

See also

References
  1. "The China Study - T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies". Center for Nutrition Studies. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  2. Parker-Pope, Tara (January 7, 2011). "Nutrition Advice From the China Study". The New York Times. Retrieved June 19, 2020.
  3. For over one million copies sold, "The China Study", the chinastudy.com, archived October 18, 2013.
  4. Sherwell, Philip (October 3, 2010). "Bill Clinton's new diet: nothing but beans, vegetables and fruit to combat heart disease".
  5. Scrinis, Gyorgy (2013). Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice. Columbia University Press. p. 182.
  6. Campbell & Campbell II 2005, p. 132
  7. Campbell & Campbell II 2005, pp. 232, 242, 361ff
  8. Campbell & Campbell II 2005, pp. 95–96
  9. Scrinis, Gyorgy (2013). Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice. Columbia University Press. p. 16.
  10. Campbell, T. Colin; Campbell II, Thomas M. (2005). The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health. BenBella Books.
  11. Campbell, T. Colin; Campbell II, Thomas M. (2016). The China study : the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and the startling implications for diet, weight loss, and long-term health (Revised and expanded ed.). BenBella Books. ISBN 9781942952909.
  12. "Formats and Editions of The China study : the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and the startling implications for diet, weight loss and long-term health". Worldcat.org. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  13. Lefferts, Daniel (February 23, 2018). "'The China Study Cookbook' Makeover: Cookbooks 2018". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  14. "Gupta: Becoming heart attack proof". August 25, 2011.
  15. Martin, David S. (August 18, 2011). "From omnivore to vegan: The dietary education of Bill Clinton". CNN.
  16. Arnold, Wilfred Niels (February 2005). "The China Study". Leonardo Reviews. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
  17. Hall, Harriet (April 9, 2009). "The China Study".
  18. Guyenet, Stephan. (2019). "The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health". Redpenreviews.org. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  19. Minger, Denise (July 7, 2010). "The China Study: Fact or Fallacy?". Denise Minger. Retrieved August 7, 2023.

Further reading
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