Our population has accepted the fact that more than half of us will die of heart
attacks and more than a third will develop cancer at some point in our lives. So
too is it accepted that we live and suffer with medical problems, take
medications recommended by our physicians, and then die or become a
physical or mental cripple in later years.
This common pattern is a tragedy of modern life, but one that can be
avoided. Disease, dementia, and disability associated with aging are unnatural.
We have control over our health as we extend our life span by making different
food choices. Dennis Burkitt, M.D., one of the world's most renowned physician
researchers on human nutrition and a pioneer who established the value of
fiber, has explained that western man has made more change in his diet over
the last six or eight generations than has been made throughout the whole of
the rest of his sojourn on earth.
Genetically, anatomically, and physiologically our bodies are the same as
those of humans who lived in the Stone Age. What we put into our bodies is
quite different. Refined supermarket food is being fed to our Stone Age bodies.
Much of the food found in supermarkets derives its calories from extracted
sweeteners, sugars, fats, and refined flour. Besides the empty-calorie
drawbacks and fat-producing effects of these foods, they are deficient in the
vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients needed by the body to burn
them for energy. Therefore, the body must continually draw on its reserves of
stored nutrients, thus draining its nutritional reservoir.
Not only sweets, but also all processed foods that no longer carry with them
the essential nutrients endowed by nature are deficit inducing. For example, the
ingestion of processed foods has been shown to induce chromium deficiencies,
even though the chromium levels may have been normal before the
introduction of these refined products.
Diets with a high ratio of refined carbohydrate to total carbohydrate induce various nutritional deficiencies. This form of high-calorie malnutrition causes the brain and nervous system to
become irritable and the immune system to malfunction.
This weakens our immune system and has an assortment of negative effects on our development,
including heightened intraocular pressure and poor eyesight.
The China-Oxford-Cornell Study is one of the largest nutritional research
projects ever conducted. This massive project, called the ―Grand Prix of
Epidemiology,‖ documented the observation that in underdeveloped areas
where populations consume predominantly unrefined plant foods, the
degenerative diseases of modern society as well as the leading cancers are
virtually nonexistent. This study confirms hundreds of other studies that have
documented that most diseases of modern society originate from dietary folly.
Unfortunately, the rural societies examined in the China-Oxford-Cornell Study
are more and more adopting the ―American way‖ of eating and are statistically
beginning to show increasing incidence of disease.
The China Project dramatically demonstrates that if we plot the amount of
animal foods eaten against the death rates from the leading causes of death
(heart disease and cancers), all animal food consumption, even fish and
chicken, raises the rates of cancer and heart disease.
Interestingly, even small quantities of animal foods in the diet were able to trigger higher cholesterol
levels, heart disease, and cancer. The evidence from the China Project and
other confirming studies shows that the animal protein itself, not just the fat in
the animal foods, causes cholesterol to rise and cancer to increase.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell, head of the China Project, predicts that in the next 10 to 15 years
research will solidly establish that animal protein is one of the most toxic
nutrients for humans.
Dr. Campbell has explained, ―There is strong evidence in the scientific
literature that when a reduction in fat is compared to a reduction in protein
intake, the protein effect on blood cholesterol is more significant than the effect
of saturated fat. Animal protein is a hypercholesterolemic agent . . . Many
Americans are switching from beef to skinless chicken and other animal-based
foods simply to reduce their intake of fat. However the existing evidence
suggests that this makes little or no sense.‖18
It is clear that one should consume protein in quantities sufficient to meet the
needs of the body, but with no extra. Excess protein affects the body in a
variety of negative ways, shortening potential life span. Animal protein
consumption has been linked with increased cancer rates and tumor formation
as well as the acceleration of at.herosclerosis.
Excess proteins also increase our requirements for other nutrients by reducing the uptake of folate,
pantothenic acid, and pyridoxine, and by washing away essential minerals
through the kidney as the kidney attempts to eliminate the extra nitrogenous
waste.Because our physiological nature is such that we are primates,
equipped with the virtually identical digestive apparatus (comparatively small
liver and kidney) as the great apes, our structure is not well equipped to handle
high quantities of concentrated fats and proteins. Monkeys also do poorly on
high-protein diets and improve physically and emotionally when a highcarbohydrate
diet is resumed.
Relatively high levels of uric acid, ammonia,and other toxins such as phenols, skatole, and indole are formed by proteolytic bacteria, which line our digestive tract when we consume a high-protein
diet.These toxic by-products elaborated by bacteria in our gutcan
significantly add to the toxic load the body must deal with on a daily basis and
can contribute to multiple disease processes.
The idea that the major diseases in prosperous countries are related to
dietary excesses is becoming a majority view among those studying the
question. Dr. Mark Hegsted, Professor of Nutrition at the Harvard School of
Public Health, stated before a Senate Committee, ―The risks associated with
eating this diet (rich in meat, other sources of fat, sugar, and refined
carbohydrates) are demonstrably large. The question to be asked is not why
should we change our diet, but why not? Ischemic heart disease, cancer,
diabetes, and hypertension are the diseases that kill us. They are epidemic in
our population. We cannot afford to temporize. We have an obligation to inform
the public of the correct food choices. To do less is to avoid our responsibility.‖
We continue to pretend that the cause of disease is a mystery or is genetic —
beyond our control. Fortunately, this is not so. On the other hand, many,
including physicians and informed laymen, are eager for excuses not to face the
annoying facts so they can continue to eat in ways that are convenient and
agreeable but hazardous to their health.
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