Brought up on a dairy farm and gaining his PhD on a study of the ways of improvements to the production of animal protein he was later given an assignment to study ways of improving the protein content of the diets of the poor in the Philippines. Coincidental with this was a concern about the incidence of cancer attributed to a highly carcinogenic mould aflatoxin in peanuts, their staple food. But to his surprise it wasn’t the poor living on the less healthy end of the crop but the more affluent able to afford the western diet high in animal protein that were succumbing to cancer. About the same time a piece of research undertaken by a group in India had demonstrated that by infecting a population of rats with aflatoxin and feeding half a 5% protein diet and the other half a 20% protein diet ,(casein in both cases),led to the death of the whole of the second group with no effect on those on the low protein diet. Campbell repeated the experiment and got the same results, then went on to switch the feed back and forth discovering that he could switch on and off the development of cancer by increasing and decreasing the amount of protein in the diet. This had the effect of turning his world upside down. ‘Protein’ meaning ‘of prime importance’ had been discovered in the early 19th century and was considered to be the basis of a good wholesome diet, and had long been identified with animal products.
A great opportunity to further his studies was shortly to come his way from China. When Premier Cho EnLai was in the grip of the final stages of cancer of the bladder he commissioned a monumental study of the death rates from cancer among 880million (96%) of their citizens. Because of the genetic uniformity of the Chinese and the stability of their communities, (this was in the 1970s), the information produced was of great value to Campbell producing a wealth of information relating diet to the incidence of most of the diseases troubling the West.
Another significant piece of research, this time at home, was the discovery of the importance of whole plants in the diet. When the researcher extracted vitamin C from an apple it was assessed to be 263 times less effective as an antioxidant than when left in the fruit.
Putting all his discoveries together Colin Campbell is advocating a ‘Whole Food Plant Based Diet’ with the very minimum of animal protein, low fat, sugar and salt. The campaign is growing in the States under the banner ‘Plant Pure Nation’ with the backing of such notables as former President Bill Clinton, golfing icon Gary Player, and has been taken up by Google and Facebook in their staff restaurants.
However you view your personal health, or have concern for family or friends, the studies are reassuring and accessible.
‘Diets containing more healthy, unrefined plants have been shown to prevent or treat a wide range of diseases,
Or worsened outcomes with more animal food intake’
High blood pressure Kidney stones Enlarged prostate Pancreatic Cancer
High cholesterol Chronic kidney disease Oral Cancer Prostate Cancer
Heart disease Obesity Lung Cancer Acne
Gallstones Alzheimer’s disease Liver Cancer Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcers Parkinson’s disease Stomach Cancer Crohn’s Disease
Gastroesophageal reflux Cataracts Colorectal Cancer Chronic obstructive
Disease (GERD) lung disease
Diabetes (Both type 1 Macular Degeneration Endometrial (uterine Rheumatoid arthritis and type 2) Cancer Multiple Sclerosis
Transition to Health-
‘The China Study’ provides the detail, ‘Whole’ is a summary and explains why the information is not making the impact it merits. ‘The Campbell Plan’ reveals how a practising GP uses the results of the research with his patients. ‘How Not To Die’ vindicates this plant based approach with references to a huge volume of research and the site ‘nutritionfacts.org’ provides a daily update with short videos. There is also a DVD appropriately titled ‘Forks Over Knives’ which takes a journey through the science to the remarkable testimonies of those who have recovered from a whole range of ‘The Diseases of Affluence’ by following this simple but fundamental change to their lifestyle.
R.E. Yarwood -