On Cancer and a Vegetarian Diet
 

Kathy Freston.Author, Health and Wellness Expert

Once you start paying attention, you just can't avoid the bad news
about meat consumption. From Reuters comes the news that "Women who
received the most calories from animal protein had twice the risk of
[endometrial cancer] compared to those who took in the fewest calories
from animal sources."

And then I read this morning in Chemical & Engineering News (O.K., so
I don't subscribe; a friend forwarded it to me) some truly scary news
about eating chickens: About 70 percent of chickens in the U.S. are
fed arsenic (to promote growth, stave off disease, etc.), a practice
banned in the EU; that's right--arsenic!? As in, poison. As in that
wonderful play, "Arsenic and Old Lace," about the clever old gals who
use it to kill their gentlemen callers!

Arsenic & Young Chickens
In fact, according to the piece, the average U.S. chicken has about
390 parts per billion of arsenic, "which is three to four times
greater than arsenic levels in other types of poultry and meat from
other animals."

I need to just quote from the story directly about the possible impact
of this:


"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, long-term exposure
to inorganic arsenic can cause bladder, lung, skin, kidney, and colon
cancer, as well as deleterious immunological, neurological, and
endocrine effects. Low-level exposures can lead to partial paralysis
and diabetes...
"Even though the drinking water standard for arsenic has been
strengthened, the standards for arsenic residues in poultry-2,000 ppb
for liver and 500 ppb for muscle-have remained unchanged for decades.
Furthermore, neither the Food & Drug Administration nor the Department
of Agriculture has actually measured the level of arsenic in the
poultry meat that most people consume..."

But actually, it's not just the poison that's being fed to chickens
and concentrating in their flesh that is causing meat-eaters to get
sick. No, apparently the real problem with chicken and other meats
isn't some scary additive--it's actually the animal protein itself,
which both causes and fuels cancer cells, and which will exist in
chicken meat even if the U.S. poultry industry stops feeding animals
arsenic (though it sure sounds like the chicken industry has no
interest in stopping; they feed 2.2. million pounds of arsenic to
chickens right now).

The "China Project"
Indeed, I think that the most compelling evidence against eating
animal products comes from China, and shows that the carcinogenic
nutrient in meat is protein, rather than fat. In one of my favorite
books on the subject of health, The China Study: Startling
Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health, author T.
Colin Campbell, Ph.D., a Professor Emeritus of Nutritional
Biochemistry at Cornell University, explains that animal protein is
the most carcinogenic substance we consume ( even worse than the
arsenic in chicken) and presents powerful data showing that animal
products both cause and fuel cancer and other deadly diseases.

Dr. Campbell's study is the most comprehensive survey of the
connection between diet and disease in medical history, and he has
looked at all of the clinical, epidemiological, and other evidence,
and it all backs up what he documented in China. His final statement
on what we should all be eating?

Here's how he explains it in "Why China Holds the Key to Your Health":
"The data from the China Project suggest that what we have come to
consider as 'normal' illnesses of aging are really not normal. In
fact, these findings indicate that the vast majority perhaps 80 to 90%
of all cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other forms of
degenerative illness can be prevented, at least until very old age,
simply by adopting a plant-based diet."

These are strong words from a man who was raised on a dairy farm, got
his Ph.D. in animal nutrition, and worked on a project to produce
animal protein more efficiently.

The Deadly Connection Between Animal Protein, Blood Cholesterol, and
Carcinogens:
Dr. Campbell now believes it best to avoid animal protein altogether.
According to Campbell, blood cholesterol levels can be reduced by
eating plant protein instead. "Some of the plant proteins,
particularly soy," he says, "have an impressive ability to reduce
blood cholesterol." This might explain a finding released a few months
back that "eating tofu can slash ovarian cancer risk."

"At the outset of the China Study," writes Dr. Campbell in his book,
"no one could or would have ever predicted the relationship between
cholesterol and any of the disease rates. What a surprise we got." Dr.
Campbell and his team found that as blood cholesterol levels decrease,
a slew of cancers decreases as well, including "cancers of the liver,
rectum, colon, male lung, female lung, breast, childhood leukemia,
adult leukemia, childhood brain, adult brain, stomach and esophagus
(throat)."

According to Campbell, in addition to animal protein causing cancer,
it also fuels cancer that exists. So you can have a carcinogen in your
body, but it doesn't get "turned on" until you ingest animal flesh.
Animal protein causes the carcinogen to grow and spread. Even
so-called lean cuts of meat, as well as fish and chicken, are high in
fat and protein, and as Dr. Campbell says, animal protein only causes
"mischief."

Choose Health: Choose Vegetarian From animal products doubling your
risk of endometrial, to soy foods lowering your risk of contracting
ovarian cancer, to carcinogenic arsenic in your chicken (and other
meat, though in lower levels), to the news that animal protein is the
big cause of dietary cancer (and remember, the American Cancer Society
says that about 30 percent of cancer comes from what you eat!), it
sure is looking like the "vegan thing" is making a lot more sense in a
lot of different ways.

I highly recommend checking out The China Study to get the full scoop,
which is full of fascinating information and gripping statistics. I
give it out so much that I think I should be getting a commission. The
book also gives tips on making the transition to a vegetarian diet, as
does my last column, "One Bite at a Time: A Beginner's Guide to
Conscious Eating."