This book was ground breaking in its time and became a worldwide best seller. It seems rude to condense so many years of meticulous research into a few sentences but basically Dr Colin Campbell recommends giving up meat and dairy completely. He claims the benefits are huge as this diet can largely prevent heart disease, cancers, arthritis and even reverse diabetes type 2. He follows his own guide lines and you can see him on You Tube, still lecturing as a healthy man in his eighties.
Personally I have no problem with avoiding meat as I've been vegetarian for years, (however my children are not as I believed they needed the protein), but giving up milk, yoghurt and cheese? Oh dear. Yes there are good arguments for being vegan, not least animal welfare and economic reasons but it is surely not so easy unless you are a great cook with loads of time? How do you convince children to change and enjoy a largely plant based diet?
The China Study gets a bit of a bashing in The Diet Myth by Tim Spector who claims observational data can suggest spurious associations that are likely to be false. He points out that although large doses of milk protein casein may cause liver cancer in lab animals the same is true when non-animal protein is used during experiments. However Tim did a no meat or dairy challenge of his own and lost a little weight and lowered his blood pressure and blood cholesterol (by 15%) although he still says this proves nothing. Today he rarely eats meat. If you have the time, check out some of Dr Campbell's work and decide for yourself who's right.
I'm not sure my little family is ready to become vegan but I have served far less meat lately and introduced more pulses and salads (largely unsuccessfully I admit!). If only I employed a talented chef who would whip up amazing nutritious meals life would be so much easier...
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