The China Study is a comprehensive nutrition book packed with statistics, scientific data and other related studies. The book has four parts: a background of the research and the author, a presentation of related studies, nutritional guide and the finale.
At the first part of the book, the author narrated how he came up with the idea of pursuing the research about protein consumption and how it relates to cancer. The study covered around 6,500 adults. Samples of urine, blood and records of their food intake were gathered for the study. Existing scientific research relative to diet-related diseases were then evaluated and compared at the second part of the book. According to the book, diseases such as obesity, cancer, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis are developed due to high consumption of protein.
A nutritional guide to a healthy diet was provided on the third part of the book. Here, the author advocated eight diet principles that can be summarized into one great principle: if our bad eating habits can cause lists of diseases, it is in correcting that bad habit that we can reverse the disease. He dedicated this part in explaining why his diet principle (based on his study) was not presented to the public long before he came up with his research. He was brave enough to conclude that our existing government system and policies are corrupted and unreliable.
The finale of the book is an appeal to the public for a support to veganism. Backed up with his own research and related scientific studies, the author would like readers to realize how important it is for us be mindful of our diet. The author exposed several names in the government, the food industry and in the academia. He pointed his fingers bravely to them as directly responsible for the lack of public awareness on this issue.
There are several important points in this book that is worth reading:
The China Study covered several regions in China. The differences in their diets and diseases were compared and analyzed to verify their relationship with protein consumption and their diseases.
The book claims the protein in milk promotes cancer. Although controversial, the author backed it up with the results of his own study together with the clinical studies of other researchers. It is important to point out that his research was funded by NIH and private organizations and are of course peer reviewed.
The bottom line is the author believes it is important for us to reduce our protein intake and switch to vegan diet to avoid common cancer and other diseases.
