What is the China Study?

And why should it matter to me?

Let's start at the beginning, and see if we can make some sense of it all...

In the early 1970's the premier of China, Zhou Enlai, was dying of cancer.  Realizing he was dying of a terminal disease that few understood, he initiated a monumental survey across his nation of the death rates of 12 different kinds of cancer.

The Premier's initiative reached into 2400 Chinese counties and tallied 880 million citizens.  This is the most ambitious biomedical project ever undertaken.

The data results provided explosive insights into cancer's nature and prompted Dr. T. Colin Campbell to partner with China and England to set up the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted.... this is The China Study.

So, what did the Premier's original survey actually reveal that was so important?

Well, after all the data was collected from those 880 million citizens around the country, the results were tallied and arranged in a color-coded chart/map.  This map or Cancer Atlas as it is called, revealed that the cancers found in China were definitely geographically located.

In other words, there were areas or counties where certain types of cancer were very high and there were areas where the same cancers were almost non-existent.

And this is important because the Chinese population is relatively homogenous genetically.  Meaning that the Chinese people have a very similar gene make-up.  But the cancers did not affect the population equally, leading the scientists to believe that the cancers were more likely due to environmental and/or lifestyle factors rather than genetics.

Secondly, the incidences of these cancers across China showed huge variations.  There were some cancers that occured 100 times more often in certain counties than others.  To the scientists these variations provoked even more questions...

1.  Why was cancer so high in some rural Chinese counties and not in others?

2.  Why were these differences so incredibly large?

3.  Why was overall cancer less common in China than in the U.S.?

The more Dr. Campbell grappled with these questions, the more he felt compelled to find the answers...

30 years ago, he put together a world-class scientific team and took on the challenge.

And it was a Huge Challenge.

The team set out to gather extensive data from 65 counties in China and administered blood and urine tests to 6,500 adults.  They used expansive questionnaires on diet and lifestyle as well as analyzing food samples from marketplaces around the country.

When they were done, they had more than 8,000 statistically significant associations between lifestyle, diet and disease variables.

Let that sink in... more than 8,000 connections between how we live/what we eat and the type of diseases we may get (not just cancer, but heart disease and infectious diseases as well).

The work of Dr. Campbell and his team fills the pages of his book, The China Study.

It is amazing in scope.  And presents a clear and concise message...

"... a good diet is the most powerful weapon we have against

disease and sickness..."

                                                        ~ Dr. T. Colin Campbell

Join us this month as we discover just what Dr. Campbell means by "a good diet."  It is a study that can have profound implications for each of us.

So excited you are here!