A Dark Secret...

While Dr. Campbell was working at Virginia Tech, he began coordinating technical assistance for a nationwide project in the Philippines working with malnourished children.

It is the springboard for Dr. Campbell's life work exploring the undeniable relationship between diet and disease.  He shares the story much more eloquently than I could ever... here's an excerpt from The China Study explaining the dark secret he uncovered among the children of the Philippines:

"Part of the project [in the Philippines] became an investigation of the unusually high prevalence of liver cancer, usually an adult disease, in Filipino children.  It was thought that high consumption of aflatoxin, a mold toxin found in peanuts and corn, caused this problem.  Aflatoxin has been called one of the most potent carcinogens [cancer causer] ever discovered.

For ten years our primary goal in the Philippines was to improve childhood malnutrition among the poor, a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development.  Eventually, we established about 110 nutrition "self-help" education centers around the country.

The aim of these efforts in the Philippines was simple: make sure that children were getting as much protein as possible.  It was widely thought that much of the childhood malnutrition in the world was caused by a lack of protein, especially from animal-based foods.  Universities and governments around the world were working to alleviate a perceived "protein gap" in the developing world.

In this project, however, I uncovered a dark secret.  Children who ate the highest-protein diets were the ones most likely to get liver cancer!  They were the children of the wealthiest families... [they] were from the best-fed families. The families with the most money ate what we thought were the healthiest diets, the diets most like our own meaty American diets.  They consumed more protein than anyone else in the country (high quality animal protein) and yet they were the ones getting liver cancer!

How could this be?

I then noticed a research report from India that had some very provocative, relevant findings.  Indian researchers had studied two groups of rats.  In one group, they administered the cancer-causing aflatoxin, then fed a diet that was composed of 20% protein, a level near what many of us consume in the West.  In the other group, they administered the same amount of aflatoxin, but then fed a diet that was only composed of 5% protein.  Incredibly, every single animal that consumed the 20% protein diet had evidence of liver cancer, and every single animal that consumed a 5% protein diet avoided liver cancer.  It was a 100 to 0 score, leaving no doubt that nutrition trumped chemical carcinogens, even very potent carcinogens, in controlling cancer.

This information countered everything I had been taught.  It was heretical to say that protein wasn't healthy, let alone say it promoted cancer...

So, faced with a difficult decision, I decided to start an in-depth laboratory program that would investigate the role of nutrition, especially protein, in the development of cancer. My colleagues and I were cautious in framing our hpotheses, rigorous in our methodology, and conservative in interpreting our findings... By carefully following the rules of good science, I was able to study a provocative topic without provoking knee-jerk responses that arise with radical ideas...

What we found was shocking.  Low-protein diets inhibited the initiation of cancer by aflatoxin, regardless of how much of this carcinogen was adminstered to these animals.  After cancer initiation was completed, low-protein diets also dramatically blocked subsequent cancer growth.  In fact, dietary protein prove to be so powerful in its effect that we could turn on and turn off cancer growth simply by changing the level consumed...

But that's not all.  We found that not all proteins had this effect.  What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer?  Casein, which makes up 87% of cow's milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process.  What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at high levels of intake?  The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy.  As this picture came into view, it began to challenge and then to shatter some of my most cherished assumptions."

What followed is the Break-through Study that has turned what we know about nutrition on its ear, giving undeniable evidence of the power of a plant-based diet.

It's time to start re-thinking the connection between diet and disease!

A Sunday Truce...

There are times in the fight when a truce must be made.

A time-out from battle.  A call to peace in the midst of conflict.

This is never more true than when in the fight of your life.  And Beating Cancer is all-out war.

Today is our Sunday Truce time... no hard stuff, no decisions, no China Study.

Take a breathe.  Re-focus our thoughts.  Center on Hope.

Let Grace lead you to a place of peace and gratitude.

It is your legacy...

Begin living it today!

Stop Feeding Your Cancer

Dr. John Kelly was downright skeptical when he was challenged to review Dr. Campbell’s work.  As a general practitioner he had seen his fair share of cancer through the years.

After reading through the comprehensive results of The China Study and Dr. Campbell’s subsequent follow-up, he found himself unable to ignore the importance of the science and the urgency of the message…

“Cancer has visited my own family and, like so many others, I have personally dealt with the stress it brings to lives, and with the frequently helpless confusion.  Patients’ first reactions on hearing their diagnoses are consistent.  Alarm and distress are compounded by ignorance.  The headlines about cancer are well known and circulated in the popular press; it is virulent, it is indiscriminately fatal and treatments are complex and often brutal.”

Dr. Kelly chose to devise his own straw poll study in his clinical practice.  Compelled by the scientific findings in Campbells China Study, he put forth the question… “What would be the fate of my cancer patients if they followed Campbell’s study and rigorously adopted the animal-protein-free-diet he advocated?”

He stresses that as a medical practitioner he was committed to the well-being of all his patients and was not discouraging them from continuing conventional cancer treatments.  His field test involved adding in the whole food plant-based diet alongside whatever treatments the patient was already indergoing.

The trial that Dr. Kelly proposed was not a conventional, full-scale clinical trial.  "As with any doctor on the frontline of health care, I had seen too much suffering and too many lives cut short by cancer to be blasé about the disease.  My reasoning was that any study that proposed widespread remedial value demanded the most rigorous and transparent field-testing.”

So Dr. Kelly proceeded with his own study, with his patients’ help.  He made a pact with himself to avoid psychological prompting and to resist coaching individuals' response to recovery.  His job, as he saw it, was merely to introduce the facts, urge the diet and to observe and record.  The field-test spanned eight years.

What transpired was nothing short of remarkable…

One of the case studies in Dr. Kelly's book, Stop Feeding Your Cancer, was about a patient named Ronan.

Ronan was in his mid-sixties when he developed colon cancer.  He had a portion of the cancerous colon removed and made a rapid recovery.  His surgeon felt that he was doing well, but suggested a follow-up with his general practitioner, Dr. Kelly.

Dr. Kelly followed Ronan's progress and was the one who called for scans 7 months later when Ronan came to him with jaundice.  The scans showed multiple secondary lesions or cancer deposits on his liver.  

Ronan's cancer had come back and had metastisized.

Dr Kelly brought up the subject of The China Study and talked with Ronan about the possible association between animal protein and cancer growth.  Ronan agreed to read the book, but did not see the significance in it and went back to the surgeon who removed the section of liver where the cancer was located.

Ronan did agree to cut down a little on cheese, in a nod to the strict plant-based, no dairy diet that was recommended, and Dr. Kelly, true to his word, did not prompt or coach Ronan to comply.

Several months later scans discovered new cancer deposits in the soft tissue of the pelvis.  The cancer had come back.  

This time Ronan was treated with radiation, more surgery and finally another course of chemotherapy.

At some point in the grueling treatment, Ronan hit a turning point.  He came to Dr. Kelly and with the conviction of a man with one last chance, Ronan decided to surrender to the animal-protein-free diet.  

According to Dr. Kelly, "Almost immediately after adopting the diet, Ronan began to feel considerably better, and after three weeks he became quite enthusiastic about his new regime."  

At the time of writing his book, Dr. Keely shared that Ronan was more than 18 months out of treatment and appeared fit, well and optimistic, maintaining a full and active life on the diet.

I will be sharing more of Dr. Kelly's case studies in the next weeks, but  after a decade of work with hundreds of cancer patients in his clinic, Dr. Kelly has become convinced beyond any reasonable doubt of the link between consumption of animal protein and cancer growth.

The question still ponders, was it the simultaneous course of chemo and radiation or the whole-food-plant-based diet that gave Ronan a second chance?

Excited to see transformation and conversation beginning as we walk this journey and discover ways to Beat Cancer...

So glad you're here!  

Lessons from China...

Yesterday we talked about the ominous rise in Cancer rates around the globe.

I'll be honest, it makes me just a little crazy.  As a mother, a wife, a daughter, I am consumed with a desire to keep my loved ones safe.  But how to do that?  How to protect them from a disease that is growing, despite the billions of dollars spent on medical research?

Perhaps that is why The China Study resonated with me.  The study was incredibly comprehensive in scope.  Thousands of test subjects over more than a decade.  This is no small feat.  Nor are the results.

The Cancer Atlas was just the beginning.  It displays the cancer deaths of common cancers across China.  In doing so it pinpointed huge disparities in cancer frequencies and their locations across the country.  Dr. Campbell took those disparities and began an expansive study with China and England digging into these results.

What Dr. Campbell and his team discovered was literally a radical change in the way we should think about disease and nutrition.

In a nutshell, here is the Jane-speak version of The China Study results... (you remember I am not a doctor, right?)  This is about as lay-person basic as it gets.

When the data was drilled down, it became apparent that the critical variable in the way cancer clustered was the type of diet consumed.

As Dr. Campbell's team cross-listed their results with the Cancer Atlas they found two groups of diseases emerging:  Those that were typically found in economically developed areas - they called these diseases of affluence.  And diseases that were typically found in rural agricultural areas - they called these diseases of poverty.

Here are some of the common Diseases of Affluence:

Cancers - colon, lung, breast, childhood brain, stomach and liver
Diabetes
Coronary Heart Disease

Here are some of the common Diseases of Poverty:

Pneumonia
Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Peptic Ulcer,  Digestive disease
Rheumatic Heart Disease
Parasite Disease

Dr. Campbell's study then added in dietary habits of each group.  This is where it gets really interesting.  You're still with me, yes?

Ok, in rural China, the areas of the agricultural poor, their main diet was primarily whole-food, plant-based with less than 10% animal proteins.  These areas put a spotlight on the Diseases of Poverty,

As certain areas in China developed and accumulated more wealth, people began changing their eating habits, lifestyles and sanitation systems.  And this resulted in diets much higher in animal proteins.  These areas put a spotlight on the Diseases of Affluence.

Now, the hard part... getting honest with ourselves...

What do our diets most resemble?  The wealthy plates of the affluent?  Or the plant-based, whole foods of the rural poor?

Dr. Campbell answered that question for us.  {Spoiler: It's not pretty.}

The common US diet is a rich, extravagant one, consisting of over 80% animal protein, not to mention that it's highly processed, laden with sugar and unhealthy oils.  That makes us fall on the side of the rich and economically affluent...

Which means that we are most likely to be affected by the Diseases of Affluence... remember that list?  Cancer, Diabetes, and Coronary Heart Disease.

Dr. Campbell's recommendation?   You guessed it... It is way past time to adopt a diet that is completely (or mostly) whole food, plant-based, free from animal proteins and processed foods.

So easy to type... so incredibly hard to implement. (I know... I have radically changed how and what I eat these past months... and am anxious to share what I've learned.)

Stick with me...  Tomorrow we start looking at real life case studies and how this study {this radical change in diet and nutrition} is making a huge difference for cancer patients.

The China Study is offering Hope to many who will never hear a word about diet and nutrition from their doctors.

Perhaps it's time to start the Conversation...

Is It Just Another Fad?

Many of you know our story.  It is the heartbeat of our lives.

When Cancer showed up at our house it knocked us to our knees.

Mom knew, likely from the beginning, that the deck was stacked against her.  We, naive and unschooled in the ways of cancer, were confident that she could beat it.

Pancreatic Cancer had other plans.  And they were ugly and wrenching and the stuff of nightmares.

It is the reason that we are so passionate about finding a Cure.  In our lifetime.  And yours.

But so many "miracle" treatments are just fancy snake oil.  We've seen a few.

You might call them fads or trends in the multi-billion dollar cancer industry... Who to believe?

And with your life or a loved ones at stake, what do you do?  Who do you trust?

We're right there with you... Questioning, Researching, Investigating, Scrutinizing... if something sounds too good to be true, we have found that it usually is...

So, why, you might be asking, am I so excited about The China Study???

{Disclaimer:  You know I am not a doctor, Right?  Nothing, I mean nothing I say should be taken for medical advice!  Please, Please talk with your oncologist and/or cancer team about all treatment options}

Perhaps a little background might help...

When Mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010, she began the conventional treatment of Gemzar chemotherapy and radiation... Her tumor was inoperable.  The doctors said that Gemzar and Radiation were the Gold Standard of treatments and were her best option...

But they failed her.  As they have failed countless other loved ones.  I have lost count of the tears we have shed as these Conventional treatments have failed.  Over and Over again.

Utterly... Completely... Failed.

And yet, tomorrow morning, hundreds of new pancreatic cancer patients will hear that their only option is the Gold Standard treatment.  A Gold Standard that has not changed in over 40 years...  And we are somehow expecting different results today?  Different than yesterday's?  Or the week before?

I am not as naive as I was 6 years ago when we sat with mom in that sterile oncology office and begged for hope...

Oh, but it gets worse.  Pancreatic cancer is not the only monster in the dark.  Cancer rates of all kinds are increasing around the globe. 

What in the world is going on??  

Something has to change.

And maybe, just maybe, we're going to have to get serious about Change.  Really serious.

The China Study, at its core, spoke to the researcher in me.   This is no fad.  Nor an easy, 1-2-3 fix.

It is really serious about affecting change.  And sharing real, honest-to-goodness results from very real people.

Perhaps it's time to Rethink the Gold Standard for Cancer treatment. 

Tomorrow we dig into the recommendations from The China Study and see what it's all about...

Every, last, really serious bit of it!  Join us... Yes?

The Secret Ingredient

I am not about to make you wait... there is too much at stake.

The China Study is filled with information (387 pages worth!) and if you are like me, you skip to the last chapter immediately to see what gives.

Well, here's the skinny...

The secret ingredient to a good diet, according to Dr. Campbell and his research team, is simple.

Plants.

That's it.  {You're welcome.}

We should eat Plants.  Every day.  All kinds.

Green, Yellow, Orange, Purple and Red.

Sweet, Tart, Wholesome Plants.  Not animals.  Just Plants.

The secret to dramatically reducing our risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

And I might be over-simplifying just a bit.  There's so much more (387 pages!)

But you deserve to know what we're getting in to.  Right from the start.   We are getting radical.

Changing our diets is not for the faint of heart.  Yet, it is the very crux of so much that is wrong with our health.

When I first heard about the China Study, I was reading a book by Dr. John Kelly called Stop Feeding Your Cancer...

It is a fascinating read and fully engaged me from the first page.  Dr. Kelly had been introduced to The China Study and was compelled to follow-up with these dietary recommendations in his own practice.

His book is filled with case studies of many heroic patients who agreed to follow the diet and share their stories.  

It peaked my interest and I began a journey into a new, and might I add, revolutionary chapter in our cancer journey...

And it involves Plants.  Lots of delicious, nutritious, amazing plants...

Don't be scared off.  Stick with me.  The stories are nothing short of miraculous and you deserve every chance in the world in this fight against cancer.

If a diet could change the way your body healed itself, would you be interested???

Come back tomorrow... it just gets better and better!

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!