Anyone read "The China Study" by Dr. Campbell?

I have unfortunately read this and applied it to myself. I don't think I would have UC if I hadnt followed a vegan diet. I think it is terrible for health. I donated my copy to half price books and hopefully they recycled that garbage.

Also, every single study and "fact" has been debunked so many times it's a miracle that book is still being made.

Yes I've read it as well as many other books. I suggest Neil Ornish and John McDougall as well. I am a firm believer in a plant based diet. The problem arises during a flare to your UC: you simply can't eat much "ruffage" without experiencing pain. But a whole food, plant based diet is anti-inflammatory and ultimately healthy to your entire body. Just be careful during a flare: low residue, resistant starch (cooked and cooled potatoes are great). Don't listen to the idiot meat eaters if you wish to be animal friendly whole food based you should do it....when you have your UC "under control" Good journey!

I think the main problems with eating meat today comes primarily from all the antibiotics, hormones and GM feed that we give to the animals. Organic, grass fed animal meat has as much place in our diet as plant based food, though I do believe most of us probably eat too much meat in general. The fact that we humans were designed to be omnivores (evidenced by our teeth) flies in the face of a vegan approach to diet.

It's all about common sense. A slab of grass fed beef with a side of vegetables is better overall than just the veg by itself as part of a balanced diet whereas a McDonalds double cheeseburger with or without veg isn't doing anyone any favours. Whole foods are the way forward for optimum health!

i was eating a 100% plant based diet when i got whacked right between the cheeks with UC !

"The China Study" has been debated with believers and non-believers since it came out. I am a non-believer. This quote is from a reviewer: "He says overall, the more meat the Chinese consume, the higher the cancer rates. But unfortunately, he left out the county of Tuoli (as demonstrated by Denise Minger) a county with high consumption of meat AND dairy enjoyed ironically low incidences of cancer. The Masai, the Eskimos and even the French with their diets of high fat or dairy and animal protein have good health (low rates of heart disease, low cancer rates, low obesity).

There is much information pro and con when you google the title.
I love red meat but we only eat it once or twice a week at 1/4 ounce per person.
Not because of The China Study but because it is inflammatory food as researched by more reliable sources.

I was a vegetarian when I got UC so I know for sure a plant-based diet will not cure me. But I eat as many plants as possible daily.

One of the comments made is that the China Study author disregarded that wheat intake was more correlated to cancer than meat. Gluten-free has been the biggest factor in my recovery. Anecdotal yes but my gut rules my world.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 1/4/2016 9:06:27 AM (GMT-7)

I followed some of the debates on this book in the amazon reviews. What I think anyone can agree with is that if Americans ate significantly more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods, we'd be much healthier as a society.

I've gone SCD and really like the whole food aspect. I'm slowly trying to reduce the amount of meat I'm eating but I'm skinny as hell as is so its hard. I'm happy to be done with junk food for a while, whether this helps my UC or not. Gardener/Bacon/Juststud, can you describe a bit more what your plant-based diets were like before developing Uc? People tend to associate vegetarianism with healthy food, but I know two vegetarians who consume more junk than I ever did. On the flip side, I know a couple who are vegan who eat extremely healthy food and are the picture of good health. My diet leading up to my flare was a 33% coffee, 33% unhealthy food, 33% scotch diet. The only part I miss is the scotch.

What ever happened to a balanced diet?

Most Scientists & Doctors think that IBDs are genetic diseases, not a disease caused by diet. Yes, diet can help with your symptoms but it will not prevent the cause of the genetic autoimmune disease.

ks said...
Most Scientists & Doctors think that IBDs are genetic diseases, not a disease caused by diet. Yes, diet can help with your symptoms but it will not prevent the cause of the genetic autoimmune disease.

I generally agree with this. The author of this book makes the point that diet is stronger than genetics in some diseases. I have not formed an opinion on that idea yet.

One thing about genetics though, is, lets say your are genetically pre-disposed to lung cancer when exposed to certain products of combustion. If you smoke cigarettes, you're finished. If you never smoked, would you still get cancer? My guess is, a certain percentage would not, but some still would. The ones that would still get it, smokers or not, were screwed either way. But what if you were one of the ones who could avoid getting cancer, or could keep it from progressing if you just didn't smoke?

Could the same be true of some ingredient in the food we eat when it comes to IBD? Or could an improper balance of the food we eat enable our already screwed up cells and screwed up immune systems to continue down the path of destroying our colons? Its possible, so to me, its worth trying different diets to see what happens. I mean, what else am I gonna do? Just wait around for somebody else to figure it all out? I feel the need to be proactive in some way. Its like trying to plug the hole in the titanic one piece of chewing gum at a time...you're pretty much screwed no matter what, but you might as well try something.

Bottom line, no matter what you eat or don't eat, it's not going to guarantee that you'll never get cancer, diet isn't the only risk for cancers, lifestyle and all kinds of other environmental factors as well as genetic risks play a role when it comes to cancers.

Personally I don't think there's a whole lot a person can do to ultimately avoid ever getting cancer....just live the best you can cuz eventually we're all going to die, whether it's from cancer or something else really has no bearing once you're dead anyway.

Super way off topic but...

There is also the thought that maybe it's not so much 'evading' the immune system (MAP that is), but being 'kept under control' by the immune system.

Look at tuberculosis itself as an example. Most people think of lung infection, but in reality a tuberculosis infection can infect the blood, the skin, the kidney, the intestines and even the brain. It's a bacteria that can pop up anywhere as it is a systemic infection. It lays quietly dormant until the right time, but no one can figure out when this is, or what is really needed to spur the bacteria to become active.

I think one in four people worldwide carry tuberculosis in it's latent form. So the bacteria is alive and present, but not active and very, very, very slowly multiplying. The interesting thing or 'parallel' perhaps is that of the 1 in 4 with a latent infection only about 5% to 10% of those people will go on to eventually develop full blown active tuberculosis infection in some area or organ of their body (blood, lung, kidney, brain, intestine etc). The rest have no clue they are even infected as they seem perfectly healthy.

Active TB infection usually strikes then when something else has made them sick first and dampened their immune system - like AIDS, extreme emotional stress or a different viral or bacterial infection that weakens the immune system. The bacteria change 'form' somehow and an active infection is the result.

Its still quite the mystery today, however diet (nutrition), stress, and so on are environmental factors associated with it as well.

A possibility exists that UC could be similar with an as yet identified or misunderstood infection that activates in the same way.

I always found it fascinating that TB was so important to the entire world, that during World War 2 the Americans and allies bombed and wiped out an entire German city flat to the ground with the exception of one single building - the BERH pharmaceutical lab that was working on an antibiotic for TB. Crazy. After the bombing stopped they walked out of the building to find everything gone but their workplace.

On a side note: There's also a very new link between TB infection and Diabetes. One in four with TB seem to develop Diabetes, and it's proposed that Diabetes might also be a sign of undiagnosed TB infection.

So there is a lot of question as to what role the types of bacteria (MAP, TB, other related) may be playing with diseases like IBD, MS, Diabetes and so on.

@imagardener

Did your hit out of the blue? Like you just woke up one day and had D type thing that became progressively worse over time?

And did you have any IBS issues prior?

Yes! I am on the plant diet and religiously. It has only been 6 weeks but manage ok. I always treat any claims such as arresting and or reversing Heart disease with interest but caution.
Before i am a complete believer i would like to be living proof myself. So i am hoping my Heart disease will improve too just like Dr Esselstyn's patients did?
Time will tell. How ever, it all sounds plausible and i remain optimistic with an open mind. Too many have a close mind as it is already.