People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. Even relatively small intakes of animal-based food were associated with adverse effects. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease. (The China Study)

A nutrition book is not something that is always on the top my reading list despite the importance of the topic in life. So when I was told about the China Study, I was a bit skeptical about the book especially knowing that it was about plant-based food (back then I was still a heavy meat eater and did not want to entertain the idea of a diet without meat). However, once I started reading the book I was quite impressed with how it was written and the knowledge I gained. The book explains the connection between nutrition and human health especially around common diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

The research results from the China Study show many benefits of plant-based diet. More importantly, it is stated that

nutrients from animal-based foods increased tumor development while nutrients from plant-based foods decreased tumor development.

If increasing tumor development is not bad enough, early consumption of cow's milk by children also increases the risk of autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes and surprisingly plant-based diet may be able to reduce people's dependence on insulin or even reverse the diabetes itself. I was also astonished by the link between cow's milk consumption (especially at early ages) and the risk of autoimmune diseases (it was like a "light-bulb" moment). This fact gave an answer to the most probable cause of Alopecia Areata (an autoimmune disease whereby the immune system mistakenly attacks hair follicles) that someone-dear-to-me has been living with since childhood. It hurts to know that such a simple knowledge about cow's milk could have changed that person's life.

Speaking of cow's milk, another great revelation is the fact that milk is not the only source of calcium. In fact Campbell pointed out that milk is acidic and therefore strips the calcium off the bones instead of depositing calcium into human bones. He did not provide any examples of vegetables or fruit that are high in calcium, so I did my own homework (a.k.a. asking Google) to find this information. What I found is that one cup of cooked spinach has about 240 mg calcium compare to one cup of milk which has 300 mg. Other vegetables that are high in calcium include tofu and broccoli (180 mg per cup). So all those advertisements about drinking milk to build strong bones are completely misleading?!

The book also imparts an awareness of the corruption in government agencies that do research into nutrition and develop guidelines on nutrition requirements. A lot of the research is funded by companies or organizations whose profitability is dependent on the sale of animal-based products such as milk and meat. As a result, the findings from the researchers can be skewed or only favourable outcomes (to the organisations / companies) are heavily published. So a key message here is think twice when you read any labeling on the recommended percentage daily intake or any guidance on healthy and balanced meals!

Another huge misconception about a vegetarian / vegan diet is the protein source. The most likely question that someone will ask a vegetarian is “how do you get your protein?”. It is a huge fallacy that you need to consume animal-based foods to get sufficient protein in your diet! In fact, there are a lot of plant-based foods that are high in protein such as quinoa, chickpeas, soy products (tofu, tempeh, or edamame which is my favorite thing to eat in a Japanese restaurant!) and leafy greens. Again, perhaps the corruption in the regulatory system and misleading advertising has played a part in giving the public this idea on protein sources?! Based on many years of research, the book stated:

...through enormously complex metabolic systems, the human body can derive all the essential amino acids from the natural variety of plant proteins that we encounter every day.

After many months of slowly eating more and more plant-based foods I now really enjoy it, although I am still working my way towards becoming a strict vegan. Hopefully I will be able to do so in the near future. How would you start reducing your intake of animal-based food to have a healthier self?