The China Study's Compelling Arguments for Plant-based Diet

I had read bits of the book The China Study here and there, but I finally borrowed the book and am reading it more thoroughly.  I highly suggest checking it out.  To me it is rather validating since I have been vegan for nearly 12 years.  There is a lot of compelling evidence that more animal protein directly correlates with worse health.

At the same time, I think the emphasis may be too much on the lack of animal proteins and not enough on the presence of a variety of phytonutrients like anti-oxidants and other nutrients that benefit health that are only more recently being discovered.  All the beneficial chemical compounds in veggies like broccoli and kale for example.  Also, while the author recommends a whole foods plant-based diet, I feel that some people may feel like all they have to do is go without the animal products and reap healthy benefits.  Having been a junk food vegan until a few years ago, I know that vegans are perfectly capable of being unhealthy.  Even in the last year of eating especially healthy foods, has shown lowered cholesterol (yeah, it was actually not at an ideal level), blood pressure, and body fat.  Not to mention other benefits.  Anyway, here's some intriguing excerpts of the book's intro.  The link below allows you to read a lot more of the intro without having the book in your hands.

I will potentially change my views on the message of this book.  I know for example that it goes into depth to question whether fiber is beneficial in and of itself, whether it is part of a synergistic set of nutrients that are beneficial, or whether it just displaces unhealthy foods like animal protein (meaning the more fiber in the diet the less animal protein). 

Anyway, here's some of the book:

Some of the findings, published in reputable scientific journals has shown that:
- Dietary change can enable diabetic patients to go off their medication.
- Breast cancer is related to levels of female hormones in the blood which are determined by the food we eat
- Consuming dairy foods can increase the risk of prostate cancer
- Antioxidants, found in fruits and vegetables, are linked to better mental performance in old age
- Kidney stones can be prevented by a healthy diet. And two excellent books have been written about reversing heart disease, even severe heart disease, with diet alone.
These findings demonstrate that a good diet is the most powerful weapon we have against disease and sickness. An understanding of this scientific evidence is not only important for improving health; it also has profound implications for our entire society. We must know why misinformation dominates our society and why we are grossly mistaken in how we investigate diet and disease, how we promote health and how we treat illness.

...

What we found was shocking. Low-protein diets inhibited the initiation of cancer by aflatoxin, regardless of how much of this carcinogen was administered to these animals. After cancer initiation was completed, low-protein diets also dramatically blocked subsequent cancer growth. In other words, the cancer-producing effects of this highly carcinogenic chemical were rendered insignificant by a low-protein diet. In fact, dietary protein proved to be so powerful in its effect that we could turn on and turn off cancer growth simply by changing the level consumed.  Read more.