The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health is a book byT. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. The book argues for health benefits of awhole foodplant-based diet. It was first published in the United States in January 2005 and had sold over one million copies as of October 2013, making it one of America's best-selling books aboutnutrition.[2][3]
The China Study examines the link between the consumption ofanimal products (including dairy) and chronic illnesses such ascoronary heart disease,diabetes,breast cancer,prostate cancer, andbowel cancer.[4] The book is "loosely based"[5] on theChina–Cornell–Oxford Project, a 20-year study that looked at mortality rates from cancer and other chronic diseases from 1973 to 1975 in 65 counties in China, and correlated this data with 1983–84 dietary surveys and blood work from 100 people in each county.
The authors conclude that people who eat a predominantly whole-food,vegan diet—avoiding animal products as a source of nutrition, including beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, and milk, and reducing their intake of processed foods and refinedcarbohydrates—will escape, reduce, or reverse the development of numerous diseases. They write that "eating foods that contain anycholesterol above 0 mg is unhealthy."[6] The book recommends sunshine exposure ordietary supplements to maintain adequate levels ofvitamin D, and supplements ofvitamin B12 in case of complete avoidance of animal products.[7] It criticizeslow-carb diets, such as theAtkins diet, which include restrictions on the percentage ofcalories derived from carbohydrates.[8] The authors are critical ofreductionist approaches to the study of nutrition, whereby certain nutrients are blamed for disease, as opposed to studying patterns of nutrition and the interactions between nutrients.[9]
The book was first published in 2005.[1][10] A revised and expanded edition was published in 2016.[11] The book has also been published in German, Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Swedish and Urdu.[12]
Campbell, Thomas (2015).The Campbell Plan: the simple way to lose weight and reverse illness, using the China Study's whole-food, plant-based diet. Rodale Books.ISBN978-1-62336-410-6.
Campbell, Thomas (2016).The China study solution: the simple way to lose weight and reverse illness, using a whole-food, plant-based diet. Rodale Books.ISBN978-1-62336-757-2.
Campbell, LeAnne; Campbell, T. Colin; Disla, Steven Campbell (2013).The China study cookbook: over 120 whole-food, plant-based recipes. BenBella Books.ISBN978-1-937856-76-2.[13]
Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, said in his documentaryThe Last Heart Attack in 2011 thatThe China Study had changed the way people all over the world eat.[14] Former American presidentBill Clinton became a supporter when he adopted a plant-based diet after a heart attack.[4][15][16]
Wilfred Niels Arnold, professor of biochemistry at theUniversity of Kansas Medical Center, reviewed the book inLeonardo reviews in 2005: "[T]he authors anticipate resistant and hostile sources, sail on with escalating enthusiasm, and furnish a working hypothesis that is valuable. In fact, the surprising data are difficult to interpret in any other way."[17]
Harriet Hall, writing forScience-Based Medicine, said that the book had references that do not support directly the claims made by the authors and that it did not explain the exceptions to his data, such as high rates of stomach cancer in China.[18]
Stephan Guyenet reviewing the book forRed Pen Reviews commented thatThe China Study is a "scholarly and well-written book" but three of its key scientific claims are "not very well supported overall".[19]
^Scrinis, Gyorgy (2013).Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice. Columbia University Press. p. 16.
^Campbell, T. Colin; Campbell II, Thomas M. (2005).The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health. BenBella Books.
^Campbell, T. Colin; Campbell II, Thomas M. (2016).The China study: the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and the startling implications for diet, weight loss, and long-term health (Revised and expanded ed.). BenBella Books.ISBN978-1-942952-90-9.
Hu, Frank B.; Willett, WC (November 27, 2002). "Optimal Diets for Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease".JAMA.288 (20):2569–78.doi:10.1001/jama.288.20.2569.PMID12444864.
Campbell, T. Colin (July 6, 2008)."The China Study".Archived from the original on February 19, 2020. RetrievedJanuary 18, 2020.
Nestle, Marion.Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. University of California Press, 2007. The author curates a personal blog about her book's themes athttp://www.foodpolitics.comArchived October 6, 2020, at theWayback Machine.
