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The China Study is a must-read book! It is incredibly well written, fun, and entertaining and incredibly informative. T. Colin Campbell’s extensive research on human nutrition of over 800 million people has given us some incredible insights into human health and nutrition. This information is lifesaving! Below is an excerpt from the book. Go and get your copy today! And share it with your friends and family – they deserve to know.
EXCERPT FROM THE CHINA STUDY
“Introduction”
The public’s hunger for nutrition information never ceases
to amaze me,even after devoting my entire working life to
conducting experimental research into nutrition and health.
Diet books are perennial best-sellers. Almost every popular
magazine features nutrition advice, newspapers regularly
run articles and TV and radio programs constantly discuss
diet and health.
Given the barrage of information, are you confident that
you know what you should be doing to improve your
health? Should you buy food that is labeled organic to avoid
pesticide exposure? Are environmental chemicals a
primary cause of cancer? Or is your health
“predetermined” by the genes you inherited when you
were born? Do carbohydrates really make you fat? Should
you be more concerned about the total amount of fat you
eat, or just saturated fats and trans-fats? What vitamins, if
any, should you be taking? Do you buy foods that are
fortified with extra fiber? Should you eat fish, and, if so,
how often? Will eating soy foods prevent heart disease?
My guess is that you’re not really sure of the answers to
these questions. If this is the case, then you aren’t alone.
Even though information and opinions are plentiful, very
few people truly know what they should be doing to improve their health.
This isn’t because the research hasn’t been done. It has. We know an enormous amount about
the links between nutrition and health. But the real science has been buried beneath a clutter of
irrelevant or even harmful information—junk science, fad diets and food industry propaganda.
I want to change that. I want to give you a new framework for understanding nutrition and
health, a framework that eliminates confusion, prevents and treats disease and allows you to
live a more fulfilling life.
I have been “in the system” for almost fifty years, at the very highest levels, designing and
directing large research projects, deciding which research gets funded and translating massive
amounts of scientific research into national expert panel reports.
After a long career in research and policy making, I now understand why Americans are so
confused. As a taxpayer who foots the bill for research and health policy in America, you
deserve to know that many of the common notions you have been told about food, health and
disease are wrong:
• Synthetic chemicals in the environment and in your food, as problematic as they may be,
are not the main cause of cancer.
• The genes that you inherit from your parents are not the most important factors in
determining whether you fall prey to any of the ten leading causes of death.
• The hope that genetic research will eventually lead to drug cures for diseases ignores
more powerful solutions that can be employed today.
• Obsessively controlling your intake of any one nutrient, such as carbohydrates, fat,
cholesterol or omega-3 fats, will not result in long-term health.
• Vitamins and nutrient supplements do not give you long-term protection against disease.
• Drugs and surgery don’t cure the diseases that kill most Americans.
• Your doctor probably does not know what you need to do to be the healthiest you can be.
I propose to do nothing less than redefine what we think of as good nutrition. The provocative
results of my four decades of biomedical research, including the findings from a twenty-sevenyear
laboratory program (funded by the most reputable funding agencies) prove that eating
right can save your life.
I will not ask you to believe conclusions based on my personal observations, as some popular
authors do. There are over 750 references in this book, and the vast majority of them are
primary sources of information, including hundreds of scientific publications from other
researchers that point the way to less cancer, less heart disease, fewer strokes, less obesity, less
diabetes, less autoimmune disease, less osteoporosis, less Alzheimer’s, less kidney stones and
less blindness.
<b>Some of the findings, published in the most reputable scientific journals, show that:</b>
• Dietary change can enable diabetic patients to go off their medication.
• Heart disease can be reversed with diet alone.
• 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.
• Type 1 diabetes, one of the most devastating diseases that can befall a child, is
convincingly linked to infant feeding practices.
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.
By any number of measures, America’s health is failing. We spend far more, per capita, on
health care than any other society in the world, and yet two thirds of Americans are
overweight, and over 15 million Americans have diabetes, a number that has been rising
rapidly. We fall prey to heart disease as often as we did thirty years ago, and the War on
Cancer, launched in the 1970s, has been a miserable failure. Half of Americans have a health
problem that requires taking a prescription drug every week, and over 100 million Americans
have high cholesterol.
To make matters worse, we are leading our youth down a path of disease earlier and earlier in
their lives. One third of the young people in this country are overweight or at risk of becoming
overweight. Increasingly, they are falling prey to a form of diabetes that used to be seen only
in adults, and these young people now take more prescription drugs than ever before.
These issues all come down to three things: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
More than forty years ago, at the beginning of my career, I would have never guessed that
food is so closely related to health problems. For years I never gave much thought to which
foods were best to eat. I just ate what everyone else did: what I was told was good food. We all
eat what is tasty or what is convenient or what our parents taught us to prefer. Most of us live
within cultural boundaries that define our food preferences and habits.
So it was with me. I was raised on a dairy farm where milk was central to our existence. We
were told in school that cow’s milk made strong, healthy bones and teeth. It was Nature’s
most perfect food. On our farm, we produced most of our own food in the garden or in the
livestock pastures. I was the first in my family to go to college. I studied pre-veterinary
medicine at Penn State and then attended veterinary school at the University of Georgia for a
year when Cornell University beckoned with scholarship money for me to do graduate
research in “animal nutrition.” I transferred, in part, because they were going to pay me to go
to school instead of me paying them. There I did a master’s degree. I was the last graduate
student of Professor Clive McCay, a Cornell professor famed for extending the lives of rats by
feeding them much less food than they would otherwise eat. My Ph.D. research at Cornell was
devoted to finding better ways to make cows and sheep grow faster. I was attempting to
improve on our ability to produce animal protein, the cornerstone of what I was told was
“good nutrition.”
I was on a trail to promote better health by advocating the consumption of more meat, milk
and eggs. It was an obvious sequel to my own life on the farm and I was happy to believe that
the American diet was the best in the world. Through these formative years, I encountered a
recurring theme: we were supposedly eating the right foods, especially plenty of high-quality
animal protein.
Much of my early career was spent working with two of the most toxic chemicals ever
discovered, dioxin and aflatoxin. I initially worked at MIT, where I was assigned a chicken feed
puzzle. Millions of chicks a year were dying from an unknown toxic chemical in their feed, and
I had the responsibility of isolating and determining the structure of this chemical. After two
and one-half years, I helped discover dioxin, arguably the most toxic chemical ever found. This
chemical has since received widespread attention, especially because it was part of the herbicide
2,4,5-T, or Agent Orange, then being used to defoliate forests in the Vietnam War.
After leaving MIT and taking a faculty position at Virginia Tech, I began coordinating
technical assistance for a nationwide project in the Philippines working with malnourished
children. Part of the project 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 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.
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 cancercausing
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. It was a defining moment in my career.
Investigating such a provocative question so early in my career was not a very wise choice.
Questioning protein and animal-based foods in general ran the risk of my being labeled a
heretic, even if it passed the test of “good science.”
But I never was much for following directions just for the sake of following directions. When I
first learned to drive a team of horses or herd cattle, to hunt animals, to fish our creek or to
work in the fields, I came to accept that independent thinking was part of the deal. It had to
be. Encountering problems in the field meant that I had to figure out what to do next. It was a
great classroom, as any farm boy can tell you. That sense of independence has stayed with me
until today.
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 hypotheses, rigorous in our methodology and
conservative in interpreting our findings. I chose to do this research at a very basic science
level, studying the biochemical details of cancer formation. It was important to understand not
only whether but also how protein might promote cancer. It was the best of all worlds. 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. Eventually, this research became
handsomely funded for twenty-seven years by the bestreviewed and most competitive funding
sources [mostly the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Cancer Society and the
American Institute for Cancer Research]. Then our results were reviewed (a second time) for
publication in many of the best scientific journals.
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.
Furthermore, the amounts of protein being fed were those that we humans routinely consume.
We didn’t use extraordinary levels, as is so often the case in carcinogen studies.
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.
These experimental animal studies didn’t end there. I went on to direct the most
comprehensive study of diet, lifestyle and disease ever done with humans in the history of
biomedical research. It was a massive undertaking jointly arranged through Cornell
University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine. The New York
Times called it the “Grand Prix of Epidemiology.” This project surveyed a vast range of
diseases and diet and lifestyle factors in rural China and, more recently, in Taiwan. More
commonly known as the China Study, this project eventually produced more than 8,000
statistically significant associations between various dietary factors and disease!
What made this project especially remarkable is that, among the many associations that are
relevant to diet and disease, so many pointed to the same finding: 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. These results could not be ignored. From the
initial experimental animal studies on animal protein effects to this massive human study on
dietary patterns, the findings proved to be consistent. The health implications of consuming
either animal or plant-based nutrients were remarkably different.
I could not, and did not, rest on the findings of our animal studies and the massive human
study in China, however impressive they may have been. I sought out the findings of other
researchers and clinicians. The findings of these individuals have proved to be some of the
most exciting findings of the past fifty years.
These findings—the contents of Part II of this book—show that heart disease, diabetes and
obesity can be reversed by a healthy diet. Other research shows that various cancers,
autoimmune diseases, bone health, kidney health, vision and brain disorders in old age (like
cognitive dysfunction and Alzheimer’s) are convincingly influenced by diet. Most importantly,
the diet that has time and again been shown to reverse and/or prevent these diseases is the
same whole foods, plant-based diet that I had found to promote optimal health in my
laboratory research and in the China Study. The findings are consistent.
Yet, despite the power of this information, despite the hope it generates and despite the urgent
need for this understanding of nutrition and health, people are still confused. I have friends
with heart disease who are resigned and despondent about being at the mercy of what they
consider to be an inevitable disease. I’ve talked with women who are so terrified of breast
cancer that they wish to have their own breasts, even their daughters’ breasts, surgically
removed, as if that’s the only way to minimize risk. So many of the people I have met have
been led down a path of illness, despondence and confusion about their health and what they
can do to protect it.
Americans are confused, and I will tell you why. The answer, discussed in Part IV, has to do
with how health information is generated and communicated and who controls such activities.
Because I have been behind the scenes generating health information for so long, I have seen
what really goes on—and I’m ready to tell the world what is wrong with the system. The
distinctions between government, industry, science and medicine have become blurred. The
distinctions between making a profit and promoting health have become blurred. The
problems with the system do not come in the form of Hollywood-style corruption. The
problems are much more subtle, and yet much more dangerous. The result is massive amounts
of misinformation, for which average American consumers pay twice. They provide the tax
money to do the research, and then they provide the money for their health care to treat their
largely preventable diseases.
This story, starting from my personal background and culminating in a new understanding of
nutrition and health, is the subject of this book. Six years ago at Cornell University, I organized
and taught a new elective course called Vegetarian Nutrition. It was the first such course on an
American university campus and has been far more successful than I could have imagined.
The course focuses on the health value of a plant-based diet. After spending my time at MIT
and Virginia Tech, then coming back to Cornell thirty years ago, I was charged with the task of
integrating the concepts and principles of chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and toxicology
in an upper-level course in nutrition.
After four decades of scientific research, education and policy making at the highest levels in
our society, I now feel I can adequately integrate these disciplines into a cogent story. That’s
what I have done for my most recent course, and many of my students tell me that their lives
are changed for the better by the end of the semester. That’s what I intend to do for you; I
hope your life will be changed as well.
Scientists in the growing field of nutritional immunology are unveiling new evidence of the complex role that nutrition plays in fighting off infectious diseases like influenza. A diet rich in nutrients such as vitamin A, found in colorful fruits and vegetables, and zinc, found in seafood, nuts and whole grains, can provide the critical fuel the body needs to fight off disease, heal injuries, and survive illness when it does strike, experts say.
Key Ingredients
Click on the image below to see key ingredients in your food
![[INFORMED]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-EY572_INFORM_D_20091124000133.jpg)
Scientists are still studying all the complex ways in which nutrients interact with the immune system. There is still much that they don’t know about minerals such as zinc, for instance, including how they are absorbed and all the roles they play in the body. But scientists do know that certain vitamins and minerals can improve the body’s ability to fight off infection: Studies in healthy elderly adults, for example, have shown an improved immune response to vaccination and fewer infections after receiving extra doses of vitamin E.
To create immune cells to fight off a specific infection, the body has to rapidly draw nutrients from the bloodstream, says Anuraj Shankar, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health. “If you don’t have an adequate intake of vitamins and minerals, you won’t be able to produce the number of immune cells you need, and the immune cells you do produce may be compromised,” Dr. Shankar says. That makes it impossible to mount an effective response to infection, he says.
The benefits of good nutrition may have been recognized first by Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician who declared “let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” An 18th century naval surgeon’s discovery that citrus fruits could cure scurvy in sailors was later recognized as a vitamin C deficiency, and after the 1930s, when dairies began to fortify milk with vitamin D, the disease known as rickets was virtually eliminated in the U.S.
Researchers warn that malnourished people may be a breeding ground for more dangerous infectious diseases. Animal studies at the University of North Carolina show that in a host with poor nutrition, viruses mutate in the face of a weak immune response to become more powerful. And once those mutations occur, even well-nourished hosts are susceptible to the newly virulent virus. “A lot of people may think malnutrition on the other side of the world isn’t their problem,” says Melinda A. Beck, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. But malnutrition “is a driving force in emerging infectious diseases that are spreading around the world,” she says.
The human body doesn’t have to be starving to suffer from malnutrition. Studies show that obesity, in addition to its other health risks, may also make people more susceptible to infections like the flu. A diet heavy on processed and fast foods may be low in the vitamins and minerals important for health. And diets that are high in saturated fat appear to actually depress the body’s immune response, increasing the risk of infections.
Dr. Beck says studies of mice show that only 4% of lean animals infected with the flu virus die. That compares with a death rate of between 40% and 60% in obese mice infected with the virus. And after a small study showed that obese people vaccinated for the flu didn’t mount a strong immune response, the University of North Carolina is expanding its trials to compare vaccination response rates in lean and obese people.
![[INFORMEDjump]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PJ-AS550_INFORM_NS_20091123170507.gif)
When obese people fall ill, “their immune function may not be strong enough to mount an effective response,” says Donald Hensrud, a Mayo Clinic specialist in preventive and internal medicine and editor-in-chief of “The Mayo Clinic Diet,” a new book promoting weight loss through a healthy diet that allows unlimited quantities of fruits and vegetables.
Warning on Supplements
Dr. Hensrud and other experts caution against loading up on supplements to add vitamins and minerals to the diet. While a multivitamin is a good addition to any balanced diet, individual supplements and vitamin pills may not be as well absorbed by the body as nutrients in foods. Some supplements also can have toxic effects in too-high quantities. An excess of zinc, for example, can interfere with absorption of other nutrients, including iron and copper. And too much of the mineral selenium can cause nerve damage and has been linked recently to an increased risk of diabetes.
There is no single test to measure if your body has enough vitamins and minerals, and assays for individual nutrients are generally expensive and unreliable. Blood tests used to screen for blood-cell abnormalities can pick up changes that are linked to possible vitamin or mineral deficiencies, but they can’t necessarily identify the cause.
Scientists have long known that some vitamins, minerals and other nutrients can play a key role in the immune system by acting as antioxidants. These protect and repair cells from oxidative stress, the damage caused by molecules known as free radicals.
But nutrients work in ways beyond acting as antioxidants, says Dr. Beck. For example, vitamin A can enhance the immune system “by stimulating specific proteins necessary for immune function by activating specific genes,” she says. So, if vitamin A is deficient, then the immune cells that require vitamin A to function properly won’t work as efficiently. Animal studies show that a deficiency of vitamin B-6, which helps maintain the health of organs that make white blood cells, can decrease antibody production and suppress the immune response. And selenium in small amounts can help stimulate immune cells and may prevent the growth of some tumors.
Nutritional experts generally agree that the best way to get the right balance of nutrients is a balanced diet that includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and dietary fiber. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov Web site offers a calculator to determine how many servings are ideal based on calorie needs for age, sex and activity level. Harvard’s Nutrition Source Web site includes a healthy eating pyramid based on the most up-to-date knowledge of nutrition requirements. And the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements Web site (dietary-supplements.info.nih.gov) offers detailed information on the risks and benefits of supplements, along with tables that list food sources for each vitamin and mineral.
A survey by the CDC in 2007 showed that the majority of adults consume less than the government’s recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. But quantity matters: A 2004 Harvard study of 110,000 men and women showed that people who averaged eight or more servings of fruit and vegetables daily were 30% less likely to have had a heart attack or stroke than those who had only 1.5 servings daily.
Nutrition experts say to boost immunity it is also important to avoid processed foods, and to minimize trans fats and unhealthy saturated fats from animal products and vegetable oils like palm and coconut. Instead, they say, people should eat foods rich in unsaturated fats such as olive oil.
Contradictory Advice
Some advice for a healthy diet can seem contradictory. For example, heart-healthy diets typically include unsaturated fats such as omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in fish such as salmon and trout and in flaxseed and walnuts. For people who don’t want those foods, nutritionists may recommend fish-oil supplements, which can be beneficial in suppressing chronic inflammation in the body, a condition that can lead to coronary artery disease and arthritis.
But those same anti-inflammatory properties of fish oil can also suppress the immune responses necessary to combat an acute viral infection. Studies at the University of North Carolina have shown that mice fed with fish oil have an impaired resistance to infections, including the flu. “If I suppress the immune response and get a viral infection, I’m worse off,” says Dr. Beck, who is studying the links between fish oil and resistance to influenza.
One nutrient hard to get in food is vitamin D. Even with the fortification of milk, orange juice and other food products, some experts have been sounding the alarm in recent years about wide deficiencies, especially in children. Tests are available for about $100 to determine vitamin D levels, but their accuracy is in question. And just how much vitamin D different people need is the subject of considerable debate. The federal government’s current recommendations range from 200 international units daily for children to 600 IUs for adults, with a safe upper limit of 2,000 IUs daily. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 400 IUs for children, and vitamin D experts at Oregon State University and elsewhere recommend 2,000 IUs daily for all adults. The Institute of Medicine, a government advisory group, is expected next year to update the recommendations.
Adrian Gombart, a researcher at Oregon State University’s Linus Pauling Institute, says vitamin D, in addition to building strong bones and fighting off a variety of diseases, appears to activate proteins that help the body fight off infection. “Vitamin D won’t prevent you from getting the flu, but it might allow you to mount an optimal immune response, suffer less of the effects, and resolve the infection more quickly,” says Dr. Gombart, who is researching the nutrient’s role in stimulating immune cells.
Write to Laura Landro at laura.landro@wsj.com
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A31
2009 Archived Prevention Plus+ Webinars:
The Power of Nutrition: It Could Save Your Life
November 2009 – Hosted by Matt Brown, Jr., M.D.
Internal Medicine
Knowledge is Power: The Science of Health
September 2009 – Hosted by Pamela Benitez, M.D.
General Surgeon / Breast Surgeon
Beyond Vitamins: Fueling Fitness for All Ages
August 2009 – Hosted by Paul Stricker, M.D.
Pediatric and Sports Medicine
Prescriptions for a Better LIfeJuly 2009 – Hosted by Janet Roberto, M.D.
Family Medicine
Longevity and LifestyleJune 2009 – Hosted by Mitra Ray, Ph.D.
Research Biologist
Nutrition for VitalityMay 2009 – Hosted by Richard DuBois, M.D.
Internal Medicine
Getting Your Family on the Right Nutritional TrackApril 2009 – Hosted by William Sears, M.D.
Pediatrician
Living on Living Food
February 2009 - Hosted by Carol Watson
Registered Nurse and Naturopathic Doctor
Nutrition and Prevention Through Whole Foods
January 2009 – Hosted by Paul Williams
Emergency Room Physician
Dr. Matt Brown recently spoke in Memphis, TN to over 5,000 people about the science of whole food nutrition and the science of preventing disease. Dr. Brown discussed several of the main studies and key points of whole food nutrition. He also talked about the importance of fruits and vegetables, oxidative stress, cancer, antioxidants, inflammation, and preventing disease. He gives an overview of studies like the Mediterranean Diet Study, the Epic-Norfolk study, the HALE Project, the Lyon Diet Heart Study and the latest published clinical research on Juice Plus+®.
The following is the recorded webinar (49 minutes) of his presentation he calls “The Power of Nutrition: It Could Save Your Life.”
Dr. Brown also recommended everyone read this Newsweek article called Your Lifestyle, Your Genes, and Cancer which explains the recent research showing that we can prevent over 70% of cancer!
Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is only a measure of potential, and can be manipulated by adding isolated vitamins to a product formula. Most products that tout high ORAC do so because they have no independent, clinical demonstration of performance.
Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is most often measured in a test tube, although there are some research labs that are beginning to perform this testing on plasma (at this time the measure is pretty variable in this matrix). Most commercial products making ORAC claims use the test tube method and typically only measure the antioxidants present in the aqueous (water) phase, missing any molecules that have antioxidant activity but are in the lipid phase, for example lycopene and beta carotene.
It would be easy to formulate a product with a high test tube ORAC, but it is unclear what this means in an intact biological system (a human) because no studies have been done monitoring any health benefits from a defined ORAC “number” intake over any period of time.
Juice Plus+® has repeatedly demonstrated bioavailability of antioxidants AND functionality in the form of a reduction of oxidative stress in independent clinical trials. This is real performance, not just potential. (Also, the research on Juice Plus+® has been done on the actual product itself, not simply on one fruit or berry it contains.)
For NSA to publish the ORAC on Juice Plus+® would represent a big step backwards to a lower level of research. We have clinical studies rather than in vitro (literally “in glass”) research to support the benefits of Juice Plus+®, along with over 15 years of use around the world (to see the clinical studies, click here and click the Juice Plus+® Science tab).
Juice Plus+® has been shown over and over to increase known antioxidants like Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Alpha-tocopherol and Beta-carotene in circulation, and has been shown to decrease markers of oxidation as well. These measurements are more reliable (and impressive to the scientific, nutritional and medical community) than an isolated ORAC number.
The preceding was paraphrased from a letter by Anita M. Boddie, RD, LDN, PhD Director of Clinical Research with National Safety Associates (NSA)
Major health organizations throughout the world recommend that you should eat 5-6 servings each of fruits and vegetables every day. Only about 10% of the population actually does.
In a Louisiana survey a few years ago, the consumption of fruits and vegetables was about 2 servings per day and that included french fries!
I am an ophthalmologist, or an eye M.D. I specialize in taking care of patients with cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration and many other eye problems. Many of these people only get 1-2 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Health and many diseases are affected by genetics and environmental factors including diet.
A higher frequency of intake of spinach or collard greens was associated with a substantially lower risk of macular degeneration in one study. Lutein is a macular pigment in the retina. It is obtained by eating spinach, kale, broccoli, dill, greens and celery. Low macular pigment density and low lutein intake are associated with a higher incidence of macular degeneration.
I encourage people to eat 5 servings of fruits and 5 servings of vegetables per day. Most do not, will not and cannot afford it. Many do not have time to prepare these foods. I take a food supplement called Juice Plus+® to enhance my intake of 17 fruits and vegetables. This raises lutein levels, betters antioxidant status, improves the immune system and lowers lipid peroxides and serum homocycteine levels.
I take Juice Plus+® every day to ensure that I get more of the healthful nutrition of fruits and vegetables in my diet. I recommend Juice Plus+® to my patients for the very same reason.
Barry Bohn, M.D.
Ophthalmologist
Lafayette, Louisiana
By Dr. Smokey Santillo
The purpose of this article is to explain the difference between whole food nutrition and vitamin and mineral supplementation. It will also answer some vital questions concerning the proper use of vitamins and minerals and how they relate to Juice Plus+®. Two of the most commonly asked questions about Juice Plus+® are:
- How does it compare to vitamin and mineral supplements? and
- How much of a certain vitamin (ex. vitamin C) is in Juice Plus+® ?
To answer the first question, you cannot and should not compare Juice Plus+® to manmade synthetic supplements. I will explain reasons why later in this article. As to the second question of how much of a specific nutrient is in Juice Plus+®, rather, the question should be – are the nutrients in Juice Plus+® absorbable (bioavailable) and used by the body?
Questions like these demonstrate a lack of public education of the true philosophy of nutrition. This is no one’s fault; it is just time the lay person gets a better understanding and a sound philosophy of nutrition. It is not how much we put in the body, but how much the body can absorb over a long period of time.
Our bodies only absorb small amounts of nutrients at any single moment, not the huge amounts contained in most synthetic supplements, if the synthetics are absorbed at all. Normal amounts rather than mega-doses of bioavailable nutrients taken daily correlate with the laws of Nature. For example, when you look at the amounts of vitamin C contained in foods, it is relatively small compared to the amount in vitamin and mineral supplements. For instance, one orange has between 60-80 mg. of vitamin C.
The body is designed to handle foods and should get most of its vitamins from foods.(1) Many people consume isolated (USP) United States Pharmacopoeia listed vitamins. USP vitamins are synthesized, standardized, isolated, and are not always from natural sources, and are not always bioavailable.
In nature, vitamins and minerals are never isolated; they are always present in food in complex form (2-5), meaning synergistically connected to other nutrients and elements. Synergy means that each element works with and is interconnected with each other. No nutrient stands alone in whole foods. Most of these synergists are unknown to scientists, but please keep in mind the identity of a nutrient is found in connection with all other necessary food substances, not isolated by itself.
Each vitamin has a specific function and cannot be replaced by something else. The factors that influence the absorption of a nutrient relate not only to the nature of the nutrient itself, but also the interaction with other components (synergists) in the food.( 6) If you are deficient in one vitamin, the orchestra of nutrients in the body can be hindered in their metabolic function. This is not to say vitamin and mineral supplements do not work or are completely unnecessary. Vitamins are specific. Find out what you are deficient in and take them with whole foods.
We must understand man can never duplicate nature perfectly, especially when all vitamins, minerals, phyto-chemicals and enzymes are not yet known to man. He does not know what they are, has not discovered them yet, their action in the body, and the effect they have in the body isolated or with its other thousands of synergistic substances. How can a scientist produce what he has not yet discovered? Nutrition should not be guess work. Man at his best will never be able to produce the synergy of nature. Put your trust in nature.
There are thousands of unknown elements in each food. Ten years ago we knew nothing about phyto-chemicals (phyto=plant, plant chemicals), but they were in whole foods, put there by nature, absorbed from the soil, and are absolutely necessary for normal metabolic activities. Without them we lay the foundation for a weak immune system and disease. Look at the list of phyto-chemicals that are in just one whole apple. (See list – What’s in a Fresh Whole Clean Apple?) Does your multiple vitamin and mineral supplement have what is in this one apple? Can you even imagine how many unknown but necessary chemical nutrients there are in all the other fruits and vegetables? We will never know exactly what is necessary to make a vitamin or mineral bioavailable. There have been studies that have shown that natural food complexes (concentrated foods) are better absorbed than isolated mineral salts. Here is an example of research, taken from an article written by Robert Theil, Ph.D., N.D. (7-18):
| Food Complex Mineral | Compared to Mineral Salt? |
| Calcium | 8.79 times more absorbed into blood |
| Chromium | 10-25 times more bioavailable |
| Copper | 1.85 times more retained in the liver |
| Germanium | 5.30 times more retained in the liver |
| Iron | 1.77 times more absorbed into blood |
| Magnesium | 2.20 times more absorbed into blood |
| Manganese | 1.63 times more retained in the liver |
| Molybdenum | 16.49 times more absorbed into blood |
| Selenium | 17.60 times greater antioxidant effect |
| Zinc | 6.46 times more absorbed into blood |
Another very important factor which is very seldom if ever explained to us is a term called selective absorption. This simply means that the body must choose what it needs and when it needs a nutrient to keep itself metabolically sound. All the known and unknown nutrients must be present at any given time to be absorbed. Only whole foods can supply these.
Vitamins and mineral supplements are sometimes necessary, but they are not nearly as comprehensive and bioavailable as food is, and should only be used for specific needs. They are not for everybody, every day. There are situations when mega-doses of vitamins and minerals may be necessary, particularly when used for athletes or people who are chronically ill. In these situations please consult a nutritional oriented physician.
Fruits and vegetables and other whole foods are absolutely, unequivocally necessary on a daily basis for all humans, adults and children. It is stated that we should eat 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Do you? Of course not. I would like to add something to this. Three of these fruits and vegetables should be dense, nutritious choices like parsley, kale, spinach, broccoli, and beets. When we do eat these foods, they are usually cooked. Cooking can be detrimental because of nutrient losses, making the equation even more difficult.
This brings us to the most important question of all. How do you compare Juice Plus+® to vitamin and mineral supplements? You really cannot compare them. A whole food concentrate is not a man made supplement. When asked this question, do not try to compare the two. Bring the person’s attention to why Juice Plus+® was developed. It was developed to support two major foods groups- fruits and vegetables. And here are the reasons why:
- We do not eat enough fruits and vegetables.
- We cannot always get seasonal, fresh produce.
- The soil and our foods can be very nutrient deficient.
- We do not eat the dense nutritious fruits and vegetables. If we do, we cook them and destroy a large part of the necessary enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. Keep in mind frozen, processed, and canned foods can be deficient, to say nothing of foods that are shipped in from distant places that are losingtheir nutrient value.
- We do not eat a variety of fruits and vegetables.
- We know that Juice Plus+® is bioavailable. Do you know if the supplements you are taking are bioavailable?
- Fruits and vegetables are necessary for everybody throughout their lifetime. Synthetic supplements may not be.
- The known and unknown synergistic nutrients are in whole foods – fruits and vegetables. They are not in man made supplements.
Isn’t it amusing that most folks believe that the foods they eat, particularly fruits and vegetables, are sustaining their bodies, building their immune system, and giving them all necessary nutrients? But, as soon as you take those same foods and concentrate the juice powders and fibers and put them into a capsule, these same people become suspicious. This is because :
- It is a relatively new concept.
- They are used to knowing exactly what is in a pill or capsule. This concept is supported by the drug industry.
- They wonder how taking Juice Plus+® can be so healthy. It just seems too easy.
- People wonder how we get fruits and vegetables in a capsule. Juice Plus+® is not dehydrated fruits and vegetables. It is the concentrated, fresh juice powders. If you remove all the water from a glass of orange juice, what would be left is the powder, which is the concentrate.
We know that the foods we are eating on a daily basis are not doing the job. Plenty of studies have proven these statements otherwise. In some situations supplements are necessary. Your first priority is to eat wholesome foods. Second, choose concentrated food sources to support your diet. Third, choose your vitamin and mineral supplements according to your needs.
The research that we have provided that has been done on Juice Plus+® is extraordinary, to say the least. There is not enough room in this paper to describe the entirety of the research that has been done. I will review some of these:
One research paper done in June 1996 showed how absorbable Juice Plus+® is. This was published in The Journal of Current Therapeutic Research (vol. 57, June 6, 1996). It demonstrated that taking Juice Plus+® for only 28 days increased beta-carotene 510%, alpha-carotene 119%, and lutein increased 44%. Lycopene increased 2, 046% and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) increased 58%. These were all blood studies. Blood was drawn before, during, and after the experiment.
Another study at the University of Arizona measured the effects Juice Plus+® has on the immune system. The results showed that after taking Juice Plus+®, T-cells were increased (they fight cancer and viruses), natural killer cells increased (these attack tumor cells and infections), and cytokines increased (hormone-like substances that stimulate the immune system).
A DNA study was done at the medical department at Brigham Young University. The average age of participants was 68 years. This study showed that the antioxidants contained within Juice Plus+® significantly reduced the level of DNA damage in the body. When the DNA gets damaged, cells begin to mutate into cancer cells and the immune system is weakened.
These studies have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Juice Plus+® is not only absorbed through the digestive tract, but effects the interior cells of the body. The double edge research shows that nutrient contents of blood are affected plus the immune system is improved at all ages. This also makes Juice Plus+® an anti-aging food supplement. Please ask for copies of these studies from your local Juice Plus+® distributor.
Often times we face statements like, “Well, I take spirulina, or blue green algae, kelp, or bee pollen. Why do I need Juice Plus+® ?” All these products are wonderful. I added spirulina and kelp to Juice Plus+® Complete because of some of the nutrients they contain, but they are not fruits and vegetables. An orange is an orange, an apple is an apple; each are totally different from any other food. Consider all the unknown elements in an orange. God made every food different in some factor, whether it’s the color, flavor, minerals, enzymes content, etc. We know we need a variety of foods in order to be healthy and what is most important is that we eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. Spirulina, bee pollen, kelp, etc. are supplements to the diet – fruits and vegetables are a necessity. That’s why we used 17 nutritionally dense fruits and vegetables in Juice Plus+®.
With Juice Plus+® we have actually concentrated nature into a capsule. Here is how:
- We use several concentrated juice powders.
- We add back more enzymes, phytochemicals, and fibers.
- We get our fruits and vegetables from a variety of soils.
Putting Juice Plus+® together in this way helps to overcome any deficiencies present in any one food. Plus, each nutrient represented in Juice Plus+® is in more than just one of the foods included in the formula. Example: calcium is not just in carrots, but is also in spinach and broccoli also. Potassium is in parsley and beets. I call this a “nutritional loop system” when single nutrients are contained in more than one of the foods included in the formula.
It is important to understand that it takes time for whole food supplements to work in conjunction with normal body functions. Most people do feel different after a few short months on Juice Plus+®. But others that make statements that they don’t feel a difference are under the delusion that nutrients work like drugs and you should feel immediate effects. Nutrients have few immediate effects. We have to wait until nature gets rid of deficient and defective cells, and replaces them with new cells that grow and strengthen the body. Renewal is slow and steady.
Your blood cells take three months for renewal, muscle cells and organs take six months, bones and teeth about a year. That is what good sound nutrition is all about. You have to wait until the nutrients are built into your structure to feel the difference and for it to show. It is similar to a house plant that has been neglected-you start to fertilize the plant and the plant perks up. But it sometimes takes a few days or weeks to see the difference.
Every year 97% of your body is replaced, reconstructed from the foods you eat. You have to make the choice. Are you going to depend on foods produced by nature or on man’s supplements made in a laboratory? At Yale New Haven Hospital, researchers evaluated 257 vitamin products. (20). Some were made with wrong or cheap nutrients, some had improper ratios of nutrients, some were missing vitamins or minerals that were necessary. Only 49 were judged to be adequate. Choose your supplements carefully. Ask professionals or health food store owners to identify the best companies. Ask for a bioavailability study on the supplements you choose.
In summary, it is just a matter of understanding what true nutrition is and the role vitamin and mineral supplements play. Your priority is to eat healthy food, exercise and drink plenty of purified water. The supplements you choose are entirely up to you. Just make sure there is research to back up the bioavailability. Juice Plus+® has been proven to be bioavailable. The research has shown its effects reach down to the cellular structure of the body which is the ultimate goal of any formulated health product.
I hope this article has helped you in understanding the true philosophy of nutrition. Whole foods and whole food concentrates are necessary. Everybody at every age needs fruits and vegetables. This especially includes the athlete, the elderly, and growing children. Teach them to depend on nature, for the health and wealth of this country depend on it.
This article is not intended for treatment of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. It is a review of scientific evidence presented for information purposes. Any application of the advice herein is at the reader’s discretion and sole risk and should not be adopted without a full review of the scientific references given and consultation with your health oriented practitioner.
Footnotes
- Whitney EN, Hamilton EMN. Understanding Nutrition, 4ed. West Publishing, New York, 1987.
- Airola P. How to Get Well. Health Plus, Sherwood (OR), 1989.
- Olson JA. Vitamin A, retinoids, and carotenoids. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil., 1994:287-307.
- Farrell PA, Roberts RJ. Vitamin E. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil., 1994:326-358.
- OeCava JA. The Real Truth about Vitamins & Antioxidants. A Printery, Centerfield (MA),1997.
- Jenkins DJA, Wolever TMS, and Jenkins AL. Diet Factors Affecting Nutrient Absorption and Metabolism. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil.: 583-602, 1994.
- Macrae R, Robson RK, Sadler MJ. Encyclopedia of Food Science and Nutrition. Academic Press, New York, 1993.
- Turner G. Spectral Data Services. Test conducted Feb. 1993.
- Plesofsky- Vig N. Pantothenic acid and Coenzyme A. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil., 1994: 395-401.
- Herbert v. Das KC. Folic acid and vitamin B12. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Lea & Febiger, Phil., 1994: 402-425.
- Kasai T, InDue K, Komatsubara H, Tsumimura. Synthesis and antiscorbutic activity of vitamin C analogue: L-threo-hex-2-enaro-1,4-lactone ethyl e: guinea pig. Int J Vitamin Nutr Res, 1993:63(3):208-211.
- Ishida A, Kanefusa J, Fujita H, Toraya T. Microbiological activities of nuclec modified analogues of vitamin B12. Arch Microbial, 1994;161 (4):293-29
- Swenseid ME and Jacob RA. Niacin. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Dise ed. Lea and Febiger, Phil.:376-382, 1994.
- Nakano H, McMahon LG, Gregory JF. Pyridoxine-%’-beta-glucoside exhib] incomplete bioavailability as a source of vitamin 8-6 and partially inhibits utilization ofco-ingested pyridoxine in humans. J Nutr, 1997;127(8):1508
- Tandler B, Krhenbul S, Brass EP. Unusual mitochondria in the hepatocytes o treated with a vitamin B12 analogue. Anat Rec, 1991;231(1):1-6.
- Tanphaichitr V. Thiamin. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8th ed. Febiger, Phil., 1994:359-365.
- McCormick D8. Riboflavin. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8tb Febiger, Phil., 1994:366-375.
- Leklem le. Vitamin B(). In Modern Nutrition and Health and Disease, 8th ed. Febiger, Phil., 1994:383-394.
- Jenkins DJA, Wolever TMS, and Jenkins AL. Diet Factors Affecting Nutrient Absorption and Metabolism. In Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 8 Lea & Febiger, Phil:583-602, 1994.
- Bell LS, Fairchild M. J. Amer. Dietet. Assoc., 1987:87:341. 12
Gary Null gives an impassioned rivetting testimony against the false beliefs about vaccines and their (non)safety (including swine flu vaccine & normal flu vaccine), vaccine makers, the CDC and the FDA, alleging crimes against humanity by the medical and profit-motivated pharmaceutical industry, and scientific fraud, at the New York State Assembly Hearing 13th October 2009.
Gary holds a Ph.D. in human nutrition and public health science. He is a health and nutrition expert, alternative medicine and natural healing advocate, and author of several books and documentaries such as “Vaccine Nation”, and “Preventing and Reversing Cancer Naturally”
Several Doctors speak out against the dangers of flu vaccines and the ingredients within.
Even the media knows and admits that the swine flu vaccines can cause autism and other serious and deadly sife effects.
It doesn’t take an M.D. or a Ph.D. to realize that the ingredients in the swine flu vaccine such as mercury, thimerosal, and squalene (just to name a few) are more dangerous than the flu itself.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026717_swine_flu_flu_vaccine_swine_flu_vaccine.html
Please, do the research yourself before taking the swine flu vaccine, and ESPECIALLY before giving it to any child, pregnant mother, or elderly person – they are at the highest risk for serious complications and death as a result of taking the swine flu vaccine.
The RDA for vitamin D3 cholecalciferol (pronounced koh·luh·kal·sif·uh·rawl) is 200 IU per day for most people. This is way too small. New research by Dr. Michael Holick is showing that we need closer to 5,000 IU per day!
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to:
autoimmune diseases
Diabetes
Depression
chronic pain
Osteoarthritis
Osteoporosis
muscle weakness
muscle wasting
birth defect
periodontal disease
..and many other disorders. This new research on Vitamin D shows just how much vitamin D our body will easily and readily produce with proper exposure to sunlight and has profound implications for human health and disease prevention.
Technically not a “vitamin,” vitamin D is in a class by itself. Its metabolic product, calcitriol, is actually a secosteroid hormone that targets over 2000 genes (about 10% of the human genome) in the human body. Current research has implicated vitamin D deficiency as a major factor in the pathology of at least 17 varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, periodontal disease, and more.
Vitamin D’s influence on key biological functions vital to one’s health and well-being mandates that vitamin D no longer be ignored by the health care industry nor by individuals striving to achieve and maintain a greater state of health.
Sunshine and Your Health
If well adults and adolescents regularly avoid sunlight exposure, research indicates a necessity to supplement with at least 5,000 units (IU) of vitamin D daily. To obtain this amount from milk one would need to consume 50 glasses. With a multivitamin more than 10 tablets would be necessary. Neither is advisable.
The skin produces approximately 10,000 IU vitamin D in response 20–30 minutes summer sun exposure—50 times more than the US government’s recommendation of 200 IU per day!
How To Get Enough Vitamin D
There are 3 ways for adults to insure adequate levels of vitamin D:
- regularly receive midday sun exposure in the late spring, summer, and early fall, exposing as much of the skin as possible.
- regularly use a sun bed (avoiding sunburn) during the colder months.
- take 5,000 IU per day for three months, then obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test. Adjust your dosage so that blood levels are between 50–80 ng/mL (or 125–200 nM/L) year-round.
For more information about Vitamin D, check out the Vitamin D Council as well as these research papers by Dr. Michael Holick for you scientifically-minded readers:
