Very interesting! That is good to have some evidence against the "meat causes heart attacks" theory.

Wait - now this study shows the opposite, and it was actually done on people and not mice:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16424116?ordinalpos=34&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

energy distribution of approximately 10% carbohydrate, approximately 65% fat, and approximately 25% protein

We conclude that weight loss induced by CR (carbohydrate restriction) favorably alters the secretion and processing of plasma lipoproteins, rendering VLDL, LDL, and HDL particles associated with decreased risk for atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

Here is a take from Dr. Michael Eades:  http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/obesity/another-china-study/#more-1265

Here's a new and more detailed critique that appears to have gotten wide exposure:

http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/

http://www.amazon.com/Analyzing-the-China-Study-Dataset/forum/Fx1YJPR95OHW08P/TxY4S5EZD8Y2XE/1?_encoding=UTF8&asin=1574535811


I am posting this as a backup to amazon page without permission is case it ever goes down.  Eventually I would like to go over this data myself I hope someone else does too.  I noticed there are data sets for fruit and nut intake, so I wish to do it for all the foods.  There are a lot of 80/10/10s and vegans that refer to the China Study as proof not to eat meat.  When I think it only states not to eat wheat and dairy, and to eat more fish, fat, and red meat.  For vegetables, when it says light colored vegetables, I think they mean potatoes. If Campbell, author of The China Study, is on a crusade to make you choose a vegan diet.

Last edited by the author on Aug. 17, 2008 4:39 PM PDT
Richard M. Kroeker says:
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I was surprised to find the actual datasets published on the Web. ( http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/~china/monograph/chdata.htm). The data is in an Excel friendly format so many of us can manipulate the data and see for ourselves what we think it says to us.

My day-job is analyzing hard drive failure statistics that result from usage and stress testing; I get paid to make the problems being studied "go away". I have also recently had a triple bypass, so here I have applied my skills to something much more personal. I want to know what I should eat to improve my health.

I took a close look at the 1989 dataset because I had read about China's governmental response to the finding that unenriched bleached wheat flour was causing heart disease (http://www.gainhealth.org/china-flour-fortification-in-the-west-region). As I was aware of the recent addition of folic acid to bread in the US and Canada, I was motivated to check this out for myself. I recommend doing this analysis for yourself (or find somebody who is good at math whom you trust to do it for you).

I ran multiple variable regression analysis against items of interest to me like "All vascular disease" and Stroke; comparing the ability of blood plasma and the diet items to explain heart disease. The following lists are what I found the data to say.

These are lists of the ratio of improvement (-) or harm (+) between the diet low and high values, the confidence of the finding, followed by descriptors of the diet item. For instance, the people who ate the most animal protein had 68.9% less heart disease (at 95% confidence) than those people who ate the least animal protein. The people who ate the most plant protein had 64.9% more heart disease (at 89% confidence) than those people who ate the least plant protein.

My findings are collected into three groupings - Diet Factors, Blood Plasma and Amino-Acids

M059 ALLVASCc mortality ALL VASCULAR DISEASE AGE 35-69 (stand. rate/1,000) (IC

-70.7 93 231 D005 %FATKCAL diet survey PERCENTAGE OF CALORIC INTAKE FROM FAT (fo
-68.9 95 262 D036 %ANIMPROT diet survey PERCENTAGE ANIMAL PROTEIN INTAKE (for ref
-57.0 89 233 D007 %ANPRKCAL diet survey PERCENTAGE OF CALORIC INTAKE FROM ANIMAL
-55.6 90 255 D029 ANIMFOOD diet survey ANIMAL FOOD INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-54.8 89 260 D034 ANIMPROT diet survey ANIMAL PROTEIN INTAKE (g/day/reference ma
-54.1 90 278 D052 FISH diet survey FISH INTAKE (g/day/reference man, as-cons

-49.5 84 228 D002 TOTFAT diet survey TOTAL LIPID INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-49.1 87 258 D032 %ANIMFOOD diet survey PERCENTAGE ANIMAL FOOD INTAKE (for refere
-48.4 83 275 D049 MEAT diet survey MEAT INTAKE (red meat and poultry) (g/day
-46.6 81 276 D050 REDMEAT diet survey RED MEAT (pork, beef, mutton) INTAKE (g/d
-40.7 89 263 D037 RICE diet survey RICE INTAKE (g/day/reference man, air-dry
-38.0 84 237 D011 TOTCAROT diet survey TOTAL CAROTENOID INTAKE (retinol equivale
-36.0 84 277 D051 POULTRY diet survey POULTRY INTAKE (g/day/reference man, as-c
-35.3 84 238 D012 VITA diet survey TOTAL VITAMIN A INTAKE (retinol equivalen
-32.3 71 242 D016 RIBOFLAV diet survey RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2) INTAKE (mg/day/re
-28.6 80 282 D056 STCHSUGAR diet survey PROCESSED STARCH AND SUGAR INTAKE (g/day/
-27.4 79 288 D062 LIQUOR diet survey LIQUOR INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-26.3 74 236 D010 RETINOL diet survey RETINOL INTAKE (retinol equivalents/day/r

-23.1 75 287 D061 WINE diet survey WINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-21.7 72 274 D048 EGGS diet survey EGG INTAKE (g/day/reference man, as-consu
-20.4 71 269 D043 GREENVEG diet survey GREEN VEGETABLE INTAKE (g/day/reference m
-20.0 75 240 D014 VITC diet survey VITAMIN C (ASCORBIC ACID) INTAKE (mg/day/
-19.3 67 267 D041 LEGUME diet survey LEGUME AND LEGUME PRODUCT INTAKE (g/day/r
-16.8 69 286 D060 BEER diet survey BEER INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-13.2 65 281 D055 ADDEDFAT diet survey TOTAL ADDED FAT (5144 + 5145) INTAKE (g/d
-12.3 66 243 D017 NIACIN diet survey NIACIN INTAKE (mg/day/reference man)

18.8 79 283 D057 ADDEDSALT diet survey INTAKE OF ADDED SALT (g/day/reference man
24.4 75 273 D047 MILK diet survey MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS INTAKE (g/day/ref

26.2 87 241 D015 THIAMINE diet survey THIAMINE (VITAMIN B1) INTAKE (mg/day/refe
31.5 80 268 D042 LIGHTVEG diet survey LIGHT COLOURED VEGETABLE INTAKE (g/day/re
32.2 79 230 D004 SOLCARB diet survey CARBOHYDRATE (nitrogen free extract) INTA
32.7 80 252 D026 SeCARRY diet survey SELENIUM CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE DIET
35.6 75 254 D028 PLNTFOOD diet survey PLANT FOOD INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
37.5 82 247 D021 K diet survey POTASSIUM INTAKE (mg/day/reference man)
39.3 76 284 D058 SPICE diet survey SPICE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
39.6 84 285 D059 TOTNDF diet survey TOTAL NEUTRAL DETERGENT FIBRE INTAKE (g/d
40.0 84 248 D022 Mg diet survey MAGNESIUM INTAKE (mg/day/reference man)
42.2 80 249 D023 Mn diet survey MANGANESE INTAKE (mg/day/reference man)
43.0 90 265 D039 OTHCEREAL diet survey OTHER CEREAL INTAKE (g/day/reference man,
46.4 93 229 D003 TOTPROT diet survey TOTAL PROTEIN INTAKE (g/day/reference man
47.7 91 246 D020 Cu diet survey COPPER INTAKE (mg/day/reference man)

50.5 87 245 D019 Fe diet survey IRON INTAKE (mg/day/reference man)
54.3 91 235 D009 %CARBKCAL diet survey PERCENTAGE OF CALORIC INTAKE FROM CARBOHY
56.0 87 257 D031 %PLNTFOOD diet survey PERCENTAGE PLANT FOOD INTAKE (for referen
58.9 95 259 D033 PLNTPROT diet survey PLANT PROTEIN INTAKE (g/day/reference man
62.4 97 264 D038 WHTFLOUR diet survey WHEAT FLOUR INTAKE (g/day/reference man,
64.9 89 261 D035 %PLNTPROT diet survey PERCENTAGE PLANT PROTEIN INTAKE (for refe
65.7 95 234 D008 %PLPRKCAL diet survey PERCENTAGE OF CALORIC INTAKE FROM PLANT P

-73.9 97 308 D082 MUFA diet survey MONOUNSATURATED FATTY ACID INTAKE (g/day/

-48.0 83 311 D085 CHOL diet survey CHOLESTEROL INTAKE (mg/day/reference man)
-42.2 82 310 D084 SATFA diet survey SATURATED FATTY ACID INTAKE (g/day/refere
-38.4 76 298 D072 LYSINE diet survey LYSINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-36.7 82 291 D065 ASPARTATE diet survey ASPARTATE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-27.6 71 306 D080 TYROSINE diet survey TYROSINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
-26.8 72 290 D064 ARGININE diet survey ARGININE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)

-24.8 69 312 D086 LYS/ARG diet survey LYSINE/ARGININE: RATIO OF INTAKES (for re
-19.2 67 289 D063 ALANINE diet survey ALANINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)

13.9 65 296 D070 ISOLEUCIN diet survey ISOLEUCINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
25.8 78 294 D068 GLYCINE diet survey GLYCINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
38.8 92 301 D075 PHENYLALA diet survey PHENYLALANINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man
40.1 88 307 D081 VALINE diet survey VALINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
40.2 86 295 D069 HISTIDINE diet survey HISTIDINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
44.7 90 300 D074 METH+CYS diet survey METHIONINE+CYSTEINE INTAKE (g/day/referen

47.6 82 293 D067 GLUTAMINE diet survey GLUTAMINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
50.4 92 292 D066 CYSTINE diet survey CYSTEINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
55.4 97 297 D071 LEUCINE diet survey LEUCINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
60.6 97 303 D077 SERINE diet survey SERINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)
73.1 97 302 D076 PROLINE diet survey PROLINE INTAKE (g/day/reference man)

Notes:
Serine and Proline are elevated by eating wheat. Lysine is reduced by eating wheat.

-60.8 92 121 P002 HDLCHOL plasma HIGH DENSITY LIPOPROTEIN CHOLESTEROL (mg/dL)
-55.1 94 143 P024 FOLATE plasma FOLATE (ng/mL)

-42.9 82 149 P030 Se plasma SELENIUM (ug/dL)
-42.8 85 126 P007 TOTPROT plasma 1989 TOTAL PROTEIN (g/dL)
-42.6 86 123 P004 APOA1 plasma APOLIPOPROTEIN A1 (mg/dL) (non-pooled analysis
-40.7 88 150 P031 Zn plasma ZINC (mg/dL)
-38.7 76 128 P009 B-CAROT plasma BETA CAROTENE (ug/dL)
-38.0 82 137 P018 ANHYDLUT plasma ANHYDRO LUTEIN (ug/dL)
-34.6 81 120 P001 TOTCHOL plasma TOTAL CHOLESTEROL (mg/dL)
-34.5 80 144 P025 VITC plasma VITAMIN C (ascorbic acid) (mg/dL)
-34.1 79 122 P003 NONHDL plasma NON-HDL CHOLESTEROL (mg/dL)
-31.2 73 159 P040 B2-MGLOB plasma BETA-2-MICROGLOBULIN (ug/mL)

-27.1 78 146 P027 Cu plasma COPPER (mg/dL)
-25.8 74 132 P013 RBP plasma RETINOL BINDING PROTEIN (mg/dL)
-25.3 77 157 P038 PEPSIN plasma PEPSINOGEN I/II
-20.4 69 124 P005 APOB plasma APOLIPOPROTEIN B (mg/dL) (non-pooled analysis)
-19.5 71 140 P021 NEURSPOR plasma NEUROSPORENE (ug/dL)

14.9 65 153 P034 TIBC plasma TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY (ug/dL)
19.3 74 133 P014 A-TOCOPH plasma ALPHA TOCOPHEROL (ug/dL)

27.6 74 154 P035 TRANSFE plasma 1989 TRANSFERRIN (mg/dL)
28.1 76 152 P033 FERRITIN plasma FERRITIN (ng/mL)
29.6 77 151 P032 Fe plasma IRON (mg/dL)
32.4 79 n/a n/a LDL/HDL plasma LDL to HDL ratio
34.0 79 125 P006 ALBUMIN plasma ALBUMIN (g/dL) (non-pooled analysis)
35.7 75 130 P011 Z-CAROT plasma ZETA CAROTENE (ug/dL)

45.1 92 135 P016 LYCOPENE plasma LYCOPENE (ug/dL)
51.9 93 142 P023 PHYTOENE plasma PHYTOENE (ug/dL)
53.6 94 134 P015 G-TOCOPH plasma GAMMA TOCOPHEROL (ug/dL)
64.0 97 141 P022 PHYTOFLU plasma PHYTOFLUENE (ug/dL)

NOTE: I believe the simplest natural source for Phytofluene, G-tocopherol, Phytene, Lycopene and Z-Carotene is tomato paste.

NOTE: I added the ratio of LDL to HDL as a sanity check after I noticed that LDL was beneficial. HDL is very good and a high LDL/HDL ratio is bad.

This is not at all what Campbell's book implied the data said. As I said above, I am an engineer (with a PhD) with heart disease simply trying to find out what to eat. You do the math...
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