(Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin is an Irish
artist, lecturer and writer. His artwork consists of
socio-political paintings based on people involved in many
different kinds of struggle around the world. See:
http://gaelart.net/)
What Is a Whole-Food, Plant-Based Diet?
By Alona Pulde, MD and Matthew Lederman,
MD A whole-food, plant-based diet is centered on whole, unrefined, or
minimally refined plants. It’s a diet based on fruits, vegetables,
tubers, whole grains, and legumes; and it excludes meat
(including chicken and fish), dairy products, and eggs, as well as
highly refined foods like bleached flour, refined sugar, and oil.
We know that’s a mouthful! Rest assured, though, that you’ll be eating
in a way that people have thrived on for thousands of years. We believe
that you will find—as we do—that the diet and foods are very tasty and
satisfying. Following are the food categories from which you’ll eat,
along with a few examples from each. These include the ingredients
you’ll be using to make familiar dishes, such as pizza, mashed potatoes,
lasagna, and burritos:
Fruit: mangoes, bananas, grapes, strawberries, blueberries,
oranges, cherries, etc. Vegetables: lettuce, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, kale,
carrots, etc. Tubers and starchy vegetables: potatoes, yams, yucca, winter
squash, corn, green peas, etc. Whole grains: millet, quinoa, barley, rice, whole wheat, oats,
etc. Legumes: kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils, lima beans, cannelloni
beans, black beans, etc.
Personal Health T. Colin Campbell's book,
The
China Study, examines the relationship between the consumption of
animal products (including dairy) and chronic illnesses such as coronary
heart disease, diabetes, and cancers of the breast, prostate and bowel.
The authors conclude that people who eat a whole-food, plant-based/vegan
diet—avoiding all animal products, including beef, pork, poultry, fish,
eggs, cheese and milk, and reducing their intake of processed foods and
refined carbohydrates—will escape, reduce or reverse the development of
numerous diseases. They write that "eating foods that contain any
cholesterol above 0 mg is unhealthy." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study)
The China Study is the largest comprehensive study of human
nutrition ever conducted. It was launched via a partnership between
Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of
Preventative Medicine. The study they created included 367 variables, 65
counties in China, and 6,500 adults (who completed questionnaires, blood
tests, etc.). “When we were done, we had more than 8,000 statistically
significant associations between lifestyle, diet, and disease
variables.” “People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most
chronic disease. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the
healthiest.”
T. Colin Campbell, PhD., grew up on a dairy farm, so he regularly
enjoyed a wholesome glass of milk. Not anymore. In multiple,
peer-reviewed animal studies, researchers discovered that they could
actually turn the growth of cancer cells on and off by raising and
lowering doses of casein, the main protein found in cow’s milk.
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D., a physician and researcher at the best
cardiac center in the country, The Cleveland Clinic, treated 18 patients
with established coronary disease with a whole foods, plant-based diet.
Not only did the intervention stop the progression of the disease, but
70 percent of the patients saw an opening of their clogged arteries.
(http://wellandgood.com/2011/09/23/china-study-cheat-sheet-10-things-you-need-to-know/)
"One farmer says to
me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing
to make bones with";... and so he religiously devotes a part of his day
to supplying his system with the raw material of bones;... walking all
the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones,
jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle."
Henry David Thoreau: Walden or, Life in the Woods
“As long as Man
continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will
never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they
will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain
cannot reap joy and love.”
― Pythagoras
Global Health
Dr. Richard Oppenlander’s book Food Choice and
Sustainability: Why Buying Local, Eating Less Meat, and Taking Baby
Steps Won’t Work (Langdon Street Press, 2013) is a comprehensive
exploration of the profound and far-reaching environmental effects of
eating animal products. He makes the following points:
• 45 percent of the Earth’s landmass is now devoted to livestock.
• 51% of all GHG (greenhouse gasses) caused by livestock.
• 13% of all GHG caused by transport.
• 77% of the world’s coarse grain and 23% of all agricultural water used
globally is given to livestock.
• 70 percent of all deforested land in the Amazon has gone toward
creating land to raise cattle.
• Worldwide, 91 percent of all rainforest land deforested since 1970 is
now used for grazing livestock, much of it for export from poorer
nations to richer ones.
• About 70 billion terrestrial animals are killed each year for food (66
billion poultry and 3.4 billion mammals).
about 80 billion farmed fish killed each year
• Between 50 and 75 percent of the water withdrawn from the world’s
largest aquifers is attributed to livestock and the crops grown to feed
them.
• Depletion of the oceans is proceeding at a breakneck pace, with fish
populations in places like the Grand Banks and Georges Bank in the
Atlantic now at barely one percent of their former numbers.
• Overfishing has also contributed mightily to the devastation of the
world’s coral reefs.
Land Usage & Livestock Numbers in Ireland
(92% for
cattle: pasture, hay and grass silage, and rough grazing) The land area of Ireland is 6.9 million hectares, of which 4.5
million hectares is used for agriculture and a further 0.73mhectares for
forestry.
81% of agricultural area is devoted to pasture, hay and grass silage
(3.63million hectares),
11% to rough grazing (0.47millionhectares)
and 8% to crops, fruit & horticulture production (0.38million hectares).
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/publications/2014/2014JULYFactSheet260614.pdf
Sample diet
Breakfast
-Muesli with Alpro
Unsweetened
Almond milk -Banana, orange -Tea with brown bread and jam [no low fat spreads or butter]
(Remember most Irish soda breads are made with 40% buttermilk)
Look for wholewheat breads made with water -Coffee with Alpro
Unsweetened
Almond milk
The brown powder is chia and flax seeds ground in coffee
grinder for Omega 3. One tablespoon with muesli.
Dinner
-Cream of spinachSoup [no olive oil in prep]
-Blue Dragon whole-wheat noodles with vegetables in sweet chilli sauce [no olive oil in prep]
-Cooked applesauce with Alpro coconut ice cream
Desserts Apples stewed [with banana, raisins, allspice,
cinnamon]
Baked banana in skins. Alpro yoghurt on top
Fresh fruit
Baked pineapple with cinnamon on top
Supper Porridge [made with 50% Alpro Almond milk unsweetened and 50% water, raisins with cinnamon and
Alpro Almond milk on top]
Hummus [Chick peas, lemon, roasted
pepper, garlic, cumin, tahini (pour off the oil)] with pitta bread or crackers.
Not so th’ Golden Age,
who fed on fruit,
Nor durst with bloody meals their mouths pollute.
Then birds in airy space might safely move,
And tim’rous hares on heaths securely rove:
Nor needed fish the guileful hooks to fear,
For all was peaceful; and that peace sincere.
Whoever was the wretch, (and curs’d be he
That envy’d first our food’s simplicity!)
Th’ essay of bloody feasts on brutes began,
And after forg’d the sword to murder man.
Nutrition Data
Detailed nutrition
information, plus unique analysis tools that tell you more about how
foods affect your health and make it easier to choose healthy foods.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/
William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other
diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that
feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting
foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game.
Talk by WIlliam Li.
Doctor in Dublin, Ireland:
Dr John Allman
Dr Allman takes over from Dr Kelly (who has retired, see:
Stop Feeding Your Cancer: One Doctor's Journey)
in his belief in the beneficial effects of a Whole-Food, Plant-Based
Diet.
http://www.suttoncrosssurgery.ie/index.aspx
Plant-Based Doctors Ireland
A team of Irish-based healthcare professionals who are passionate about
spreading the knowledge of plant-based nutrition and its benefits within
our communities. We believe a whole food plant-based diet can not only
prevent but also reverse many chronic diseases. Our aim is to promote
the benefits of a plant-based diet to other healthcare professionals, so
that they can educate and empower their patients and offer real
solutions to chronic diseases.
https://www.plantbaseddoctorsireland.org/
In 1985, when drugs were considered the treatment of
choice for heart patients (as they mostly still are), Dr. Esselstyn
embarked on a revolutionary course of action. [Dr. Esselstyn] asked not
only whether heart attacks might be prevented by low-fat, plant-food
diets, but whether this disease might actually be reversed. He enrolled
21 patients in his study between 1985 and 1988, a number similar to that
in the Ornish experimental group. These patients were asked to consume
on a regular basis a very low-fat, plant-food diet while maintaining
their use of cholesterol-lowering drugs. A modest regimen of
cholesterol-lowering drugs was believed necessary because these were
at-risk patients and Dr. Esselstyn wanted to be sure to reduce their
cholesterol levels below 150 mg/dL. Five patients dropped out of the
study, 17 maintained the diet, and 11 of these had frequent cholesterol
measurements and a follow-up angiogram. Average age of these 11 patients
was 56 years.
All patients had severe, progressive triple-vessel coronary heart
disease as documented by angiography. For most physicians, these would
be considered very sick people. During the eight preceding years,
despite having received “state-of-the-art” treatment, these 11 patients
had experienced a total of 39 cardiovascular disorders. All were
non-diabetic, had normal blood pressure, and did not smoke. With most
patients completing a decade of follow-up examinations, disease
progression was stopped in all those who kept to the diet.
Significantly, disease did not just stop but was actually reversed in
approximately 70% of those having follow-up angiograms. Angina was
improved or eliminated in every patient who had experienced this
problem. And get this: no new cardiac disorders or other evidence of
disease progression occurred during the study, compared with 37
incidents prior to the study! Of the five patients who left the diet
program and returned to their regular diet, there were 10 new cardiac
incidents, including one death. Really extraordinary findings!
Blood cholesterol was measured every other week, resulting in a total of
126 times per patient (what record keeping!). At the beginning of the
study, average total cholesterol was 246 mg/dL; at follow-up, the mean
level dropped to 132 mg/dL (every patient was under 150 mg/dL). This is
a remarkable 46% drop. The “bad” or LDL cholesterol dropped by 58%.
These are unprecedented cholesterol reductions.
Articles
Industrial farming is one of the worst crimes in history
Yuval Noah Harari
25 Sep 2015 The fate of industrially farmed animals is one of the most pressing
ethical questions of our time. Tens of billions of sentient beings, each
with complex sensations and emotions, live and die on a production line.
Animals are the main victims of history, and the treatment of
domesticated animals in industrial farms is perhaps the worst crime in
history. The march of human progress is strewn with dead animals. Even
tens of thousands of years ago, our stone age ancestors were already
responsible for a series of ecological disasters. When the first humans
reached Australia about 45,000 years ago, they quickly drove to
extinction 90% of its large animals. This was the first significant
impact that Homo sapiens had on the planet’s ecosystem. It was not the
last.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/25/industrial-farming-one-worst-crimes-history-ethical-question
Life lessons from the native tribe with the healthiest hearts in the
world
By Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Chief Medical Correspondent
April 21, 2019 As far as diet goes, my expectation was that theirs would be a sort
of "paleo" diet, with up to 65% of their calories from animal meat.
Instead, I found nearly the opposite: The Tsimane get most of their
calories from carbs. Foods such as plantains, cassava, rice and corn
make up nearly 70% of their diet. This type of diet is born out of
necessity in the Amazon, because farmed food is more certain, especially
during a poor hunting season.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/19/health/bolivia-heart-disease-chasing-life-gupta/index.html?no-st=1556112590
The Myth of High-Protein Diets By DEAN ORNISH MARCH 23, 2015 The debate is not as simple as low-fat versus low-carb. Research
shows that animal protein may significantly increase the risk of
premature mortality from all causes, among them cardiovascular disease,
cancer and Type 2 diabetes. Heavy consumption of saturated fat and trans
fats may double the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/opinion/the-myth-of-high-protein-diets.html?_r=0
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food
and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to
defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to
show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told
Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your
food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the
other young men your age? The king would then have my head
because of you.”
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had
appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please
test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables
to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with
that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your
servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to
this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better
nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16
So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were
to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
Forks Over Knives (2011)
90 min Through an examination of the careers of American physician Caldwell
Esselstyn and professor of nutritional biochemistry T. Colin Campbell,
Forks Over Knives suggests that "most, if not all, of the degenerative
diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by
rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods." It
also provides an overview of the 20-year China–Cornell–Oxford Project
that led to Professor Campbell's findings, outlined in his book, The
China Study (2005) in which he suggests that coronary artery disease,
diabetes, obesity, and cancer can be linked to the Western diet of
processed and animal-based foods (including all dairy products).
Vegucated (2011) 76 min
Vegucated is a 2011 American documentary film that explores the
challenges of converting to a vegan diet. It "follows three meat- and
cheese-loving New Yorkers who agree to adopt a vegan diet for six
weeks." The director interviewed a number of people to participate in
this documentary and chose Brian, who likes to eat meat and eat out;
Ellen, a psychiatrist, part-time comedian and single mother; and Tesla,
a college student who lives with her family. In the film Dr. Joel
Fuhrman and Professor T. Colin Campbell discuss the benefits of a
plant-based diet consisting of whole foods. The film also features
Howard Lyman and Stephen R. Kaufman. Kneel Cohn makes a cameo
appearance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19qSsUI79Ro
Planeat (2010) 87 min
Planeat is a 2010 British documentary film by Or Shlomi and Shelley Lee
Davies. The film discusses the possible nutritional and environmental
benefits of adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet based on the
research of T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn and Gidon Eshel. The
film also features the views of Peter Singer. According to Shelley Lee
Davies, the film purposely does not cover any purported animal welfare
arguments for adopting a plant-based (vegan) diet, but concentrates on
the health and environmental reasons instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCresEvQ_jM
The Last Heart
Attack (2013) 41 min Dr Sanjay Gupta interviews Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, the
world's leader in heart disease prevention and reversal. The
evidence is clear. Listen to the professional who has
nothing to gain other than saving your lives and making our
earth a better place to live and love for all. Includes
interviews with Bill Clinton who changed to a plant-based
diet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op9fow8JKW4
Atkins vs. China Study diet. Who won? You decide. (2013) 80 mins (from uabnews) A debate examining a plant-based high
carbohydrate/low protein diet versus a low carbohydrate/high protein
diet for cancer prevention and overall health presented by the
University of Alabama at Birmingham.
https://vimeo.com/64139406
Atkins Diet vs. China Study — a debate by Bob Shepard March 08, 2013
In this corner, the author of “The China Study,” a bestselling book on
nutrition which touts a plant-based, high carbohydrate/low protein diet
for overall health and cancer prevention. In the other corner, co-author
of “New Atkins for a New You,” an updated version of the high fat/low
carb Atkins diet. The two square off at a public debate on the campus of
the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) on Wednesday, March 27,
2013. T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., wrote “The China Study” in 2005. A
professor emeritus at Cornell University, Campbell was the director of
the China-Oxford-Cornell study on diet and disease in the 1980s. The
book chronicles his findings about diet and health from his career in
basic science. While not calling himself a vegetarian or vegan, Campbell
supports a whole-food, plant-based, low protein/low fat diet. Eric
Westman, M.D., has conducted clinical trials regarding the Atkins diet,
made famous by Robert Atkins in 1972. The Atkins diet, sometimes called
the antithesis of the China Study, suggests that lower consumption of
carbohydrate and higher consumption of fat leads to better
cardiovascular health. Westman is a physician specializing in obesity
medicine and associate professor of internal medicine at Duke
University.
http://www.uab.edu/news/latest/item/3248-atkins-diet-vs-china-study-%E2%80%93-a-debate
The Starch Solution - John McDougall MD (2010) 75
min This truth is simple and is, therefore, easy to explain. You must
eat to live. But the choice of what you eat is yours. There is an
individual, specific diet that best supports the health, function, and
longevity of each and every animal. The proper diet for human beings is
based on starches. The more rice, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and
beans you eat, the trimmer and healthier you will be -- and with those
same food choices you will help save the Planet Earth too. This talk is
by John McDougall MD from the VegSource Healthy Lifestyle Expo 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XVf36nwraw
Sustainability and Food Choice (2013) 85 min Richard Oppenlander presents: Sustainability and Food Choice: Why
Eating Local, "Less" Meat, and Taking Baby Steps Won't Work, at the
March 2013 McDougall Advanced Study Weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fws0f9s4Bas
Comfortably Unaware Oppenlander (2012) 12 min In this video, Dr. Richard Oppenlander tells his personal story
about raising three children on a plant-based diet on a farm in Michigan
which they converted into an animal sanctuary for abused and unwanted
farmed animals. He also conveys the harsh ecological realities of
continuing to consume animals... on our health, and on the planet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCo5SQJY3js
Vegan 101 (Julieanna Hever ) Posted on April 5, 2014
On my tv show, What Would Julieanna Do? on Veria, I had the opportunity
to interview my *FANTASY* panel. On the same Vegan 101 episode, I was
honored to speak with three of my heroes: Dr. Neal Barnard of Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, and Dr.
Melanie Joy of Carnism Awareness & Action Network. I am finally able to
share this, here, via the web, for those who do not have access to the
tv network, with these videos:
http://plantbaseddietitian.com/vegan-101/?utm_content=buffer63bd2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
(2) Omega-3’s and the Eskimo Fish Tale
and The Eskimo Myth
By Michael Greger, M.D.
(3) Extreme Nutrition: The Diet of
Eskimos*
By John McDougall, MD
(4) What Explains the French Paradox?
Why do heart attack rates appear
lower than expected in France given
their saturated fat and cholesterol intake? Is it
their red wine,
their vegetable consumption, or something else?
By Michael Greger, M.D.
(5) Is Fish a Health Food,
or Have We Just Let It Off the Hook?
By Sofia Pineda Ochoa, MD
(6) 7 Things That Happen
When You Stop Eating Meat
By Michelle McMacken, MD
(7) 7 Ways
Milk and Dairy Products Are Making You Sick
By Sofia Pineda Ochoa,
MD
(8)
Fiber-Famished Gut Microbes Linked to Poor Health While probiotics receive more attention, key fibers
remain the workhorses in maintaining a healthy gut
microbiome By
Katherine Harmon Courage on March 23, 2015
(9) The Plant Oils Debate
(10) Why Not To Eat Fish ... Fish, Anisakis, Omega 3 and Omega 6
...
Not a Fish Tale: Humans Are
Ingesting Plastic Thanks to Ocean Pollution
Of relevance to current developments, this article was
first published by Truthout and posted on Global Research in March 2016
Humans generate more than 300
million tons of plastic annually — an amount equal to the combined
body weight of the entire global adult human population — and nearly
half of the plastic is only used one time before it is tossed away to
eventually find its way to the oceans. So it should come as little
surprise that by 2050, it is a virtual certainty that every seabird on
the planet will have plastic
in its stomach.
Recent estimates indicate that upwards of 8
million tons of plastic are added to the planet’s oceans every year,
the equivalent of a dump truck full of plastic every minute. That is
enough plastic to have led one scientist
to estimate that people who consume average amounts of seafood are
ingesting approximately 11,000 particles of plastic every year.
Experts with whom Truthout spoke on the topic
confirmed that these trends are likely to continue. Biological
oceanographer Dr. Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez, with the National
Oceanography Centre at Britain’s University of Southampton, is very
concerned about public indifference to the urgency of the situation.
“Marine pollution is a big issue,” Iglesias-Rodriguez
told Truthout.
“There is this idea that oceans have unlimited
inertia, but nanoparticles of plastic getting into marine animals
and the food chain are affecting fish fertility rates, and this
affects food security and coastal populations. Pollution is having a
huge impact on the oceans and is urgent and needs to be dealt with.”
Photo: Plastic Bag via Shutterstock; Edited: LW / TO
“Unexpected Results”
In the North Pacific Ocean, there exists what has
become known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a phenomenon
scientists know as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.
Miriam Goldstein, a researcher at Scripps Institution
of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, warned
Truthout that by adding massive amounts of plastic into the oceans,
humans are causing large-scale change to the oceans’ entire ecological
system.
Goldstein is the lead author of a study that
revealed just how deeply into the oceanic ecosystem plastic has already
embedded itself.
“We found eggs on the pieces of plastic, and these
were sea skater [insect] eggs,” Goldstein said. “Sea skaters naturally
occur in the gyre and are known to lay their eggs on floating objects.
So we found that the amount of eggs being laid had increased with the
amount of plastic.”
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre’s eastern section,
located between Hawai’i and California, is estimated to be about twice
the size of Texas. According to Goldstein, this vast “garbage patch”
contains an “alarming amount” of plastic garbage, the majority of which
is comprised of very small-size pieces.
Goldstein’s study shows how the immense amount of
plastic is creating consequences for animals across the marine food web.
Another Scripps study shows that
nearly 10 percent of the fish collected during a trip to the gyre had
plastic waste in their stomachs.
Published in Marine Ecology Progress Series, the
aforementioned study (authored by Peter Davison and Rebecca Asch)
estimates that fish at intermediate ocean depths in the North Pacific
Ocean could be ingesting plastic at the staggering rate of 12,000 to
24,000 tons per year.
Yet plastic will not likely be going away anytime
soon. The use of plastic bags around the world has increased by 20 times
in the last 50 years. One-third of all plastic packaging then escapes
collection systems, and a large percentage of that plastic eventually
ends up in the oceans, according
to the World Economic Forum report.
Only 5 percent of plastics are effectively recycled,
and the production of plastics is expected to increase by at least 1.12
billion tons by 2050.
“Our work shows there could be potential effects to
the ocean ecosystem that we can’t expect or predict,” Goldstein said.
“There are five subtropical gyres, one in each
ocean basin, and they are natural currents. They are vast areas of
the oceans; together they comprise the majority of the area of the
oceans. So altering them on a large scale could have unexpected
results on all kinds of things.”
Ocean 3.0?
The amount of plastic floating in the Pacific Gyre has
increased 100-fold in the past four decades. Meanwhile, phytoplankton
counts are dropping, overfishing is causing dramatic decreases in fish
populations, decreasing ocean salinity is intensifying weather extremes,
and warming oceans are speeding up melting in Greenland, the Arctic and
in Antarctica.
One warning of humanity’s increasingly deleterious
impact on the oceans comes from prominent marine biologist Jeremy
Jackson of the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography. In an article published in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, Jackson emphasizes that, without
profound and prompt changes in human behavior, we will cause a “mass
extinction in the oceans with unknown ecological and evolutionary
consequences.”
The statement might sound extreme, until one considers
the extent to which we impact the oceans, whether we realize it or not.
As science journalist Alanna Mitchell has written about the oceans:
“Every tear you cry … ends up back in the ocean
system. Every third molecule of carbon dioxide you exhale is
absorbed into the ocean. Every second breath you take comes from the
oxygen produced by plankton.”
Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, a research associate at the
California Academy of Sciences, told Truthout he finds plastic on every
beach he visits across the globe, and added, “Probably every sea turtle
on the planet interacts with plastic at some point in its life.”
Not only is Nichols intimately familiar with the
pollution crisis plastic poses to the oceans, but also he is well
acquainted with the oceanic destruction already underway due to
anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD).
He describes sea turtles as a “poster species” for the
impacts of ACD: He said their eggs
“are literally cooking on beaches now because the
temperatures have moved out of the tolerable range.”
“You often see the polar bear used as the poster
species for climate change, but I think sea turtles are just as good
of a poster species because they are everywhere and they are already
being impacted as the ocean warms,”
Nichols added.
In addition to ACD and plastic, he notes that we are
introducing too much pollution into the oceans, and taking too much out
of them by way of overfishing.
“We’re putting too much in, in all forms of pollution;
we’re taking too much out by fishing, overfishing and bycatch; and we’re
destroying the edge of the ocean, the places where there is the most
biodiversity, reefs, mangroves, seagrass etc.,” he said. “Those are the
three big buckets…. Almost every threat to the ocean falls into one of
those. We need to put less in, take less out and protect the edges by
making some of them off limits to human activity.”
Nichols is deeply concerned by the pace at which
negative changes are occurring across the oceans. He said that every
time scientists have attempted to predict future scenarios, the pace
seems to only quicken.
According to Nichols, despite scientists’ ongoing
attempts to adjust their models to keep up with the quickening of
feedback loops and other issues, we are still unable to keep pace with
the dramatic changes.
He believes “the clock in many ways has already run
out,” due to the fact that we are still increasing our use of fossil
fuels, while continuing to generate so much plastic and pollution.
Nichols says he is frustrated by the fact that despite there being more
conversation about these issues now than ever before, that dialogue is
still not translating into societal change or evolution.
Truthout asked Nichols if he sees the future becoming
worse for the oceans.
“We’re living in it now, from a climate
change/fisheries/pollution/habitat destruction point of view, our
nightmare is here; it’s the world we live in,” he said. “You see it
everywhere now, the collapsing fisheries, the changes in the Arctic
and the hardships communities that live there are having to face,
the frequency and intensity of storms — everything we imagined 40
years ago when the environmental movement was born, we’re dealing
with those now.”
Nichols concluded by describing three possible oceans.
Ocean 1.0 is the pristine natural ocean, while Ocean 2.0 is the ocean we
have now, which is a result of having, as he described it, lived under
“the petroleum product regime.”
“Ocean 3.0 is the future ocean, and it can either be a
dead ocean, or we can really come up with some very innovative solutions
that right now people aren’t even talking about,” he said.
To Nichols, a positive vision of Ocean 3.0 would
entail new ways of getting food from the ocean that don’t involve long
lines and bottom trawling, both extremely destructive ways to fish
commercially.
It would involve a whole new way of thinking about our
packaging and a zero-waste approach to consumer goods, which, he
believes, is all possible — if we can muster the political and personal
motivation.
“We could have a healthy ocean in 50 years if we make
some bold moves,” he said. Those moves would need to include “a cleaner,
more responsible set of actions for how we get energy from the ocean and
how we use them as a source of food.”
Without those actions happening en masse, Nichols
fears we are headed for the “dead ocean” version of our future.
“The dire predictions — they are already here in many,
many ways,” he said.
Can ingested plastic
particles from fish get into our bloodstream?
As I reviewed in my video
Is Fish Oil Just Snake Oil?,
the revelation that fish oil
appears useless in preventing heart
disease—in both heart patients and those trying
to prevent heart disease in the first
place—leads one to wonder how this whole fish
tale began.
The common mythology is that in
response to anecdotal reports of a low
prevalence of coronary heart disease among the
Eskimo, Danish
researchers Bang and Dyerberg went there and
confirmed a very low incidence of heart attack.
The absence of coronary artery disease would be
strange in a meat-based diet with hardly any
fruits and vegetables—“in other words, a diet
that
violates all principles of balanced and
heart-healthy nutrition.” This paradox was
attributed to all the seal and whale
blubber, which is extremely rich in omega-3 fish
fat, and the rest is history.
There’s a problem, though. It isn’t true.
As I discuss in my video
Omega-3s and the Eskimo Fish Tale,
the fact is Bang and Dyerberg never
examined the cardiovascular status of the
Eskimo; they just
accepted at face value this notion that
coronary atherosclerosis is almost unknown among
the Eskimo, a concept that has been
disproven over and over starting back in the
1930s. In fact, going back more than a thousand
years, we
have frozen Eskimo mummies with
atherosclerosis. From 500 years ago, a woman in
her early 40s had atherosclerosis in her aorta
and coronary arteries. And these aren’t just
isolated cases. The totality of evidence from
actual clinical investigations, autopsies, and
imaging techniques
is that they have the same plague of
coronary artery disease that non-Eskimo
populations have, and the Eskimo actually have
twice the fatal stroke rate and don’t live
particularly long.
“Considering the dismal health status of
Eskimos, it is remarkable that instead of
labelling their diet as dangerous to health,”
they just accepted and echoed the myth, and
tried to come up with a reason to explain the
false premise. The Eskimo had such dismal health
that the Westernization of their diets actually
lowered their rates of ischemic heart
disease. You know your diet’s bad when the
arrival of Twinkies improves your health.
So, why do so many researchers to this day
unquestioningly parrot the myth? “Publications
still
referring to Bang and Dyerberg’s nutritional
studies as proof that Eskimos have low
prevalence of [heart disease] represent either
misinterpretation of the original findings or an
example of confirmation bias,” which is when
people cherry-pick or slant information to
confirm their preconceived notions. As the great
scientist Francis Bacon put it: “Man prefers to
believe what he prefers to be true.” So, we get
literally thousands of articles on the alleged
benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, a
billion-dollar industry selling fish oil
capsules, and millions of Americans taking the
stuff—all based on a hypothesis that was
questionable from the very beginning.
What’s this about no benefit
for fish oil consumption and heart disease? See
my video
Is Fish Oil Just Snake Oil?.
The carnivorous diet of traditional Eskimo
inhabitants of the frozen, northern,
circumpolar regions of planet Earth
(Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland),
serves as a testament to the strengths and
adaptability of the human species. The foods
consumed by these hardy people are in
“polar” opposition to those recommended by
me (the McDougall Diet of starches,
vegetables, and fruits): a carnivore vs. an
herbivore diet. Unfortunately,
misinformation surrounding the all-meat diet
of the Eskimo has promoted dangerous eating
habits to the modern-day general public.
For more than 6,000 years, natives of the
frozen North have lived with almost no
contact with the rest of the world. Not
until the mid-1800s were reliable records
made of their daily lives, their diets, and
their health. Early reports describe these
people as looking beautiful and athletic
when they were young, but then they aged
quickly, and “men and women who appeared to
be
60 or over were rare.”
Rumors have since circulated that
traditional Eskimos have lived free of heart
disease, cancer, and most other chronic
diseases affecting western civilizations
these days.
Research published in the mid-1970s
tried to explain this “Eskimo paradox” of
living healthy with very few plant foods, on
a high-fat, high-cholesterol,
no-dietary-fiber diet. The omega-3 fish fats
were noted as the miracle ingredient
providing protection. Dietetic and medical
experts have uncritically accepted this
theory in the face of libraries filled with
incriminating evidence to the contrary. They
tell patients to eat more fish, poultry, and
even red meat—like the Eskimos – and plenty
of fish oil – in order to stay healthy.
Pushing the Nutritional Envelope
Hunted animals, including birds, caribou,
seals, walrus, polar bears, whales, and fish
provided all the nutrition for the Eskimos
for at least 10 months of the year. And in
the summer season people gathered a few
plant foods such as berries, grasses,
tubers, roots, stems, and seaweeds. Frozen
snow-covered lands were unfit for the
cultivation of plants. Animal flesh was, by
necessity, the only food available most of
the time.
The fat, not the protein, from animal foods
provided most of the
3,100 calories required daily for these
active people. Plants are the primary source
of all carbohydrates, including digestible
sugars and non-digestible dietary fibers.
Eating raw meat indirectly provided Eskimos
with enough carbohydrates in the form of
glycogen (found in the muscles and liver of
animals) to meet their necessary nutrient
requirements and keep them out of a
starvation condition called ketosis. Muscle
tissue contains almost no calcium, and as a
result the daily intake was about
120 mg/day versus the 800 mg and more
commonly recommended for good health. Plants
(not people) synthesize Vitamin C, yet the
Eskimo was able to avoid scurvy with the
30 mg of vitamin C consumed daily found
in land and sea animals. Recommendations for
vitamin C are 60 mg/day and higher daily.
Low levels of sunlight, and preformed
vitamin D from fish, met the “sunshine D
vitamin” requirement for Eskimo health. By
the grace of environmental design, Nature
made sure there was just enough nutrition
for the Eskimo to survive.
Percent of Calories from
Macronutrients from Various
Diets
Eskimo
American
McDougall
Kempner
Fat
50
40
8
5
Protein
35
20
12
5
Carbs
15
40
80
90
The McDougall Diet offers an ideal
nutritional balance for the
prevention of and long-term recovery
from diseases caused by the American
Diet.
The Kempner Diet of rice and
fruit takes diet-therapy one step
further by allowing even greater
recovery to bodies that have been
burdened by excess protein and fat.
There Is No Eskimo Paradox
The human being is designed to thrive on a
diet of starches, vegetables and fruits. The
Eskimo experience serves as a testament to
the miraculous strengths and adaptability of
our bodies. We can survive on raw and cooked
meat, but we thrive on starches, vegetables
and fruits. These hardy people survived
living at the edge of the nutritional
envelope, but not in good health. Here are
some of the health costs they paid:
Eskimos Suffer from Atherosclerosis
Claims that Eskimos were free of heart
(artery) disease are untrue. A thorough
review of the evidence concludes that
“Eskimos have a similar prevalence of CAD
(coronary artery disease) as non-Eskimo
populations, they have excessive mortality
due to cerebrovascular strokes, their
overall mortality is twice as high as that
of non-Eskimo populations, and their life
expectancy is approximately 10 years shorter
than the Danish population.”
Mummified remains of Eskimos dating back
2,000 years have shown extensive hardening
of the arteries throughout their brains,
hearts and limbs; as a direct consequence of
following a carnivorous diet of birds,
caribou, seals, walrus, polar bears, whales,
and fish. The June 1987 issue of
National Geographic magazine carried an
article about two Eskimo women, one in her
twenties and the other in her forties,
frozen for five centuries in a tomb of ice.
When discovered and medically examined they
both showed signs of severe osteoporosis and
also suffered extensive atherosclerosis,
“probably the result of a heavy diet of
whale and seal blubber.”
Eskimos Suffer from Severe Bone Loss
Their low-calcium diet and lack of sunshine
(vitamin D) are only minor factors
contributing to the extensive osteoporosis
found in recent and ancient Eskimos. Alaskan
Eskimos older than age 40 have been found to
have a
10% to 15% greater deficit in bone
mineral density compared to Caucasians in
the US. This research published in 1974 on
107 elderly people concluded, “Aging bone
loss, which occurs in many populations, has
an earlier onset and greater intensity in
the Eskimos. Nutritional factors of high
protein, high nitrogen, high phosphorus, and
low calcium intakes maybe implicated.”
Protein, and especially animal protein,
consumed in excess of our needs places
serious burdens on the body. The liver and
kidneys work hard to process the
excess protein and excrete its
byproducts along with the urine. As a result
of this extra work, Eskimos have been
reported to have an enlarged liver while
living on meat, and to produce larger than
average volumes of urine in order to excrete
the byproducts of protein metabolism. The
bones also play a role in managing excess
animal protein (acidic by nature) by
neutralizing large amounts of dietary acids.
In this process bone structure and bone
mineral content are lost through the kidney
system, depleting the bones into a condition
called osteoporosis.
Parasite Infections
Diseases of animals are readily transmitted
to humans when eaten. One example is
trichinosis (an infection with the
roundworm Trichinella
spiralis), which is found in about
12% of older Eskimos; a result of eating
raw and infected walrus, seal, and polar
bear meat. In most cases this parasite
infestation causes no symptoms, but illness
and death can result.
Meat-derived Chemical Pollution
Since the 1970s the diet of the Eskimo has
contained high levels of toxic, organic
pollutants and heavy metals. These
lipophilic chemicals are attracted to and
concentrated in the fatty-tissues of land
and sea animals. As a direct result of the
traditional Eskimo diet (now contaminated by
industry wastes), the bodies of these Arctic
people contain the highest human
concentrations of environmental chemicals
found anywhere on Earth: “levels so extreme
that the
breast milk and tissues of some
Greenlanders could be classified as
hazardous waste.” Eskimo women have been
found to have levels of PCBs in their breast
milk five to ten times higher than women in
southern Canada.
These chemicals cause and promote many
forms of cancer and cause brain diseases,
including Parkinson’s disease.
Nutrition Has Gone Downhill for the Eskimo
The notion that consuming meat, fish, and
fish oil will promote health and healing has
captured the attention of the scientific
community in large part because of the
misinterpretation** of the Eskimo
experience. But life has gotten worse for
the Eskimo. Over the past 50 years their
traditional diet has been further modified
with the addition of western foods. Rather
than using a hook, spear, or club to catch
their meal, as in the past, people living in
this part of the world use the “green lure”
(the dollar bill) and catch their meals
through an open car window at the local
fast-food restaurant. Obesity, type-2
diabetes, tooth decay, and cancers of the
breast, prostate, and colon have been added
to the Eskimo’s traditional health problems
of artery disease, bone loss, and infectious
diseases.
People living in the frozen north these days
have heated homes and drive around in
comfortable SUVs. The challenging
environment their ancestors barely survived
through required a carnivorous diet. Those
days of needing 3100 calories a day to
counter the freezing cold and hunt for
dinner are gone. The idea that current
epidemics of obesity and sickness in these
Northern people would be best fixed by
returning to the old ways of carnivorous
diet would not work unless they also
returned to living in igloo homes and hunted
their lands for every meal. Physicians and
dietitians now caring for these people
suffering from the western diet with the
addition of too much traditional food
(ancestral meat) should be prescribing a
starch-based diet to help them lose excess
weight and cure common dietary diseases.
*The term “Eskimo” comes from a Native
American word that may have meant “eater of
raw meat.” The word “Eskimo” has come to be
considered offensive, especially in Canada.
Many prefer the name “Inuit,” which means
“the people” or “real people.” However,
“Eskimo” is the term used in the scientific
and historical literature and will be used
here.
**Misinterpretation is easy to spread
because:
1) People love to hear good news about their
bad habits.
2) Nutritional “facts,” even when false and
harmful, are used to sell meat, fish, and
other foods.
3) The media loves headlines that sell their
products, like “The Eskimo Diet proves
Meat’s Good.”
Why do
heart attack rates appear lower than expected in France given
their saturated fat and cholesterol intake? Is it their red wine,
their vegetable consumption, or something else?
By Michael Greger, M.D.
Is Fish a Health Food, or
Have We Just Let It Off the Hook?
By Sofia Pineda Ochoa, MD
Many people equate eating fish with doing something good for their
health. This may be due to the illusion that fish swim in clean waters,
or to the fact that they have a very different shape and form than the
land animals we use for food. There even seems to be a deeply ingrained
notion that aquatic animals are not part of the animal kingdom
classification and that consuming fish is similar to—and just as
beneficial as—consuming plant foods.
So, should we be eating fish to promote health?
Four Major Problems With Fish
1. Animal protein and IGF-1
Just like the proteins in dairy, eggs, and meat, the protein in fish
also contains a higher proportion of essential amino acids, which
results in our bodies producing increased levels of the hormone IGF-1
(insulin-like growth factor 1).[i] [ii] [iii]
IGF-1 stimulates cell division and growth, and it is associated with
cancer proliferation and malignancy. The role of IGF-1 in cancer
promotion is well understood, and animal protein, including fish, is
associated with increased circulating levels of this hormone (and
thereby with increased risk of cancer development).[iv] [v] [vi] [vii]
[viii]
2. Cholesterol and saturated fat
While fish is frequently touted for its preformed long-chain omega-3
fatty acids (EPA and DHA), it is important to note the following:
Although some fish contain a small (but nutritionally adequate) amount
of these essential nutrients, most of the remaining fats in fish meat
are saturated fats and cholesterol which (despite popular opinion to the
contrary) are highly associated with cardiovascular disease.
For example, three ounces of bass has some 74 milligrams of cholesterol,
about the same as the 75 milligrams of cholesterol found in a 3-ounce
serving of beef.[ix]
Fish only contain omega-3 fatty acids because they get them from the
plants they eat. Omega-3 is found in whole plants like nuts, seeds,
beans, vegetables and fruits in adequate amounts.
As humans, we do not need to eat any cholesterol in our diets, as our
bodies synthesize all the cholesterol we need for our physiologic
functions. Eating cholesterol despite this fact can be problematic for
our health, as it increases our risk of developing heart disease.
3. Contaminants and pollutants
Fish are very commonly the subject of health risk advisories, the
majority of which are caused by contamination of their ocean habitat
with heavy metals like mercury, industrial byproducts like dioxin and
PBCs (polychlorinated biphenyls), and pesticides/insecticides like
chlordane and DDT.[x]
A recent study sampled fish from around the world and found unsafe
levels of mercury in up to 84 percent of them (and the situation
promises to only get worse, as mercury emissions are continuing to
increase on a global scale.[xi])
Mercury is a neurotoxic heavy metal that is difficult to eliminate from
the body once ingested. It can cause a wide variety of neurologic
disturbances and can inhibit normal cardiac physiology when it
accumulates in the heart muscle.[xii] It also has the capacity to cross
the placenta barrier in pregnant women and can cause central nervous
system damage to a developing fetus.[xiii]
4. What fish doesn’t have
Another important factor to consider beyond the dangerous qualities of
fish (animal protein, cholesterol, fat, and toxins), is what it lacks.
Fish, like beef and other meats, is also missing fiber, beneficial
carbohydrates, healthy phytochemicals, and macronutrients in the right
proportions, which makes it a poor choice as a health-promoting food.
But Fish Is “Less Bad” Than Red Meat, Right?
In some respects, fish does appear to be less disadvantageous to health
than some other animal foods. However a food doesn’t become a health
food just because it may have less severe problems as compared with
something else that’s even more harmful to our body. In terms of weight,
diabetes risk, and other important health indicators, researchers find
that fish eaters might do better than meat eaters as a group, but they
don’t do nearly as well as plant-based eaters.
In Conclusion …
Consumption of fish should not be encouraged from a health perspective,
given not only its unacceptable levels of mercury, dioxin, and PBCs (the
toxicity of which is well established), but also the cholesterol and
saturated fat content, and the inherent increased cancer risk associated
with animal protein in general.
The ideal (or “gold standard”) diet from a health standpoint remains a
whole-food, plant-based diet, which means eating vegetables, grains,
legumes, nuts, fruits, and seeds, while excluding animal food (like
fish).
This is a fortuitous fact too, because plant-based foods are also
generally far easier to produce, use less water, and generate a
significantly lower environmental footprint than do animal foods. In
contrast, the practice of obtaining animal foods (including fish) for
human consumption devastates the environment on many different fronts,
and is simply not sustainable at current and ever-growing demand
levels.)
7
Things That Happen When You Stop Eating Meat
By Michelle McMacken, MD
People go plant-based for lots of reasons.
These include losing weight, feeling more energetic, reducing the
risk of heart disease, decreasing the number of pills they take …
there are dozens of great reasons! For even more inspiration, check
out these other benefits you can expect when you go plant-based.
1. You’ll reduce inflammation in your body.
If you are eating meat, cheese, and highly processed foods, chances
are you have elevated levels of inflammation in your body. While
short-term inflammation (such as after an injury) is normal and
necessary, inflammation that lasts for months or years is not.
Chronic inflammation has been linked to the development of
atherosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and autoimmune
diseases, among other conditions.
In contrast, plant-based diets are naturally anti-inflammatory,
because they are high in fiber, antioxidants, and other
phytonutrients, and much lower in inflammatory triggers like
saturated fat and endotoxins (toxins released from bacteria commonly
found in animal foods). Studies have shown that people who adopt
plant-based diets can dramatically lower their level of C-reactive
protein (CRP), an indicator of inflammation in the body.
2. Your blood cholesterol levels will plummet.
Elevated blood cholesterol is a key risk factor for heart disease
and strokes, two of the leading killers in the United States.
Saturated fat—primarily found in meat, poultry, cheese, and other
animal products—is a major driver of our blood cholesterol levels.
Cholesterol in our food also plays a role.
Studies consistently show that when people go plant based, their
blood cholesterol levels drop by up to 35% . In many cases, the
decrease is equal to that seen with drug therapy—with many positive
side effects! People who require cholesterol-lowering drugs can
further slash their cholesterol levels and cardiovascular risk by
adopting a plant-based diet.
Whole-food, plant-based diets reduce blood cholesterol because they
tend to be very low in saturated fat and they contain zero
cholesterol. Moreover, plant-based diets are high in fiber, which
further reduces blood cholesterol levels. Soy has also been shown to
play a role in lowering cholesterol, for those who choose to include
it.
3. You’ll give your microbiome a makeover.
The trillions of microorganisms living in our bodies are
collectively called the microbiome. Increasingly, these
microorganisms are recognized as crucial to our overall health: not
only do they help us digest our food, but they produce critical
nutrients, train our immune systems, turn genes on and off, keep our
gut tissue healthy, and help protect us from cancer. Studies have
also shown they play a role in obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis,
autoimmune disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and liver disease.
Plant foods help shape a healthy intestinal microbiome. The fiber in
plant foods promotes the growth of “friendly” bacteria in our guts.
On the other hand, fiber-poor diets (such as those that are high in
dairy, eggs, and meat) can foster the growth of disease-promoting
bacteria. Landmark studies have shown that when omnivores eat
choline or carnitine (found in meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, and
dairy), gut bacteria make a substance that is converted by our liver
to a toxic product called TMAO. TMAO leads to worsening cholesterol
plaques in our blood vessels and escalates the risk of heart attack
and stroke.
Interestingly, people eating plant-based diets make little or no
TMAO after a meat-containing meal, because they have a totally
different gut microbiome. It takes only a few days for our gut
bacterial patterns to change – the benefits of a plant-based diet
start quickly!
4. You’ll change how your genes work.
Scientists have made the remarkable discovery that environmental and
lifestyle factors can turn genes on and off. For example, the
antioxidants and other nutrients we eat in whole plant foods can
change gene expression to optimize how our cells repair damaged DNA.
Research has also shown that lifestyle changes, including a
plant-based diet, can decrease the expression of cancer genes in men
with low-risk prostate cancer. We’ve even seen that a plant-based
diet, along with other lifestyle changes, can lengthen our
telomeres—the caps at the end of our chromosomes that help keep our
DNA stable. This might mean that our cells and tissues age more
slowly, since shortened telomeres are associated with aging and
earlier death.
5. You’ll dramatically reduce your chances of getting type 2
diabetes.
An estimated 38% of Americans have prediabetes—a precursor to type 2
diabetes. Animal protein, especially red and processed meat, has
been shown in study after study to increase the risk of type 2
diabetes. In the Adventist population, omnivores have double the
rate of diabetes compared with vegans, even accounting for
differences in body weight. In fact, in this population, eating meat
once a week or more over a 17-year period increased the risk of
diabetes by 74%! Similarly, in the Health Professionals Follow-up
Study and Nurses Health Study, increasing red meat intake by more
than just half a serving per day was associated with a 48% increased
risk in diabetes over 4 years.
Why would meat cause type 2 diabetes? Several reasons: animal fat,
animal-based (heme) iron, and nitrate preservatives in meat have
been found to damage pancreatic cells, worsen inflammation, cause
weight gain, and impair the way our insulin functions.
You will dramatically lessen your chances of getting type 2 diabetes
by leaving animal products off of your plate and eating a diet based
in whole plant foods. This is especially true if you eat whole
grains, which are highly protective against type 2 diabetes. You
read that right: carbs actually protect you from diabetes! Also, a
plant-based diet can improve or even reverse your diabetes if you’ve
already been diagnosed.
6. You’ll get the right amount—and the right type—of protein.
The average omnivore in the US gets more than 1.5 times the optimal
amount of protein, most of it from animal sources.
Contrary to popular perception, this excess protein does not make us
stronger or leaner. Excess protein is stored as fat or turned into
waste, and animal protein is a major cause of weight gain, heart
disease, diabetes, inflammation, and cancer.
On the other hand, the protein found in whole plant foods protects
us from many chronic diseases. There is no need to track protein
intake or use protein supplements with plant-based diets; if you are
meeting your daily calorie needs, you will get plenty of protein.
The longest-lived people on Earth, those living in the “Blue Zones,”
get about 10% of their calories from protein, compared with the US
average of 15-20%.
7. You’ll make a huge impact on the health of our planet and its
inhabitants.
Animal agriculture is extremely destructive to the planet. It is the
single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and is a
leading cause of land and water use, deforestation, wildlife
destruction, and species extinction. About 2,000 gallons of water
are needed to produce just one pound of beef in the U.S. Our oceans
are rapidly becoming depleted of fish; by some estimates, oceans may
be fishless by 2048. The current food system, based on meat and
dairy production, also contributes to world hunger—the majority of
crops grown worldwide go toward feeding livestock, not feeding
people.
Equally important, animals raised for food are sentient beings who
suffer, whether raised in industrial factory farms or in farms
labeled “humane.” Eating a plant-based diet helps us lead a more
compassionate life. After all, being healthy is not just about the
food we eat; it’s also about our consciousness—our awareness of how
our choices affect the planet and all of those with whom we share
it.
7 Ways Milk
and Dairy Products Are Making You Sick
By Sofia Pineda Ochoa, MD
Today, Americans consume an enormous amount of dairy. The intake of the
average American is estimated to be over 600 pounds of dairy products
per year.[1]
Dairy foods (including cow’s milk) have not been part of the diet of
adults for the vast majority of human evolution.[2] We’ve only been
consuming these foods for about 7,500 years,[3] compared to the roughly
200,000 years humans have been around (with our basic biochemical
functionality evolving still a few million years before that).[4]
Intensive and successful marketing by the dairy industry (including
slogans like “Milk – It Does a Body Good” and “Got Milk”) have
reinforced a broadly ingrained belief that dairy is good for our health.
But is it, really?
Dairy has come under fire and scrutiny from nutritional experts,
scientists and physicians for its associations with a number of serious
health issues.
1. Even Organic Milk Usually Contains Hormones
Dairy is a significant source of female hormone exposure.[5] Commercial
cow’s milk contains large amounts of estrogen and progesterone, which is
a serious concern. This is further exacerbated by modern dairy cows
being genetically altered to continuously produce milk – even throughout
their repeated pregnancies.[5] [6]
Even milk products labeled “organic” or “no hormones added” usually
contain high levels of these problematic hormones, which are naturally
produced by cows (even if those cows have not been given any additional
hormones for purposes of the product label).
In both adults and children, milk consumption has resulted in markedly
increased levels of estradiol and progesterone in blood and urine,[6]
and dairy consumption in general has been associated with increased
levels of circulating estradiol.[7]
The data show that men who drink milk will absorb the estrogens in the
milk, which has been found to result in significantly decreased
testosterone production/levels.[6]
Pediatricians have expressed concern regarding childhood exposure to the
exogenous estrogens in commercial milk, given studies showing that early
sexual maturation in prepubescent children can be caused by the
“ordinary intake of cow milk.”[6]
A broad array of multi-centered, peer-reviewed studies has shown that
dairy consumption is one of the most concerning and consistent risk
factors for hormone-dependent malignant diseases, including ovarian,
uterine, breast, testicular and prostate cancers.[5-15]
Also, while there is a culturally popular idea that soy foods may cause
feminizing effects, several studies have found that isoflavones (the
plant-derived compounds in soybeans with estrogenic activity) do not
exert feminizing effects on men, even at high consumption levels.[16]
Other studies have found that soy food consumption is even protective
against breast cancer.[17] [18] I think we should be far more concerned
about the high levels of real female sex hormones found in dairy, the
consumption of which results in measurably higher circulating levels of
these problematic hormones.[5]
2. Casein From Dairy = Increased Risk of Cancer Development
Casein is the main protein in dairy, and studies have shown that it
facilitates the growth and development of cancer. In fact, some studies
even found that cancer development could be controlled more by casein
levels in diet than by exposure to the underlying carcinogen.[19]
Insulin-like growth factor-1 (or IGF-1), a hormone that promotes cell
growth and division in both normal and cancer cells, is thought to be
one of the mechanisms responsible for this association. IGF-1 appears to
be nutritionally regulated, and animal protein consumption (including
casein from dairy foods) leads to higher circulating levels of this
cancer-promoting hormone. For this reason, consuming casein from dairy
(as well as animal protein in general) is associated with increased risk
of cancer development and proliferation.[19-25]
3. Higher Risk of Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis
Our immune system normally protects us from microbes and other harmful
substances. But if it loses its ability to recognize and distinguish
harmful substances from normal tissues and cells, it can instead mount
attacks against our own bodies.
These “auto-attacks” can be triggered by exposure to foreign peptides
(including animal protein fragments found in dairy), which have
similarities to components in the human body. This can result in our
immune system becoming “confused” and misidentifying tissues in our body
as “foreign” and thus in need of being attacked and destroyed.
Dairy is associated with increased risk of several immune-related
disorders (from allergic conditions to autoimmune diseases), many being
life-changing and difficult to treat. The associations with type 1
diabetes and multiple sclerosis are particularly concerning:
Type 1 Diabetes. In type 1 diabetes (also called juvenile diabetes or
insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)), the immune system attacks
the pancreas, resulting in the body no longer being able to produce
insulin to regulate glucose. Multiple large-scale studies have
identified an association between cow’s milk consumption and increased
prevalence of type 1 diabetes.[26-30] One such study found that “cows’
milk may contain a triggering factor for the development of IDDM,”[26]
and another found that “[e]arly cow’s milk exposure may be an important
determinant of subsequent type 1 diabetes and may increase the risk
approximately 1.5 times.”[27]
Multiple Sclerosis. In multiple sclerosis (MS), the immune system
attacks the insulating sheath of our own nervous system, resulting in a
variety of difficult-to-treat and unpredictable neurologic problems. As
with type 1 diabetes, numerous studies have reported that cow’s milk
consumption may be a significant risk factor for developing MS.[31] [32]
[33]
4. Even Pasteurized Milk Contains Microorganisms
Milk and other dairy products are important vehicles for foodborne
pathogens due to a variety of microorganisms they harbor.[34] Even with
modern sanitation requirements, including pasteurization and curing,
outbreaks still occur, resulting in severe and sometimes even fatal
outcomes.
Salmonella, Listeria, and E. coli are some of the more common foodborne
outbreaks associated with dairy.[35] Just last year, for example, three
people tragically died from Listeria infections linked to Blue Bell Ice
Cream (prompting a large-scale recall by Blue Bell Creameries).[36] [37]
Not even our food regulatory agencies expect milk will be sterile after
pasteurization; the heating process is done merely to reduce (not
eliminate) the amount of microorganisms.
5. Dairy Products Accumulate Pesticides in High Concentrations
Exposure to organochlorine pesticides (OCP) is another problem
associated with dairy. While pesticide contamination affects water and
agricultural lands generally, dairy products have a greater capacity to
accumulate these pesticides in higher concentrations, due in part to
their high fat content.[38] [39]
Even pesticides that have long been banned still show up when dairy
products are tested. Some OCPs (like DDT, which was widely used in the
past and now banned as a human carcinogen) still persist in the
environment and can more easily accumulate in animal food products,
including dairy.
In India, milk and other dairy products (like cheese and butter) have
been reported as the major sources of dietary DDT and
hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH),[40] and routine monitoring detected that
milk from dairy farms in Italy’s Sacco River Valley had levels of ß-HCH
twenty times higher than the legal limit.[41]
6. Increased Exposure to Antibiotic Residue
The largest use of antibiotics worldwide is for livestock.[42] Much of
that use is for non-therapeutic purposes, such as infection prevention
and to promote feed efficiency and animal growth.[43]
Apart from the dire warnings from scientists that agricultural overuse
is leading to antibiotic resistance,[44] [45] another problem is that
antibiotic residues persist in milk and other dairy products despite
protocols aimed to minimize this.
It is difficult to prevent and control these antibiotic residues because
milk from individual cows and farms is usually pooled together, and the
administration, handling and record-keeping of animal drug use can vary
significantly from one dairy operation to another.[46]
The resulting low-dose antibiotic exposure can lead to a variety of
problems, from developing antibiotic resistance to allergic reactions to
experiencing side-effects of the medication to which a person is
exposed.
7. Dairy Can Lead to Bone Problems Too
This may come as a surprise to many, but dairy does not appear to be
good for bone health, either.
Not only has the body of scientific evidence been found inadequate to
support the idea that dairy consumption promotes bone health,[47] but
numerous large-scale studies have found that consuming dairy may
actually be detrimental to bone health.[48-51] In fact, there is
substantial data linking higher milk intake with significantly increased
risk of bone fractures.[48] [49] [50] [51]
There are several mechanisms thought to be responsible for the
pathophysiology. One is dairy’s high calcium content, which can cause
vitamin D dysregulation and therefore disrupt bone homeostasis. Another
is that the high animal protein content of dairy can induce acidosis
from its high proportion of sulfur-containing amino acids, which in turn
leads to the body compensating by leaching calcium from the bones to
help neutralize the increased acidity. Over time, all of this can have a
detrimental effect on bone health.[49-60]
While several other factors, such as physical activity, can affect bone
health, it’s significant to note that the U.S. has one of the highest
rates of hip fractures in the world, despite our high milk intake. By
contrast, in countries like Japan and Peru, where average daily calcium
intake is as low as 300 milligrams per day (less than a third of the
U.S. daily recommendation for adults), the incidence of bone fractures
is actually quite low.[48] [49] [61]
Fortunately, calcium is abundant in plant foods, including leafy green
vegetables, legumes and seeds, often with higher absorption rates than
the calcium in dairy—and of course without all of dairy’s associated
health problems.
CONCLUSIONS
Each mammalian species produces milk for its own babies, and the content
of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and minerals is specific to provide
optimum nutrition for a baby of that particular species. The milk from
an elephant, tiger, sea lion and cow are each different from one
another, and they are all different from human milk.
When we think about it, the health problems associated with consuming
the milk and dairy products of other species should not come as any
surprise. No other species consumes milk regularly past the weaning
period and certainly not from another species – and, as mentioned above,
we humans have also not being doing so for the vast majority of our own
evolutionary history.
Fortunately, with plant milks, such as soy, almond and rice now
available, as well as delicious plant-based versions of other dairy
products, it’s never been easier or more convenient to completely avoid
dairy.
While probiotics receive more attention, key fibers remain the
workhorses in maintaining a healthy gut microbiome
By Katherine Harmon Courage on March 23, 2015
KEYSTONE, Colo.—Your gut is the site of constant turf wars. Hundreds of
bacterial species—along with fungi, archaea and viruses—do battle daily,
competing for resources. Some companies advocate for consuming more
probiotics, live beneficial bacteria, to improve microbial communities
in our gut, but more and more research supports the idea that the most
powerful approach might be to better feed the good bacteria we already
harbor. Their meal of choice? Fiber.
Fiber has long been linked to better health, but new research shows how
the gut microbiota might play a role in this pattern. One investigation
discovered that adding more fiber to the diet can trigger a shift from a
microbial profile linked to obesity to one correlated with a leaner
physique. Another recent study shows that when microbes are starved of
fiber, they can start to feed on the protective mucus lining of the gut,
possibly triggering inflammation and disease.
"Diet is one of the most powerful tools we have for changing the
microbiota," Justin Sonnenburg, a biologist at Stanford University, said
earlier this month at a Keystone Symposia conference on the gut
microbiome. "Dietary fiber and diversity of the microbiota complement
each other for better health outcomes." In particular, beneficial
microbes feast on fermentable fibers—which can come from various
vegetables, whole grains and other foods—that resist digestion by
human-made enzymes as they travel down the digestive tract. These fibers
arrive in the large intestine relatively intact, ready to be devoured by
our microbial multitudes. Microbes can extract the fiber's extra energy,
nutrients, vitamins and other compounds for us. Short-chain fatty acids
obtained from fiber are of particular interest, as they have been linked
to improved immune function, decreased inflammation and protection
against obesity.
Today's Western diet, however, is exceedingly fiber-poor by historical
standards. It contains roughly 15 grams of fiber daily, Sonnenburg
noted. For most of our early history as hunter-gatherers, we were likely
eating close to 10 times that amount of fiber each day. "Imagine the
effect that has on our microbiota over the course of our evolution," he
said.
Your bugs are what you eat
Not all helpful fiber, however, needs to come from the roots and
roughage for which our ancestors foraged, new research suggests. Kelly
Swanson, a professor of comparative nutrition at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his team found that simply adding a
fiber-enriched snack bar to subjects' daily diets could swing microbial
profiles in a matter of weeks. In a small study of 21 healthy adults
with average U.S. fiber intake, one daily fiber snack bar (containing 21
grams of fiber) for three weeks significantly increased the number of
Bacteroidetes bacteria and decreased the number of Firmicutes compared
with levels before the study or after three weeks of eating fiber-free
bars. Such a ratio—of more Bacteroidetes to fewer Firmicutes—is
correlated with lower BMI. The findings were published in the January
issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
"We've known forever that if you eat a lot of fiber, you lose weight,"
Swanson says. His and other recent studies suggest that our gut microbes
are a key player in this relationship. In addition to identifying groups
of bacteria, a genome scan revealed a shifting pattern of genes active
in the gut microbes. As fiber consumption increased, the activity of
genes associated with protein metabolism declined, a finding that
researchers hope will help them understand the complicated puzzle of
diet and weight loss. "We're getting closer to what is actually cause
and effect," Swanson says.
Feed the microbes so they don't feed on you
As gut microbes are starved of fermentable fiber, some do die off.
Others, however, are able to switch to another food source in the gut:
the mucus lining that helps keep the gut wall intact and free from
infection.
In a recent study presented at the Keystone meeting, Eric Martens of the
University of Michigan Medical School, postdoctoral researcher Mahesh
Desai and their colleagues found that this fuel switch had striking
consequences in rodents. A group of mice fed a high-fiber diet had
healthy gut lining, but for mice on a fiber-free diet, "the mucus layer
becomes dramatically diminished," he explained at the meeting. This
shift might sometimes have severe health consequences. Research by a
Swedish team, published last year in the journal Gut, showed a link
between bacteria penetrating the mucus layer and ulcerative colitis, a
painful chronic bowel disease.
A third group of mice received high-fiber chow and fiber-free chow on
alternating days—"like what we would do if we were being bad and eating
McDonald's one day and eating our whole grains the next," Martens joked.
Even the part-time high-fiber diet was not enough to keep guts healthy:
these mice had a mucus layer about half the thickness of mice on the
consistently high-fiber diet. If we can extend these results to humans,
he said, it "tells us that even eating your whole fiber foods every
other day is still not enough to protect you. You need to eat a
high-fiber diet every day to keep a healthy gut." Along the same lines,
Swanson's group found that the gut microbiomes of his adult subjects
reverted back to initial profiles as soon as the high-fiber bars were
discontinued.
Martens and his colleagues also observed that mice on the consistently
high-fiber diet consumed fewer calories and were slimmer than those on
the fiber-free diet, showing that fiber benefits the body in multiple
ways. "Studies like this are great because it's getting at the
mechanisms to explain why fiber is beneficial," Swanson says.
As all this work underscores, the gut microbiome is exceptionally
plastic. Such rapid, diet-influenced changes likely served us well over
the course of our evolutionary history—shifting faster than our own
physiology could, wrote Justin Sonnenburg and Erica Sonnenburg in a
November 2014 article in Cell Metabolism. "In delegating part of our
digestion and calorie harvest to our gut residents, the microbial part
of our biology could easily adjust to day-to-day or season-to-season
variation in available food," they noted. New studies continue to
demonstrate that microbial changes due to diet are "largely reversible
on short time scales." But the question remains as to how chronic
low-fiber intake—over a lifetime or generations—might permanently alter
our guts and our health.
The postprandial effect of components of the mediterranean diet on
endothelial function
Robert A Vogel, MDa; Mary C Corretti, MDa; Gary D Plotnick, MDa
OBJECTIVES This study investigated the postprandial effect of
components of the Mediterranean diet on endothelial function, which may
be an atherogenic factor. BACKGROUND The Mediterranean diet, containing
olive oil, pasta, fruits, vegetables, fish, and wine, is associated with
an unexpectedly low rate of cardiovascular events. The Lyon Diet Heart
Study found that a Mediterranean diet, which substituted
omega-3-fatty-acid-enriched canola oil for the traditionally consumed
omega-9 fatty-acid-rich olive oil, reduced cardiovascular events.
METHODS We fed 10 healthy, normolipidemic subjects five meals containing
900 kcal and 50 g fat. Three meals contained different fat sources:
olive oil, canola oil, and salmon. Two olive oil meals also contained
antioxidant vitamins (C and E) or foods (balsamic vinegar and salad). We
measured serum lipoproteins and glucose and brachial artery
flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), an index of endothelial function,
before and 3 h after each meal. RESULTS All five meals significantly
raised serum triglycerides, but did not change other lipoproteins or
glucose 3 h postprandially. The olive oil meal reduced FMD 31% (14.3 ±
4.2% to 9.9 ± 4.5%, p = 0.008). An inverse correlation was observed
between postprandial changes in serum triglycerides and FMD (r = −0.47,
p < 0.05). The remaining four meals did not significantly reduce
FMD. CONCLUSIONS In terms of their postprandial effect on endothelial
function, the beneficial components of the Mediterranean and Lyon Diet
Heart Study diets appear to be antioxidant-rich foods, including
vegetables, fruits, and their derivatives such as vinegar, and
omega-3-rich fish and canola oils.
http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1126754
Olive Oil is NOT Health Food but Sick Food - Jeff Novick (2009) 10
min
So many are deceived into believing that olive oil and the Mediterranean
Diet are "health promoting." Oh yeah? Actually, the Mediterranean diet,
which contains a very small amount of olive oil (unlike how most people
use olive oil), IS healthier than the standard American diet. But is it
the healthiest diet out there?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfBKauKVi4M
Olive Oil Is Not Healthy - Michael Klaper MD (2013) 11 min If you read the studies, the Mediterranean Diet is healthy IN SPITE
OF olive oil, not because of it. This is a short excerpt from the talk
of Michael Klaper MD at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo 2012, and comes from
the Bronze DVD set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGGQxJLuVjg
Dr Michael Greger, MD. Olive Oil and Artery Function (2015) 3:28 min Does extra virgin olive oil have the same adverse effect on arterial
function as refined oils and animal fats?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4WD8Bm7s_I
Is Fish a Health Food, or Have We Just Let It Off the Hook? By Sofia Pineda Ochoa, MD
Many people equate eating fish with doing something good for their
health. This may be due to the illusion that fish swim in clean waters,
or to the fact that they have a very different shape and form than the
land animals we use for food. There even seems to be a deeply ingrained
notion that aquatic animals are not part of the animal kingdom
classification and that consuming fish is similar to—and just as
beneficial as—consuming plant foods.
So, should we be eating fish to promote health?
Four Major Problems With Fish
1. Animal protein and IGF-1
2. Cholesterol and saturated fat
3. Contaminants and pollutants
4. What fish doesn’t have
http://www.forksoverknives.com/is-fish-a-health-food-or-have-we-just-let-it-off-the-hook/
Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population
can replace through natural reproduction. Gathering as many fish as
possible may seem like a profitable practice, but overfishing has
serious consequences. The results not only affect the balance of life in
the oceans, but also the social and economic well-being of the coastal
communities who depend on fish for their way of life. Billions of people
rely on fish for protein, and fishing is the principal livelihood for
millions of people around the world. For centuries, our seas and oceans
have been considered a limitless bounty of food. However, increasing
fishing efforts over the last 50 years as well as unsustainable fishing
practices are pushing many fish stocks to the point of collapse. More
than 85 percent of the world's fisheries have been pushed to or beyond
their biological limits and are in need of strict management plans to
restore them.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing
Overfishing
The infographic on this page is created to give a quick introduction on
the main facts (or questions) about overfishing; what is it, why is it
happening, why is it a bad thing and what can we do to stop it.
http://overfishing.org/pages/Overfishing_in_one_minute.php?w=pages
Anisakis
Fresh fish is taken off Spanish menus after parasite alert Graham Keeley in Barcelona Thursday 14 December 2006
Britons who go to Spain expecting to enjoy an essential ingredient of
the famous Mediterranean diet will be disappointed: fresh fish is off
the menu.
Freshly caught sardines and hake will no longer be dish of the day.
Diners will have to make do with the frozen variety instead.
A government decree introduced this week has forced all restaurants to
freeze fish and shellfish for up to 24 hours to try to combat a
worm-like parasite called anisakis, which can harm humans.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fresh-fish-is-taken-off-spanish-menus-after-parasite-alert-428357.html
Anisakis, just think about it in an emergency! A few years ago, Anisakis infection was almost unknown. Since the
first observation in the Netherlands in 1960, several cases of
gastrointestinal infections due to a zoonosis sustained by this nematode
have been described in countries in which the consumption of raw or
uncooked fish (e.g., marinated or salted) is common. Japan alone
accounts for 90% of all cases of anisakiasis described in the literature
because of the widespread use of raw fish in traditional Japanese
cuisine, with sushi and sashimi. Nonetheless, other cases have been
reported in Europe, North and South America, and Asia.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197121300204X
Omega-3 and Omega 6
Omega-3 fatty acid The three types of omega-3 fatty acids involved in human physiology
are α-linolenic acid (ALA) (found in plant oils), eicosapentaenoic acid
(EPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (both commonly found in marine
oils). Marine algae and phytoplankton are primary sources of omega-3
fatty acids. Common sources of plant oils containing the omega-3 ALA
fatty acid include walnut, edible seeds, clary sage seed oil, algal oil,
flaxseed oil, Sacha Inchi oil, Echium oil, and hemp oil, while sources
of animal omega-3 EPA and DHA fatty acids include fish oils, egg oil,
squid oils, and krill oil. Dietary supplementation with omega-3 fatty
acids does not appear to affect the risk of death, cancer or heart
disease. Furthermore, fish oil supplement studies have failed to support
claims of preventing heart attacks or strokes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid
14 Best Vegan Sources of Omega 3
What is Omega 3? Omega 3 fatty acids play a role in every cell in the body. Omega 3
makes up cell membranes, keeps the nervous system functioning, keeps
cholesterol levels in check, and staves off inflammation. There are so
many health benefits associated with Omega 3 that it is no surprise how
much hype the nutrient is now getting.
How Much Omega 3 Do We Need?
The RDA for Omega 3 is 1.6 g/day for adult males and 1.1 g/day for adult
females. If you make sure to eat healthy fats with your meals, it is
very easy to meet these RDAs. About 9 walnut halves are enough to get
your daily dose of Omega 3. Flax Seeds
Not surprisingly, flax tops our list as the best vegetarian source of
Omega 3. One ounce of flax seeds packs in 6388mg of Omega 3 (nearly 6
times the RDA). You get 1655mg of Omega 6 in the process, which helps
keep your Omega 3 to Omega 6 raios in check. To get an even bigger
boost, you can take a tablespoon of flax oil which delivers 7196mg of
Omega 3. Chia Seeds
Chia seeds have only recently gotten mainstream attention. A single ounce
of chia seeds packs in 4915mg of Omega 3 but just 1620mg of Omega 6.
They are also loaded with calcium (1oz=18% RDA), fiber, and manganese.
http://plenteousveg.com/vegan-sources-omega-3/
What is Omega 6? Omega-6 fatty acids (also referred to as ω-6 fatty acids or n-6
fatty acids) are a family of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory
polyunsaturated fatty acids. The biological effects of the omega-6 fatty
acids are largely produced during and after physical activity for the
purpose of promoting growth and during the inflammatory cascade to halt
cell damage and promote cell repair.
Medical research on humans found a correlation (correlation does not
imply causation) between the high intake of omega-6 fatty acids from
vegetable oils and disease in humans. However, biochemistry research has
concluded that air pollution, heavy metals, smoking, second-hand smoke,
Lipopolysaccharides, lipid peroxidation products (found mainly in
vegetable oils, roasted nuts and roasted oily seeds) and other exogenous
toxins initiate the inflammatory response in the cells which leads to
the expression of the COX-2 enzyme and subsequently to the temporary
production of inflammatory promoting prostaglandins from arachidonic
acid for the purpose of alerting the immune system of the cell damage
and eventually to the production of anti-inflammatory molecules (e.g.
lipoxins & prostacyclin) during the resolution phase of inflammation,
after the cell damage has been repaired.
Some medical research suggests that excessive levels of certain omega-6
fatty acids relative to certain omega-3 fatty acids may increase the
probability of a number of diseases. Modern Western diets typically have
ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 in excess of 10 to 1, some as high as 30 to
1; the average ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in the Western diet is
15:1–16.7:1. Humans are thought to have evolved with a diet of a 1-to-1
ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 and the optimal ratio is thought to be 4 to
1 or lower, although some sources suggest ratios as low as 1:1.
Excess omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable oils interfere with the health
benefits of omega-3 fats, in part because they compete for the same
rate-limiting enzymes. A high proportion of omega-6 to omega-3 fat in
the diet shifts the physiological state in the tissues toward the
pathogenesis of many diseases: prothrombotic, proinflammatory and
proconstrictive. Industry-sponsored studies have suggested that omega-6
fatty acids should be consumed in a 1:1 ratio to omega-3, though it has
been observed that the diet of many individuals today is at a ratio of
about 16:1, mainly from vegetable oils. Omega-6 and omega-3 are
essential fatty acids that are metabolized by some of the same enzymes,
and therefore an imbalanced ratio can affect how the other is
metabolized.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-6_fatty_acid
How too much omega-6 and not enough
omega-3 is making us sick
Article by Chris Kresser (May 8, 2010)
In the last article we discussed the problems humans have converting
omega-3 (n-3) fats from plant sources, such as flax seeds and walnuts,
to the longer chain derivatives EPA and DHA. Since EPA and DHA
(especially DHA) are responsible for the benefits omega-3 fats provide,
and since EPA and DHA are only available in significant amounts in
seafood, it follows that we should be consuming seafood on a regular
basis.
But how much is enough? What does the research literature tell us about
the levels of EPA and DHA needed to prevent disease and ensure proper
physiological function?
I’m going to answer this question in detail in the next article. But
before I do that, I need to make a crucial point: the question of how
much omega-3 to eat depends in large part on how much omega-6 we eat.
Over the course of human evolution there has been a dramatic change in
the ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fats consumed in the diet. This change,
perhaps more than any other dietary factor, has contributed to the
epidemic of modern disease.
The historical ratio of omega-6 to omega-3
Throughout 4-5 million years of hominid evolution, diets were abundant
in seafood and other sources of omega-3 long chain fatty acids (EPA &
DHA), but relatively low in omega-6 seed oils.
Anthropological research suggests that our hunter-gatherer ancestors
consumed omega-6 and omega-3 fats in a ratio of roughly 1:1. It also
indicates that both ancient and modern hunter-gatherers were free of the
modern inflammatory diseases, like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes,
that are the primary causes of death and morbidity today.
At the onset of the industrial revolution (about 140 years ago), there
was a marked shift in the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids in the diet.
Consumption of n-6 fats increased at the expense of n-3 fats. This
change was due to both the advent of the modern vegetable oil industry
and the increased use of cereal grains as feed for domestic livestock
(which in turn altered the fatty acid profile of meat that humans
consumed).
The following chart lists the omega-6 and omega-3 content of various
vegetable oils and foods:
Vegetable oil consumption rose dramatically between the beginning and
end of the 20th century, and this had an entirely predictable effect on
the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats in the American diet. Between 1935
and 1939, the ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids was reported to be 8.4:1.
From 1935 to 1985, this ratio increased to 10.3:1 (a 23% increase).
Other calculations put the ratio as high as 12.4:1 in 1985. Today,
estimates of the ratio range from an average of 10:1 to 20:1, with a
ratio as high as 25:1 in some individuals.
In fact, Americans now get almost 20% of their calories from a single
food source – soybean oil – with almost 9% of all calories from the
omega-6 fat linoleic acid (LA) alone! (PDF)
This reveals that our average intake of n-6 fatty acids is between 10
and 25 times higher than evolutionary norms. The consequences of this
dramatic shift cannot be overestimated.
Omega-6 competes with omega-3, and vice versa
As you may recall from the last article, n-6 and n-3 fatty acids compete
for the same conversion enzymes. This means that the quantity of n-6 in
the diet directly affects the conversion of n-3 ALA, found in plant
foods, to long-chain n-3 EPA and DHA, which protect us from disease.
Several studies have shown that the biological availability and activity
of n-6 fatty acids are inversely related to the concentration of of n-3
fatty acids in tissue. Studies have also shown that greater composition
of EPA & DHA in membranes reduces the availability of AA for eicosanoid
production. This is illustrated on the following graph, from a 1992
paper by Dr. William Landis:
The graph shows the predicted concentration of n-6 in the tissue based
on dietary intake of n-3. In the U.S. the average person’s tissue
concentration of highly unsaturated n-6 fat is 75%. Since we get close
to 10% of our calories from n-6, our tissue contains about as much n-6
as it possibly could. This creates a very inflammatory environment and
goes a long way towards explaining why 4 in 10 people who die in the
U.S. each year die of heart disease. (Note: the ratio of omega-6 to
omega-3 matters, but so does the total amount of each.)
In plain english, what this means is that the more omega-3 fat you eat,
the less omega-6 will be available to the tissues to produce
inflammation. Omega-6 is pro-inflammatory, while omega-3 is neutral. A
diet with a lot of omega-6 and not much omega-3 will increase
inflammation. A diet of a lot of omega-3 and not much omega-6 will
reduce inflammation.
Big Pharma is well aware of the effect of n-6 on inflammation. In fact,
the way over-the-counter and prescription NSAIDs (ibuprofen, aspirin,
Celebres, etc.) work is by reducing the formation of inflammatory
compounds derived from n-6 fatty acids. (The same effect could be
achieved by simply limiting dietary intake of n-6, as we will discuss
below, but of course the drug companies don’t want you to know that.
Less profit for them.)
As we discussed in the previous article, conversion of the short-chain
n-3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), found in plant foods like flax and
walnut, to DHA is extremely poor in most people. Part of the reason for
that is that diets high in n-6 LA inhibit conversion of ALA to DHA. For
example, one study demonstrated that an increase of LA consumption from
15g/d to 30g/d decreases ALA to DHA conversion by 40%.
Death by vegetable oil
So what are the consequences to human health of an n-6:n-3 ratio that
is up to 25 times higher than it should be?
The short answer is that elevated n-6 intakes are associated with an
increase in all inflammatory diseases – which is to say virtually all
diseases. The list includes (but isn’t limited to):
The relationship between intake n-6 fats and cardiovascular mortality is
particularly striking. The following chart, from an article entitled
Eicosanoids and Ischemic Heart Disease by Stephan Guyenet, clearly
illustrates the correlation between a rising intake of n-6 and increased
mortality from heart disease:
As you can see, the USA is right up there at the top with the highest
intake of n-6 fat and the greatest risk of death from heart disease.
On the other hand, several clinical studies have shown that decreasing
the n-6:n-3 ratio protects against chronic, degenerative diseases.
One study showed that replacing corn oil with olive oil and canola oil
to reach an n-6:n-3 ratio of 4:1 led to a 70% decrease in total
mortality. That is no small difference.
Joseph Hibbeln, a researcher at the National Institute of Health (NIH)
who has published several papers on n-3 and n-6 intakes, didn’t mince
words when he commented on the rising intake of n-6 in a recent paper:
The increases in world LA consumption over the past century may be
considered a very large uncontrolled experiment that may have
contributed to increased societal burdens of aggression, depression and
cardiovascular mortality.
And those are just the conditions we have the strongest evidence for.
It’s likely that the increase in n-6 consumption has played an equally
significant role in the rise of nearly every inflammatory disease. Since
it is now known that inflammation is involved in nearly all diseases,
including obesity and metabolic syndrome, it’s hard to overstate the
negative effects of too much omega-6 fat.
In the next article we’ll discuss three different methods for
determining healthy intakes of n-3 that take background intake of n-6
into account.
The single most important thing you can do to reduce your Omega-6 intake
is to avoid processed seed- and vegetable oils high in Omega-6, as well
as the processed foods that contain them.
These “foods” were only introduced to humans in the past 100 years and
they have completely distorted the natural balance of these essential
fatty acids.
Here is a chart with some common fats and oils. Avoid all that have a
high proportion of Omega-6 (blue bars).
Fatty Acid Breakdown of Different Fats
You can see that butter, coconut oil, lard, palm oil and olive oil are
all relatively low in Omega-6.
Sunflower, Corn, Soybean and Cottonseed oils are by far the worst. I
recommend you avoid these like the plague.
Be aware that even so-called health foods can contain vegetable oils. It
is crucial to read labels!
Whole soybeans are very high in Omega-6 and should be avoided.
Nuts and seeds are pretty high in Omega-6, but they are whole foods that
have plenty of health benefits and are absolutely fine to eat. Many
grain-based foods also contain significant amounts of Omega-6.
Bottom Line: The most important thing you can do to reduce Omega-6
intake is to eliminate processed vegetable oils from your diet, as well
as processed foods that contain them.
My Health Experience: ‘I stopped eating the wrong foods and was
astonished by the results’
Diet helped me reverse my high blood pressure, diabetes, high
cholesterol and obesity
Richard Brennan, who changed his life after having a stroke, in Trinity
Capital Hotel, Dublin.
First published: Tue, Mar 18, 2014, 01:00
‘I have had reasonable good health for most of my life. I was in a car
crash when I was 17 and suffered from back problems in my early 20s when
I worked as a driving instructor. In fact, it was the relief I got from
Alexander Technique lessons all those years ago that prompted me to
train as an Alexander Technique teacher.
I trained and taught the technique in England, Greece and Spain before
moving permanently to Galway in 1997. I’ve kept busy with work – running
the Alexander Technique school, treating people and writing.
I had been trying to lose weight for 30 years. I tried every single diet
and yet I kept gaining weight and couldn’t get rid of it.
The thing is that I’ve been a vegetarian since 1972 and I thought I was
eating healthily but I snacked on sweet things. I also went out of my
way to get protein in my diet by eating lots of dairy products. I walked
or played tennis at the weekend but didn’t get daily exercise.
My blood pressure was slightly elevated at a health check in 1998 and
since then I’ve monitored it myself. One day last year, I got a reading
of 220/120 and went to have it checked out.
My GP sent me to the Emergency Department and I was kept in for a week.
They couldn’t find out what caused the high blood pressure but they did
discover that I had diabetes type 2.
I was put on three blood pressure medications, a drug for cholesterol
and a drug to control the diabetes.
I continued to take all these medications although I had no energy and
people told me I didn’t look well. I started to walk 40 minutes a day to
try to get my weight down and I cut out all sugary foods.
I felt terrible and attributed feelings of lethargy and swelling in my
ankles to side effects of the medication. I lost about 2kg in three
months.
Flashing lights
On November 4th last, I had a stroke. I was flying back from the UK,
having visited my adult son and his new baby, when I saw flashing
lights. I drove myself home from the airport, went to bed and woke up at
8am, slurring my speech.
My wife, Caroline, had to tell me I’d had a stroke because I didn’t
realise it myself. She took me straight to the hospital. I spent the
next five days in hospital, having everything monitored.
One of my blood pressure medications was changed (I was taken off
beta-blockers and put on ace-inhibitors instead). I felt really confused
and didn’t know what to do.
My son researched the China Study diet, which is the diet Bill Clinton
is on, and I decided to go on it too. I decided that when on this
low-fat, wholefood plant-based diet, I would take myself off all my
medications except the ace-inhibitors and the daily aspirin I had been
prescribed since my stroke.
I monitored my blood sugar and blood pressure daily. And every two
weeks, I was monitored by either my GP or my hospital consultant
although I didn’t tell them initially that I had stopped taking my other
medications.
Essentially, I stopped eating the wrong foods and started eating pulses,
fruit and vegetables. So, for breakfast, I have porridge with fruit and
a soya dessert instead of yogurt. For lunch, I have vegetable soup,
wholemeal bread and a salad. For dinner, I have rice and vegetables. I
cut out all processed foods and dairy.
I didn’t worry about eating too many carbohydrates or too little protein
– both of which pre-occupied me for years.
I was astonished by the results. Between November 16th and January 27th,
I lost 18kg. My diabetes has been reversed with readings now within the
normal range. My cholesterol has reduced from 5.7 to 4.5. And my blood
pressure, which was 230/120, is down to 120/70 using minimal medication.
No lasting effect
I have no lasting effect of the stroke. I feel better than I have in
ages. My sleeping pattern has changed. I am awake now at 5am or 6am and
I feel like getting up. Before, I couldn’t get up in the morning. I go
to bed around 10pm and I do half an hour’s walking every day.
I realise that I took a risk and I don’t want people to think that they
can come off their medication without expert advice. I consider that I
follow the expert advice given by Dr John McDougall, prominent American
heart surgeon, Dr Caldwell Esselstyn and Professor Emeritus of
Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, T Colin Campbell.
I also feel reassured because I monitor my blood sugar and blood
pressure every day and I see a doctor every two weeks. I was back at
work three weeks after the stroke, pacing myself at first but back at
full tilt by January.
It was a wake-up call for me – discovering that I had high blood
pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity – especially as I have
spent most of my life helping other people deal with their health
problems.
So, most of all now, what I want to do is share my experience with
others so that they too might be helped as I have been.
Could shunning meat really protect us from serious illness? Dr T.
Colin Campbell tells Suzanne Harrington why he believes a plant-based
diet is the best form of medicine. By Suzanne Harrington (Published 04/08/2013)
He is the author of the most comprehensive study ever on nutrition. He
discovered an irrefutable link between nutrition and heart disease,
diabetes and cancer. He has since converted millions, including Bill
Clinton, to a plant-based diet. Meet Dr T. Colin Campbell.
Food is a minefield. Socially, culturally and economically, we have made
what we eat a lot more than just dinner. It is taste, status, power,
profit, religion, ideology, politics.
What we may have forgotten – and the evidence is all around us within
our own bodies, in the form of chronic conditions such as heart disease,
diabetes, cancer and obesity – is that food is both nutrition and
medicine. We have, says Dr T. Colin Campbell, been left to fend for
ourselves nutritionally, while under the marketing onslaught of the food
and drug industries.
"Having started a research and teaching career in nutrition over 50
years ago, I have seen the passion, the frivolity and the arrogance over
and over and over when people talk about their food choices," Dr
Campbell wrote recently in 'The Huffington Post'.
"This topic is very, very personal. It's sad because I do not see very
much progress over these last four to five decades. Lots of shouting and
not much constructive thought."
Dr Campbell is emeritus professor of biochemical medicine at Cornell
University in the US. He has been examining the link between food and
health for more than 50 years. Almost 10 years ago, he and his son, also
a doctor, wrote 'The China Study', which involved correlating health
information from 6,500 people in China – 100 people from each of 65
different areas.
Monitoring the long-term diets of the 6,500 people, the father and son
doctors then examined mortality rates from dozens of different cancers
and other long-term diseases. The results were stark – people who ate a
plant-based diet were healthier and far less prone to disease. Those who
ate animal-based foods were far more likely to develop 'Western'
diseases.
Dr Campbell has always suspected this, having begun his work in the
Philippines decades ago, devising healthy, sustainable nutrition for
malnourished children. He knows the link between food and health is far,
far greater than most of us realise.
"Properly practiced nutrition, as a dietary lifestyle, can do more to
create health and save healthcare costs than all the contemporary
medical interventions put together," he wrote.
He says that modern science became too obsessed with isolating the
benefits of individual nutrients – hence the enormous market for
vitamins and supplements – while losing sight of the bigger holistic
picture; that good health is about wholefoods, not taking vitamin pills,
or isolating food groups; that traditional orthodoxy around nutrition
has been too focused on scientific reductionism.
'The China Study' was published by a small Texan publisher, because
major publishers wanted Dr Campbell to make his book more commercial by
making it mostly about recipes. He refused to dumb down, but even
without much marketing, the book went on to sell a million copies.
Its most famous advocate is former US president Bill Clinton. When asked
on CNN about his dramatic weight loss, Clinton mentioned Dr Campbell's
book. To prevent heart disease and other lifestyle associated illnesses,
Clinton had put down the burgers and animal-based junk food which he so
famously loved and adopted a plant-based diet. In other words, Clinton
went vegan.
Dr Campbell dislikes the terms vegan and vegetarian, because they come
with ideological baggage. He is all about the science.
"Nutrition has value beyond what we think we know," he tells me. "It can
prevent future disease, it can cure heart disease and diabetes, and
reverse and stop others. The effect of what we eat on our bodies is
extraordinary. When people eat the right food, their angina pain can go
away within a week. It's extraordinary. No drugs come close.
"With cancer, we can turn on and off advancement via our protein intake.
It affects cholesterol, hyper tension, body weight. In 10-day studies,
the cholesterol of a group of fairly healthy individuals dropped from an
average of 196 to 149, just by changing what they ate to plant-based
wholefoods.
"Each cell in our body is like a universe – extraordinarily complex, and
replicated 100 trillion times within us. We need to acknowledge this
complexity. And animal proteins stimulate cell division."
Dr Campbell will be giving his first talk in Ireland this August. "There
has been an explosion of interest in the idea," he says. "Yet it is so
foreign to so many people – but the contemporary medical institution is
becoming more and more interested."
Since discovering the health benefits of avoiding animal protein,
Campbell's entire family now follow a plant-based diet. "You can really
see the benefits," he says. His latest book, 'Whole: Rethinking The
Science Of Nutrition', explains the process in greater detail.
The reason Dr Campbell's idea of a plant-based diet is so foreign to so
many people is that we have been told from birth that meat, fish and
dairy are essential for good health. The widespread perception of a
plant-based diet – that is, veganism – is akin to having special needs.
That without meat, fish, cream, butter and cheese, culinary life is not
worth living.
Ever come across a vegan restaurant critic? Me neither. It's because
they don't exist.
Dr Campbell is not, however, a hippy. He is all about the empirical
data.
"I'm not into animal rights," he says, adding that he used to conduct
animal experiments. Which makes him that most extraordinary combination
of vegan ex-vivisectionist. But still. I wonder if eating a plant-based
diet makes for a more peaceful individual and a wider peacefulness, or
is that just hippy dippy nonsense?
After all, Dr Campbell is all about the evidence, rather than the vibes.
But he says it does. Making burgers involves environmental violence on a
vast scale, where natural cover is flattened for grazing, usually in
countries that are too poor to object.
On an individual level, people who consume a plant-based diet tend to
feel better about themselves because they are healthier, lighter and
therefore happier. It's a bit of a no-brainer.
Weirdly, and by complete coincidence, my interview with Dr Campbell –
whose books I have not yet read – comes a week after my own transition
to a plant-based diet. In my 40s, overweight and starting to ache, and
having tried everything else, I was inspired by a handful of friends who
had been raised vegan for ideological reasons (hippy mothers) and who,
in their 40s, glow with the lightness and good health of a life-long
plant-based diet.
I wanted what they had, so decided to make the change. In less than a
fortnight I can feel a difference both in my energy levels and tastebuds,
although this is by no means a quick fix. This is long-term, focused
nutrition. It is food mindfulness. And it's kind of exciting,
rediscovering food in middle age, and exploring new ways of cooking and
eating.
But this is not about recipes. It's bigger than that.
"I have given close to 500 lectures on the subject, and continue to be
astounded about the effects not just on heart disease, cancer and
diabetes, but on arthritic pain, muscular pain, general aches and pains
– they just go away," says Dr Campbell. "It's remarkable."
His suggestions are straightforward. As well as avoiding meat and fish,
he advocates eating wholefoods – that is, unprocessed, unadulterated,
intact. Don't fry your food, cut down on refined carbohydrates. And then
there's the biggie.
"Number one, eliminate dairy," says Dr Campbell. "We are the only
species on the planet which consumes mothers' milk beyond weaning. Human
milk is obviously perfect for us, but instead we use cows."
When you think about dairy, it makes no sense. Of course it's a source
of enormous deliciousness, but we are flexible creatures and 'delicious'
is a movable feast. Nutritionally, consuming as a matter of course milk
intended for baby cows is physiologically peculiar, but we don't
question it.
Dr Campbell reckons our bodies do question it, however, in the form of
chronic disease. Not that he is puritan – beer and wine are plant-based,
he says, and are fine in moderation.
"I make as many enemies as friends," he says mildly. "But all I am
saying is that we rediscover Hippocrates' main idea from 2,500 years ago
– let food be thy medicine, let medicine be thy food."
Lower cancer rates among those eating plant-based diets may be because of lower levels of IGF-1, a cancer-promoting growth hormone, and increased levels of the IGF-1 binding protein due to a reduction animal protein intake. The carnitine in meat may produce the same toxic TMAO that is produced from the choline concentrated in eggs and dairy. Tumors may use the Neu5gc molecule in meat to trick our immune system into producing xeno-autoantibodies to create an inflammatory milieu; the molecule also builds up in atherosclerotic plaques and may also play a role in heart disease. Neu5gc may even cause children to suffer severe E. coli food poisoning from bacteria in the same meat product. Animalistic plant foods like soy may also increase IGF-1 production. It might be best to restrict soy intake to 3-5 servings a day.
Recent reports have
suggested that Ireland is set to become the most obese country in
Europe.
Estimates of
obesity, projected out to 2030, are part of the World Health
Organisation’s Modelling Obesity Project and were presented at the
European Congress on Obesity in Prague, Czech Republic during May 2015.
The figures
for Ireland have huge implications for the seriously
financially-squeezed Irish health system:
In terms of obesity alone, the estimates show
a big jump for women in the Irish Republic, soaring from 23 per cent
to 57 per cent. The proportion of obese Irish men was expected to
increase from 26 per cent to 48 per cent, while the figure for those
either overweight or obese rises from 74 per cent to 89 per cent.
According to a combination of statistics from WHO,
OECD and Eurostat Ireland is third in obesity levels in Europe after
Hungary and Great Britain.
There is no doubt that there is a link between
levels of obesity and what is known as the Western pattern diet. The Western
diethas been characterised ‘by high intakes of red meat, sugary
desserts, high-fat foods, and refined grains. It also typically contains
high-fat dairy products, high-sugar drinks, and higher intakes of
processed meat.’ However, there is a certain smugness in the mainstream
media which points at fast food restaurants as the source of all food
evils in society yet on a recent visit to a ‘good’ restaurant Dublin I
noticed that at least 80% of the clientele were overweight and about 20%
were grossly overweight.
Yet, in all fairness, it is almost impossible to
avoid fatty foods when you go to these restaurants because the
‘vegetarian’ section of the menu can be just as rich as the carnivore
sections, for example, salads with salad cream and oil, ‘creamy’ mash
made with cream and butter, ‘Mediterranean’ roasted vegetables roasted
in oil, grilled aubergine covered in oil and mozzarella etc.
There is also the global cost of the Western diet
with the increased demand for red meat and meat products. According to
the FAO (Food
and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations):
Meat consumption in developing countries has
been continuously increasing from a modest average annual per capita
consumption of 10 kg in the 1960s to 26 kg in 2000 and will reach 37
kg around the year 2030 according to FAO projections. This forecast
suggests that in a few decades, developing countries’ consumption of
meat will move towards that of developed countries where meat
consumption remains stagnant at a high level.
It is estimated that
the 70 billion farm animals raised globally contribute to 51% of all
anthropogenic greenhouse emissions found in our atmosphere. According
to ScienceDirect,
agriculture globally ‘accounts for 92% of the global freshwater
footprint; 29% of the water in agriculture is directly or indirectly
used for animal production’ and according Livestock
Exchange ‘Livestock systems occupy 45% of the global surface
area’. The FAO also
states that ‘almost 50 percent of the grains produced in the world are
fed to livestock, yet there remain about 800 million people suffering
from hunger and malnutrition mostly in the developing countries.’
Richard Oppenlander notes, in his book Food
Choice and Sustainability: Why Buying Local, Eating Less Meat, and
Taking Baby Steps Won’t Work, that ‘one cow will provide 300 pounds
of meat, which results in 120 pounds per 1 acre of land used in one
year. For reference, an organic vegetable farm [...] produces on average
5,000 to 10,000 pounds per 1 acre of food, such as tomatoes,
fast-growing greens, and herbs that are infinitely healthier for us to
consume. (pps 85-86)
In Ireland, a government
fact sheet on agriculture shows that ‘81% of agricultural area is
devoted to pasture, hay and grass silage (3.63 million hectares), 11% to
rough grazing (0.47 million hectares) and 8% to crops, fruit &
horticulture production (0.38 million hectares).’ In other words, 92% of
all agricultural land goes towards the raising and feeding of cattle and
8% to plant-based food.
As Oppenlander also notes:
Of the four leading causes of death and
disease in the U.S. today, animal products and animal protein are
implicated in all four – coronary heart disease, cancer,
cerebrovascular disease, and diabetes, as well as their precursors,
hypertension and obesity. (p.256)
The research work of biochemists,
doctors and surgeons (such as T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn,
John McDougall, Neal Barnard etc) into the relationship between
nutrition and disease has been met with industry opposition yet they
have provided clear evidence of vastly improved health with dietary
change away from the Western diet pattern. Their collective pursuance of
a whole food, plant-based diet leads the way to a more enlightened
understanding of diet and food production.
Countries like Ireland have a huge investment in
cattle and dairy production but a new mindset will have to be developed
both by farmers and consumers alike. It has often been said that Ireland
has ‘forty shades of green’ yet in reality there is only one shade – the
colour of grass – and this needs to be changed to a landscape of
multi-varied crops instead.
If people change their dietary habits (in clear
knowledge of the relationship between their diet and their overall
health) then farmers will also be able to gradually move away from meat
production and towards more tillage with huge benefits to our collective
health and the environment.
Short biographies of T. Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn
and John A. McDougall
T. Colin Campbell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
T. Colin Campbell Campbell speaking in 2013 Born 1934 (age 81)
Education B.S. (1956), pre-veterinary
medicine, Pennsylvania State University Veterinary school, one year, University of Georgia M.S. (1958), nutrition and biochemistry, Cornell
University Ph.D. (1961), biochemistry, nutrition, and
microbiology, Cornell University Occupation Nutritional biochemist Notable work(s) The China Study (2005) Relatives Thomas M. Campbell (son) WebsiteT. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies
T. Colin Campbell is an American biochemist
who specializes in the effect of nutrition on long-term health. He is
the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry
at Cornell University. Campbell has become known for his advocacy of a
low-fat, whole foods, plant-based diet. He is the author of over 300
research papers on the subject, and two books, Whole (2013), and The
China Study (2005, co-authored with his son), which became one of
America's best-selling books about nutrition.[1] Campbell featured in
the 2011 American documentary, Forks Over Knives. Campbell was one of the lead scientists in the 1980s
of the China–Oxford–Cornell study on diet and disease, set up in 1983 by
Cornell University, the University of Oxford, and the Chinese Academy of
Preventive Medicine to explore the relationship between nutrition and
cancer, heart and metabolic diseases. The study was described by The New
York Times as "the Grand Prix of epidemiology."[2] Early life and education
Campbell grew up on a dairy farm. He studied
pre-veterinary medicine at Pennsylvania State University, where he
obtained his B.S. in 1956, then attended veterinary school at the
University of Georgia for a year.[3] He completed his M.S. in nutrition
and biochemistry at Cornell in 1958, where he studied under Clive McCay
(known for his research on nutrition and aging), and his Ph.D. in
nutrition, biochemistry, and microbiology in 1961, also at Cornell. He's
believed to be the worlds most renowned nutritional Biochemist. Career
Campbell joined MIT as a research associate, then
worked for 10 years in the Virginia Tech Department of Biochemistry and
Nutrition, before returning to Cornell in 1975 to join its Division of
Nutritional Sciences. He has worked as a senior science adviser to the
American Institute for Cancer Research,[4] and sits on the advisory
board of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.[5] He is
known in particular for research, derived in part from the China
Project, that appears to link the consumption of animal protein with the
development of cancer and heart disease.[6] He argues that casein, a
protein found in milk from mammals, is "the most significant carcinogen
we consume."[7] Campbell has followed a 99 percent vegan diet since
around 1990.[8] He does not identify himself as a vegetarian or vegan
because, he said, "they often infer something other than what I
espouse."[8] He told the New York Times: "The idea is that we should be
consuming whole foods. We should not be relying on the idea that genes
are determinants of our health. We should not be relying on the idea
that nutrient supplementation is the way to get nutrition, because it’s
not. I’m talking about whole, plant-based foods."[9] He has been a member since 1978 of several United
States National Academy of Sciences expert panels on food safety, and
holds an honorary professorship at the Chinese Academy of Preventive
Medicine.[4] He is featured in the documentaries, Forks Over Knives,
Planeat, and Vegucated. In 2010 after cardiac surgery, former U.S. president
Bill Clinton mostly adopted the plant-based diet recommended by
Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn, and Dean Ornish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Colin_Campbell
Caldwell Esselstyn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caldwell Esselstyn Born December 12, 1933 (age 81) New York, New York Residence Shaker Heights, OH Nationality American Fields Cardiology Plant-based diet Institutions Cleveland Clinic Alma mater Yale University, Case Western
Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Known for Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease Forks Over Knives Notable awards Gold Medal, 1956
Olympic Games - 8-oared rowing event Spouse Ann Children Rip, Jane, Zeb, and Ted Caldwell Esselstyn Medal record Men's rowing Competitor for the United States Olympic Games Gold 1956 Melbourne Men's eights
Caldwell Blakeman Esselstyn Jr. (born December 12,
1933) is an American surgeon and former Olympic rowing champion. He
is a "leading proponent" in the field of "plant-based diets"[1] and
starred in the 2011 American documentary, Forks Over Knives. Esselstyn's
book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease (2007), influenced former U.S.
President Bill Clinton.[2] Background
Esselstyn was born in New York City in 1933.[3] He
grew up on a cattle farm in upstate New York and attended public
schools. He attended Deerfield Academy for high school[4] and graduated
from Yale University in 1956[5] where he was a member of Skull and
Bones.[6] He also competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne,
winning a gold medal in the "eights" as a member of the American
team.[7] Esselstyn received his M.D. from the Case Western
Reserve University School of Medicine in 1961 (during which time he met
his wife Ann).[4] He was an intern (1961–62) and resident (1962–66) at
the Cleveland Clinic.[3] After returning in 1968 from duty as an Army
surgeon in Vietnam, he began work at the Cleveland Clinic where he
eventually rose to serve as President of the Staff and as a member of
the Board of Governors. He served as the President of the American
Association of Endocrine Surgeons in 1991. In 2000, he gave up his post
at the Cleveland Clinic.[4] In 2005, he also "became the first recipient of the
Benjamin Spock Award for Compassion in Medicine. He received the
Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association
in 2009. In September 2010, he received the Greater Cleveland Sports
Hall of Fame Award."[8] Esselstyn is a member of the Scientific Advisory
Board of Nutrition Action magazine, published by the Center for Science
in the Public Interest.[9] Book and film
Esselstyn is the author of the 2007 text, Prevent and
reverse heart disease, in which he discusses his heart diseased
patients's reversals of atherosclerosis by following a low-fat, whole
foods, plant-based diet.[10] The second half of the book contains
recipes from his wife Ann Crile Esselstyn (the granddaughter of George
Washington Crile, founder of the Cleveland Clinic) who works with him to
counsel patients on cooking practices. Esselstyn and his family of four
children have maintained a plant-based diet since the mid-1980s.[8]
Esselstyn attributes the success of his twelve-year trial with heart
patients to low mean levels of both total cholesterol (145 mg/dl) and
LDL cholesterol (82 mg/dl).[11][12] After undergoing cardiac surgery in 2010, former
American president Bill Clinton adopted the plant-based diet recommended
by Dean Ornish, T. Colin Campbell, and Esselstyn.[2][13] Esselstyn stars in the 2011 documentary Forks Over
Knives, based on his work in Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease and the
research of his colleague T. Colin Campbell in The China Study (2005).
It also explores the work of other physicians who share this approach,
as well as the personal experiences of some Esselstyn's patients.
Esselstyn's son, Rip Esselstyn, a former "professional triathlete,"
firefighter, and author of The Engine 2 Diet based on his father's
research, also appears in the film, as does his wife Ann.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_Esselstyn
John A. McDougall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John McDougall in 2013-09-24 11-25.jpg Born 1947 (age 68)[1] Nationality American Ethnicity Irish Alma mater Michigan State University Occupation physician, author Known for Treating degenerative diseases
with a low-fat, whole foods, plant-based/vegan diet Notable work(s) The McDougall Plan
(1983) Website http://www.drmcdougall.com
John A. McDougall is an American physician and
author whose philosophy is that degenerative disease can be prevented
and treated with a low-fat, whole foods, plant-based/vegan diet –
especially one based on starches such as potatoes, rice, and corn –
which excludes all animal foods and added vegetable oils. Dr. McDougall
is of Irish descent. Biography: Early years and education
McDougall is a graduate of Michigan State
University's College of Human Medicine, he performed his internship at
Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1972, and his medical
residency at the University of Hawaii. He is certified as an internist
by the Board of Internal Medicine and the National Board of Medical
Examiners. In 1965, at age 18, McDougall suffered a massive
stroke which he attributed to his high animal product diet.[2] Since the
mid-1970s, he has followed mostly a vegan diet after observing that his
elderly patients from the Far East, who lived mainly on rice and
vegetables, were trim and healthy compared to their offspring tempted by
an American diet.[3] Career
Between 1973 and 1976, McDougall worked as a
physician at the Hamakua Sugar Plantation on Hawaii Island. It was
during this time that he first became aware of the link between his
patients' dietary choice and their health. Between 1986 and 2002, he
launched a vegetarian dietary program at St. Helena Hospital in Napa
Valley, California. Between 1999 and 2001, he also ran his dietary
program for the Blue Cross Blue Shield in Minneapolis.[2] In 2002, he began the McDougall Program at the
Flamingo Resort in Santa Rosa, California. The McDougall Program is a
10-day live-in program where patients work to regain their health by
eating a vegetarian diet (without limits) and where they hear lectures
by McDougall and other health professionals.[4] McDougall is the co-founder and chairman of Dr.
McDougall's Right Foods Inc. which produces food products for grocery
stores, and a member of the advisory board of the Physicians Committee
for Responsible Medicine.[5] In 2000, The Press Democrat described
McDougall and his wife as operating "a small industry, with several
cookbooks, a newsletter, a Web site, vegetarian meal cups sold across
the country, and a nationally syndicated TV show." McDougall is the author of several books, including
The McDougall Plan (1983).[6] The McDougall plan has been categorized as
a fad diet with possible disadvantages including a boring food choice,
flatulence, and the risk of feeling too hungry.[7] Works
Research papers
“Effects of 7 days on an ad libitum low-fat vegan
diet: the McDougall Program cohort.” Nutrition Journal 13:99, 2014.
"Effects of a very low fat vegan diet in subjects
with rheumatoid arthritis." Journal of Alternative and Complementary
Medicine 8:71-75, 2002.
"Rapid Reduction of Serum Cholesterol and Blood
Pressure by a Twelve Day, Very Low Fat, Strictly Vegetarian Diet"
Journal of the American College of Nutrition 14:491-496, 1995.
"Reduction of Risk Factors in an Intensive 12-Day
Residential Cardiac Rehabilitation and Lifestyle Modification Program in
High Risk and Cardiovascularly Diseased Patients." Journal of
Cardiopulmonary Rehab 9:397, 1989.
Bibliography
The Starch Solution (2012)
Dr. McDougall's Digestive Tune-Up (2006)
McDougalls' All-You-Can-Eat Vegetarian Cookbook (2005)
The McDougall Program for Women (1999)
The McDougall Quick & Easy Cookbook (1999)
The McDougall Program for a Healthy Heart (1996)
The McDougall Plan for Maximum Weight Loss (1995)
The New McDougall Cookbook (1995)
The McDougall Program 12 Days to Dynamic Health (1991)
The McDougall Health-Supporting Cookbook: Volume 2 (1986)
McDougall's Medicine—A Challenging Second Opinion (1985)
The McDougall Health-Supporting Cookbook: Volume 1 (1985)
The McDougall Plan (1983)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._McDougall
Documentaries
on
food and food production *************************************************************
(1)
Food, Inc. (2008) 94 min
Food,
Inc. is a 2008 American documentary film directed by Emmy Award-winning
filmmaker Robert Kenner. The film examines corporate farming in the
United States, concluding that agribusiness produces food that is
unhealthy, in a way that is environmentally harmful and abusive of both
animals and employees. The film is narrated by Michael Pollan and Eric
Schlosser.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oq24hITFTY
(2)
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret (2014) 85 min
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret is a 2014 documentary film
produced and directed by Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. The film explores
the impact of animal agriculture on the environment, and investigates
the policies of environmental organizations on this issue. Environmental
organizations investigated in the film include Greenpeace, Sierra Club,
Surfrider Foundation, and Rainforest Action Network.
http://www.cowspiracy.com/
(3)
Forks Over Knives (2011) 90 min
Through
an examination of the careers of American physician Caldwell Esselstyn
and professor of nutritional biochemistry T. Colin Campbell, Forks Over
Knives suggests that "most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases
that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our
present menu of animal-based and processed foods." It also provides an
overview of the 20-year China–Cornell–Oxford Project that led to
Professor Campbell's findings, outlined in his book, The China Study
(2005) in which he suggests that coronary artery disease, diabetes,
obesity, and cancer can be linked to the Western diet of processed and
animal-based foods (including all dairy products).
http://www.forksoverknives.com/
(4)
Farmageddon (2011) 86 min
The
movie tells the story of small, family farmers providing safe, healthy
foods to their communities who were forced to stop, often through
violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies. The
movie succinctly poses and addresses the question "why is this happening
in 21st century America?" Evoking both sympathy and anger for those
farmers violently shut down by overzealous government policy and
regulators, Farmageddon stresses the urgency of food freedom. Though the
film deals with intense scenes and dramatic situations, the overall tone
is optimistic, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to
preserve individuals' rights to access food of their choice and farmers'
rights to produce these foods. (Written by David Champeau IMDB)
http://farmageddonmovie.com/
(5)
The Future of Food (2004) 88 min
The
Future of Food is a 2004 American documentary film which describes an
investigation into unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods
that have been sold in grocery stores in the United States for the past
decade. In addition to the US, there is a focus on Canada and Mexico. It
voices the opinions of farmers in disagreement with the food industry,
and details the impacts on their lives and livelihoods from this new
technology, and the market and political forces that are changing what
people eat. The farmers state that they are held legally responsible for
their crops being invaded by "company-owned" genes. The film generally
opposes the patenting of living organisms, and describes the
disappearance of traditional cultural practices.
http://www.thefutureoffood.com/
(6)
Black Gold (2006) 78 min
Black
Gold is a 2006 feature length documentary film. The story follows the
efforts of an Ethiopian Coffee Union manager as he travels the world to
obtain a better price for his workers' coffee beans.
(7)
The World According to Monsanto (2008) 108 min
The
World According to Monsanto is a 2008 film directed by Marie-Monique
Robin. Originally released in French as Le monde selon Monsanto, the
film is based on Robin's three-year-long investigation into the
corporate practices around the world of the United States multinational
corporation, Monsanto.
(8)
The Dark Side of Chocolate (2010) 46 min
The
Dark Side of Chocolate is a 2010 documentary film about the exploitation
and slavetrading of African children to harvest chocolate still
occurring nearly ten years after the cocoa industry pledged to end it.
(9)
A Place at the Table (2012) 84 min
A Place
at the Table is a 2012 documentary film directed by Kristi Jacobson and
Lori Silverbush, with appearances by Jeff Bridges, Raj Patel, and chef
Tom Colicchio. The film, concerning hunger in the United States, was
released theatrically in the United States on March 1, 2013.
(10)
We Feed the World (2005) 96 min
We Feed
the World is a 2005 documentary in which Austrian filmmaker Erwin
Wagenhofer traces the origins of the food we eat and views modern
industrial production of food and factory farming in a critical light.
His journey takes him to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Brazil and
back to Austria.
(11)
Our Daily Bread (German: Unser täglich Brot) (2005) 92 min
Our
Daily Bread (German: Unser täglich Brot) is a 2005 documentary film
directed, co-produced, and with cinematography by Nikolaus Geyrhalter.
The script was co-written by Wolfgang Widerhofer and Nikolaus Geyrhalter.
The film depicts how modern food production companies employ technology
to maximize efficiency, consumer safety and profit. It consists mainly
of actual working situations without voice-over narration or interviews
as the director tries to let viewers form their own opinion on the
subject.
(12)
Processed People (2009) 40 min
When they're not busy
picking our pockets, or telling us we have to give up liberties to have
freedom, they're selling us garbage and calling it food. The
manufactured food business is bigger than Big Oil; that kind of money
buys inconceivably large amounts of propaganda, misinformation and
corrupted science. Processed People is a wake-up call with factual,
hard-hitting health commentary that is rarely heard. If you're searching
for the un-processed truth about diet and health, look no further.
(Written by Jeff Nelson. IMDB)
http://youtu.be/Sv8hzLYCjYQ
(13) King Corn (2007) 88 min
King Corn is a
feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the
subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. In King Corn, Ian
Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move
to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of
friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides,
they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive,
most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to
follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises
troubling questions about how we eat-and how we farm.
(14)
Vegucated (2011) 76 min
Vegucated is a 2011
American documentary film that explores the challenges of converting to
a vegan diet. It "follows three meat- and cheese-loving New Yorkers who
agree to adopt a vegan diet for six weeks." The director interviewed a
number of people to participate in this documentary and chose Brian, who
likes to eat meat and eat out; Ellen, a psychiatrist, part-time comedian
and single mother; and Tesla, a college student who lives with her
family. In the film Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Professor T. Colin Campbell
discuss the benefits of a plant-based diet consisting of whole foods.
The film also features Howard Lyman and Stephen R. Kaufman. Kneel Cohn
makes a cameo appearance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19qSsUI79Ro
(15)
Planeat (2010) 87 min
Planeat is a 2010
British documentary film by Or Shlomi and Shelley Lee Davies. The film
discusses the possible nutritional and environmental benefits of
adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet based on the research of T.
Colin Campbell, Caldwell Esselstyn and Gidon Eshel. The film also
features the views of Peter Singer. According to Shelley Lee Davies, the
film purposely does not cover any purported animal welfare arguments for
adopting a plant-based (vegan) diet, but concentrates on the health and
environmental reasons instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCresEvQ_jM
(16) Statin
Nation: The Great Cholesterol Cover-Up (2013) 65 min
We are told that
cholesterol is a major cause of heart disease. At least 40 million
people are currently taking cholesterol-lowering medications, known as
statins, and millions more people are avoiding foods that contain
saturated fat and cholesterol. The basic idea is that dietary saturated
fat raises cholesterol levels, and these two substances somehow clog-up
our arteries, causing a heart attack. This idea is often referred to as
the diet-heart hypothesis. However, a numbers of doctors and researchers
have been challenging this hypothesis for decades, and the latest heart
disease statistics reveal some alarming facts. Cholesterol-lowering has
become a huge global industry, generating at least $29 billion each
year. Have the facts about heart disease, cholesterol and cholesterol
medications been distorted by pharmaceutical companies and food
manufacturers keen to increase their profits?
(17) Super Size Me
(2004) 100 min
Super Size Me is a
2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock,
an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day
period from February 1 to March 2, 2003 during which he ate only
McDonald's food. The film documents this lifestyle's drastic effect on
Spurlock's physical and psychological well-being, and explores the fast
food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor
nutrition for its own profit.
(18) Earthlings
(2005) 95 min
Earthlings is a 2005
American documentary film about humanity's use of other animals as pets,
food, clothing, entertainment, and for scientific research. The film is
narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, features music by Moby, was directed by
Shaun Monson, and was co-produced by Maggie Q, all of whom are
practicing vegans. Covering pet stores, puppy mills, and animal
profession, Earthlings includes footage obtained through the use of
hidden cameras to chronicle the day-to-day practices of some of the
largest industries in the world, all of which rely on animals. It draws
parallels between racism, sexism, and speciesism.
(19) Food Matters
(2008) 80 min
Food Matters is a
2008 documentary film about nutrition. The film presents the thesis that
a selective diet can play a key role in treating a range of health
conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and depression, often
substituting for medical treatment. Furthermore, it tends to label the
medical industry as a "sickness industry", which profits more from
treating the symptoms of illness than curing the illness. The film
accuses the medical and pharmaceutical industries of a general
conspiracy to perpetuate poor health in order to maximize profits.
(20) Supercharge
Me! 30 Days Raw (2006) 72 min
Supercharge Me! 30
Days Raw is a 2006 documentary film about raw foodism by Jenna Norwood.
Norwood, inspired by Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, ate only raw vegan
foods (i.e. uncooked fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds) for thirty days
and documented the changes to her health. The movie features interviews
with raw foodists David Wolfe, Ben Vereen and Kathy Sledge. The film
follows Norwood after she decides to trade her "junk food vegetarian"
diet for a raw vegan diet.
(21) A Delicate
Balance – The Truth (2008) 84 min
A Delicate Balance –
The Truth is a documentary film created by Aaron Scheibner, released on
13 November 2008, outlining the effects of diet on health and the
environment. Based on a large amount of research into these areas, it
features interviews with doctors and other prominent figures on the
public health scene, as well as world leaders such as Maneka Gandhi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QX03hBITWA
(22) The Fruit
Hunters (2012) 95 min
The Fruit Hunters is
a 2012 feature documentary film about exotic fruit cultivators and
preservationists. It is directed by Yung Chang and co-written by Chang
and Mark Slutsky, and inspired by Adam Leith Gollner’s 2008 book of the
same name. In addition to documentary sequences, the film also uses CGI
animation, models and performers to stage real and imagined moments in
the history of fruit.
(23) Fed Up (2014)
92 min
Fed Up is a 2014
American documentary film directed, written and produced by Stephanie
Soechtig. The film focuses on the causes of obesity in the US,
presenting evidence showing that the large quantities of sugar in
processed foods are an overlooked root of the problem, and points to the
monied lobbying power of "Big Sugar" in blocking attempts to enact
effective policies to address the issue.
(24) Peaceable
Kingdom (2004) 70 min
Peaceable Kingdom is
a documentary produced in 2004 by Tribe of Heart is about several
farmers who refuse to kill animals and how they convert to veganism as a
way of life. A newer version of the film premiered in 2009 called
Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home which featured different people. On
the Tribe of Heart website for the 2009 film, there is no apparent
mention of the 2004 movie. The 2004 film tells the story of how the
farmers create an animal sanctuary farm called "Farm Sanctuary" where
they rescue injured animals, half dead, abandoned, and rejected by the
farm industry for not being productive. A few examples are a cow with
mastitis or newborn chicks unfit for production.
(25) Mondovino
(2004) 135 min
Mondovino (Italian:
World of Wine) is a 2004 documentary film on the impact of globalization
on the world's different wine regions written and directed by American
film maker Jonathan Nossiter. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the
2004 Cannes Film Festival and a César Award. The film explores the
impact of globalization on the various wine-producing regions, and the
influence of critics like Robert Parker and consultants like Michel
Rolland in defining an international style. It pits the ambitions of
large, multinational wine producers, in particular Robert Mondavi,
against the small, single estate wineries who have traditionally boasted
wines with individual character driven by their terroir.
(26) Blue Gold:
World Water Wars (2008) 89 min
Blue Gold: World
Water Wars is a 2008 documentary film by Sam Bozzo, based on the book
Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water by
Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke. Blue Gold: World Water Wars examines
environmental and political implications of the planet's dwindling water
supply, and posits that wars in the future will be fought over water.
The film also highlights some success stories of water activists around
the world and makes a strong case for community action.
(27) Gut Reaction (2014) 57 min According to the revealing insights presented in the new documentary
Gut Reaction, the key to disease prevention may lie in how we chose to
nourish the bacteria that resides in our intestines. For many years,
science regarded bacteria in much the same way as the public at large.
Bacteria were viewed as nasty and threatening parasitic life forms that
must be avoided and protected against at all costs. Just a few short
years ago, however, modern technologies allowed us a peek into the inner
workings of the microbial world like never before. Through extensive
study which remains ongoing, we've come to understand the many benefits
associated with the bacteria which exists within our bodies. This "good"
bacteria regulates our immune system and determines our defenses against
potentially harmful bacteria from the outside world. In so doing, it
also maintains a crucial role in the areas of mental and physical
wellness.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/gut-reaction/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL_IlIlrxhtPNyzCj7xP8ZjmOHvZ35sfgq&v=w94D45txSxo
(28) Globesity: Fat's New Frontier (2012) 60 min Globesity: Fat's New Frontier reveals the outrageous eruption of a
worldwide corpulence in countries where not so long ago famine was
number one health issue. In China the usage of sugar and oil has led to
rapid enlargement of waistlines; in Brazil global food companies have
basically changed the usual daily intakes of food and sent the national
scales spinning. In India it's anticipated that 100 million people will
have diabetes in the near future and in Mexico, the largest consumer of
carbonated beverage in the world, where diabetes is already a headline
killer and where the weight problem is so acute, special programs have
been made available offering free fitness classes and bariatric surgery.
If you thought obesity was just an issue in the first world economies,
like the US, UK and Australia, this documentary will set you straight.
The fatness of the world is changing in ways that will amaze and
possibly even disturb you. In the recent past, in many of the world's
impoverished corners, hunger was the main health concern. Assessments
put the number of underweight at 700 million, and overweight - mainly in
affluent countries - at 100 million. How the tables have turned. In
truth, no country has succeeded to eliminate the hunger without shifting
to corpulence, very quickly. Among poor and developing countries,
there's not a single one, from sub-Saharan Africa to South Africa to the
Middle East to Asia and Latin America, which has regulated this
difficulty. By 2010 the number of underweight people had increased only
slightly but the number of very overweight people had blown up to 500
million. It's estimated that by 2030 more than one billion will be fat.
We have dumped the concern of obesity into the developing economies just
at a time when the numbers were starting to level off. This is a global
problem and every country on the planet should be worried about it.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/globesity-fats-new-frontier/
(29) Most Sellable Food (2013) 56 min A look into the business of food and branding. It shows what foods
generate the most money and why. This documentary goes behind the scenes
of these big food brands to see how they plan their marketing for new
products as well as ones that aren’t selling as much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnzBq3htsgE
(30) Seeds of Death (2012) 80 min Every single independent study conducted on the impact of
genetically modified food shows that it damages organs, it causes
infertility, it causes immune system failure, it causes holes in the GI
tract, and it causes multiple organ system failure. The whole concept of
genetically modified organisms is throwing a monkey wrench in the life
on this planet. The reason why they have 170 million acres of
genetically engineered corn, soybeans, cotton, canola oil and sugar
beets in the United States is because it doesn't have to be labeled. The
first genetically modified animal, the salmon, may soon be approved for
human consumption and there has not been sufficient animal health
testing, human health testing, or environmental impact testing of these
new transgenic fish. Basically, they take agriculture and build an
industrial model which doesn't fit nature. So instead of changing our
agricultural model to accommodate what is natural, they're changing
nature to accommodate the industrial model.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/seeds-death/
(31) Seeds of Freedom (2012) 30 min Seeds of Freedom charts the story of seed from its roots at the
heart of traditional, diversity rich farming systems across the world,
to being transformed into a powerful commodity, used to monopolise the
global food system. The film highlights the extent to which the
industrial agricultural system, and genetically modified (GM) seeds in
particular, has impacted on the enormous agro-biodiversity evolved by
farmers and communities around the world, since the beginning of
agriculture. Seeds of Freedom seeks to challenge the mantra that
large-scale, industrial agriculture is the only means by which we can
feed the world, promoted by the pro-GM lobby. In tracking the story of
seed it becomes clear how corporate agenda has driven the take over of
seed in order to make vast profit and control of the food global system.
Produced by The Gaia Foundation and the African Biodiversity Network, in
collaboration with MELCA Ethiopia, Navdanya International and GRAIN.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/seeds-of-freedom/
(32) Seeds of Permaculture (2013) 88 min One of the reasons for shooting this film is the global climate
change. All around the world, as you know, places are experiencing odd
weather events. All around the world, whether you're in South America,
in North America, in Europe, in Asia, people are experiencing weather
patterns that are out of the norm. So, one of the reasons that
permaculture is getting so popular right now, growing faster than ever
before, on an exponential curve of growth, is because our planet needs
it. It's time for the important changes that permaculture has to give.
People are becoming less and less self-sufficient around the world,
these local communities that were previously growing everything
themselves and knew how to build their own houses out of natural
materials are completely dependent on big foreign powers and import from
other countries.
One of the challenges that permaculture has out in front of it is
proving to the world that it can be a viable form of profitable
agriculture. Through the development of a master plan for your site or
your project, it's possible to really lay out enhancement strategies
that make it more likely that you and your project can become
profitable.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/seeds-permaculture/
(33) Meat the Truth (2008) 72 min From the author: Climate Change and Global Warming - yes I know,
it's a hoax, it's a scam and designed to keep us in fear and implement a
Carbon Tax, as if we aren't already taxed to death. This video discusses
an issue that is almost always overlooked when officials and science
discuss climate.
What about the 90 BILLION animals raised for food production. The energy
to grow their food, to feed them, to transport them, to slaughter and
finally to your local grocer in the form of packaged flesh OR prepared /
frozen meals and various by-products.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/meat-the-truth/
(34) Big Sugar (2005) 90 min Big Sugar explores the dark history and modern power of the world's
reigning sugar cartels. Using dramatic reenactments, it reveals how
sugar was at the heart of slavery in the West Indies in the 18th
century, while showing how present-day consumers are slaves to a
sugar-based diet. Going undercover, Big Sugar witnesses the appalling
working conditions on plantations in the Dominican Republic, where
Haitian cane cutters live like slaves. Workers who live on Central
Romano, a Fanjul-owned plantation, go hungry while working 12-hour days
to earn $2 (US).
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/big-sugar/
(35) The Foods that Make Billions (2010) 177 min The Foods that Make Billions is a series looking at how big business
feeds us. Starting with a look at the bottled water industry, moving
through cereals and finally looking at yoghurt, these three episodes
explore the history of how these simple commodities have become staple
products, part of the global diet.
Liquid Gold looks at the competitive dynamics between two of the global
leaders in the bottled water marketplace: Nestle and Danone. Episode one
unpacks the brand philosophy and big business strategy behind these big
hitters in the industry. But why would you buy something that you could
get for free from the tap? This documentary looks at the marketing and
advertising strategies used by big business to create demand that
results in the distribution of millions of bottles of water around the
world.
Episode two tells the story of a modern marketing miracle: the story of
the breakfast cereal. The Age of Plenty investigates the processing,
marketing and advertising behind a breakfast that has singularly
impacted the way we live. Breakfast cereal marks the birth of modern day
"convenience food", invented to make cheap and lifeless corn bits edible
and easy to sell, and promoted through reverse psychology, cereal has
transformed the way we eat and consequently the way we live. This series
tracks the multi-billion dollar breakfast cereal industry, explaining
the impact of television advertising on the promotion and sales of
breakfast cereals, which endures to this day.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/foods-make-billions/
(36) The Food Speculator (2012) 46 min Assuming the role of a speculator, director Kees Brouwer tries to
find out whether he is merely taking advantage of the opportunity
offered to investors by the food scarcity, or that, through this
abstract world of financial products, he is drastically interfering in
poor people's lives. Increasing food prices are increasingly causing
unrest in the world. It was no coincidence that when the Arab Spring
first began Tunisian protesters attacked the order police with
baguettes. Is there just not enough food for so many people, or are the
price increases caused by speculators, looking for quick profits?
Backlight tries to find an answer by doing a little food speculation of
its own. A quest that leads us to places including the streets of
Tunisia and the Chicago Stock Exchange.
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/food-speculator/
(37) Fast Food, Fat Profits: Obesity in America
(2010) 23 min Obesity in America has reached a crisis point. Two out of every
three Americans are overweight, one out of every three is obese. One in
three are expected to have diabetes by 2050. Minorities have been even
more profoundly affected. African-Americans have a 50 per cent higher
prevalence of obesity and Hispanics 25 per cent higher when compared
with whites. How did the situation get so out of hand? Josh Rushing
explores the world of cheap food for Americans living at the margins.
What opportunities do people have to eat healthy? Who is responsible for
food deserts and processed food in American schools?
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/fast-food-fat-profits-obesity-america/
(38) Sugar: The Bitter Truth
(2009) 90 min Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division
of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues
that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be
cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin.
Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009] [Health and
Medicine]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
(39) The Starch Solution - John McDougall MD
(2010) 75 min This truth is simple and is, therefore, easy to explain. You must
eat to live. But the choice of what you eat is yours. There is an
individual, specific diet that best supports the health, function, and
longevity of each and every animal. The proper diet for human beings is
based on starches. The more rice, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and
beans you eat, the trimmer and healthier you will be -- and with those
same food choices you will help save the Planet Earth too. This talk is
by John McDougall MD from the VegSource Healthy Lifestyle Expo 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XVf36nwraw
(40) Sustainability and Food Choice (2013) 85 min Richard Oppenlander presents: Sustainability and Food Choice: Why
Eating Local, "Less" Meat, and Taking Baby Steps Won't Work, at the
March 2013 McDougall Advanced Study Weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fws0f9s4Bas
(41) Comfortably Unaware Oppenlander (2012) 12 min In this video, Dr. Richard Oppenlander tells his personal story
about raising three children on a plant-based diet on a farm in Michigan
which they converted into an animal sanctuary for abused and unwanted
farmed animals. He also conveys the harsh ecological realities of
continuing to consume animals... on our health, and on the planet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCo5SQJY3js
(42) Are Humans Designed To Eat Meat? (2011) 60 mins The major causes of death in Western countries are cardiovascular
diseases and cancers. Abundant medical research linking these diseases
to dietary and lifestyle factors, guidelines advanced by the American
Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the Surgeon General,
among others, counsel Americans to sharply reduce animal foods consumed
and replace them with fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. In effect,
they are recommending a more plant-based diet, which begs the question:
Are humans designed to eat meat?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-hs2v-UjI
(43) Milton Mills, MD on the
Biology of Disgust (2012) 81 min Why humans find meat disgusting! Following a spectacular potluck
vegan Thanksgiving meal, Dr. Mills gave this presentation to the monthly
meeting of the Rochester Area Vegetarian Society in Rochester, NY on
Sunday, November 18, 2012 to an audience of over 80 people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6HrEkPrLx0
(44) Olive Oil is NOT Health
Food but Sick Food - Jeff Novick (2009) 10 min
So many are deceived into believing that olive oil and the Mediterranean
Diet are "health promoting." Oh yeah? Actually, the Mediterranean diet,
which contains a very small amount of olive oil (unlike how most people
use olive oil), IS healthier than the standard American diet. But is it
the healthiest diet out there?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfBKauKVi4M
(45) Olive Oil Is Not Healthy - Michael Klaper MD (2013) 11 min If you read the studies, the Mediterranean Diet is healthy IN SPITE
OF olive oil, not because of it. This is a short excerpt from the talk
of Michael Klaper MD at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo 2012, and comes from
the Bronze DVD set.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGGQxJLuVjg
(47) Soul Food is Plantation Food (2013) 9 min
In this excerpt, Dr. Mills discusses the troubling connection between
slavery and soul food.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vnhIpDfAbE
(49) Do Vegetarians Get Enough Protein? (2014) 4 min Nutritional quality indices show plant-based diets are the
healthiest, but do vegetarians and vegans reach the recommended daily
intake of protein?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m4p8s7xskQ
(52) Dr Michael Greger, MD. Phytates for the Prevention of Cancer
(2014) 3:48 min NutritionFacts.org
Phytic acid (phytate), concentrated in food such as beans, whole grains,
and nuts, may help explain lower cancer rates among plant-based
populations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgihTBZrOvY
(54) Dr Michael Greger, MD. Olive Oil and Artery Function (2015) 3:28
min Does extra virgin olive oil have the same adverse effect on arterial
function as refined oils and animal fats?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4WD8Bm7s_I
(56) Rotten (Netflix) 2018 Season 1 Documentary Programmes
This docuseries (6 episodes) travels deep into the heart of the food
supply chain to reveal unsavory truths and expose hidden forces that
shape what we eat.
1. Lawyers, Guns & Honey 55m With demand for honey soaring just as bees are dying off in record
numbers, hidden additives, hive thefts and other shady tactics are on
the rise.
2. The Peanut Problem 48m As food allergies skyrocket, scientists race to understand what's
changed in our bodies, while farmers and chefs contend with new
challenges.
3. Garlic Breath 55m Cooking shows turned the humble garlic bulb into a
multibillion-dollar crop. But a lawsuit raises troubling questions about
top suppliers.
4. Big Bird 52m The ruthlessly efficient world of chicken production pits vulnerable
growers against each other and leaves them open to vicious acts of
sabotage.
5. Milk Money 58m Changing diets and dramatic price swings have put dairy farmers on
the ropes and fueled a surge in lucrative but controversial raw milk
sales.
6. Cod Is Dead 56m As the global fish supply dwindles, the industry faces crises on all
sides -- including crooked moguls, dubious imports and divisive
regulations.
