The China Study

{{Short description|2005 book by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas M. Campbell II}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The China Study

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = The China Study Cover.jpg

| caption =

| author = T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II, M.D.

| illustrator =

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| country = United States

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| subject = Nutritional science

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| publisher = BenBella Books

| pub_date = 2005

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| pages = 417 (first edition)

| isbn = 1-932100-38-5

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| website = {{URL|https://www.benbellavegan.com/book/the-china-study/}}

}}

The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health is a book by T. Colin Campbell and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. The book argues for health benefits of a whole food plant-based diet. It was first published in the United States in January 2005 and had sold over one million copies as of October 2013, making it one of America's best-selling books about nutrition.{{cite news |last1=Parker-Pope |first1=Tara |title=Nutrition Advice From the China Study |url=http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/nutrition-advice-from-the-china-study/ |access-date=19 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=7 January 2011 |archive-date=April 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428222456/http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/nutrition-advice-from-the-china-study/ |url-status=live }}

For over one million copies sold, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131018141545/http://www.thechinastudy.com/the-china-study/about "The China Study"], the chinastudy.com, archived October 18, 2013.

Synopsis

The China Study examines the link between the consumption of animal products (including dairy) and chronic illnesses such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and bowel cancer. The book is "loosely based"{{cite book|last1=Scrinis |first1=Gyorgy |title=Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2013 |page=182}} on the China–Cornell–Oxford Project, a 20-year study that looked at mortality rates from cancer and other chronic diseases from 1973 to 1975 in 65 counties in China, and correlated this data with 1983–84 dietary surveys and blood work from 100 people in each county.

The authors conclude that people who eat a predominantly whole-food, vegan diet—avoiding animal products as a source of nutrition, including beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, and milk, and reducing their intake of processed foods and 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."{{harvnb|Campbell|Campbell II|2005|p=132}} The book recommends sunshine exposure or dietary supplements to maintain adequate levels of vitamin D, and supplements of vitamin B₁₂ in case of complete avoidance of animal products.{{harvnb|Campbell|Campbell II|2005|pp=232, 242, 361ff}} It criticizes low-carb diets, such as the Atkins diet, which include restrictions on the percentage of calories derived from carbohydrates.{{harvnb|Campbell|Campbell II|2005|pp=95–96}} The authors are critical of reductionist approaches to the study of nutrition, whereby certain nutrients are blamed for disease, as opposed to studying patterns of nutrition and the interactions between nutrients.{{cite book|last1=Scrinis |first1=Gyorgy |title=Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2013 |page=16}}

Publication

The book was first published in 2005.{{cite web |title=The China Study - T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies |url=https://nutritionstudies.org/the-china-study/ |website=Center for Nutrition Studies |access-date=24 June 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620035426/https://nutritionstudies.org/the-china-study/ |url-status=live }}{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=T. Colin |last2=Campbell II |first2=Thomas M. |title=The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health |date=2005 |publisher=BenBella Books}} A revised and expanded edition was published in 2016.{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=T. Colin |last2=Campbell II |first2=Thomas M. |title=The China study : the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and the startling implications for diet, weight loss, and long-term health |date=2016 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=9781942952909 |edition=Revised and expanded }} The book has also been published in German, Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Swedish and Urdu.{{cite web |title=Formats and Editions of The China study : the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted and the startling implications for diet, weight loss and long-term health |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/china-study-the-most-comprehensive-study-of-nutrition-ever-conducted-and-the-startling-implications-for-diet-weight-loss-and-long-term-health/oclc/1090648209/editions?referer=di&sd=asc&start_edition=1&se=yr&qt=show_more_ln%3A&cookie=&editionsView=true&fq=&fc=ln%3A_25 |website=Worldcat.org |access-date=24 June 2020 |language=en |archive-date=June 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627020632/https://www.worldcat.org/title/china-study-the-most-comprehensive-study-of-nutrition-ever-conducted-and-the-startling-implications-for-diet-weight-loss-and-long-term-health/oclc/1090648209/editions?referer=di&sd=asc&start_edition=1&se=yr&qt=show_more_ln:&cookie=&editionsView=true&fq=&fc=ln:_25 |url-status=live }}

= Companion volumes =

{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Thomas |title=The Campbell Plan : the simple way to lose weight and reverse illness, using the China Study's whole-food, plant-based diet |date=2015 |publisher=Rodale Books |isbn=9781623364106}}
{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Thomas |title=The China study solution : the simple way to lose weight and reverse illness, using a whole-food, plant-based diet |date=2016 |publisher=Rodale Books |isbn=9781623367572}}
{{cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=LeAnne |last2=Campbell |first2=T. Colin |last3=Disla |first3=Steven Campbell |title=The China study cookbook : over 120 whole-food, plant-based recipes |date=2013 |publisher=BenBella Books |isbn=9781937856762}}{{cite news |last1=Lefferts |first1=Daniel |title='The China Study Cookbook' Makeover: Cookbooks 2018 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/76155-the-china-study-cookbook-makeover-cookbooks-2018.html |access-date=29 June 2020 |work=Publishers Weekly |date=23 February 2018 |archive-date=June 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630100726/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/76155-the-china-study-cookbook-makeover-cookbooks-2018.html |url-status=live }}

Reception

Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, said in his documentary The Last Heart Attack in 2011 that The China Study had changed the way people all over the world eat.{{cite web |date=25 August 2011 |title=Gupta: Becoming heart attack proof |url=https://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/becoming-heart-attack-proof/ |access-date=January 18, 2020 |archive-date=December 23, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223210717/http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/25/becoming-heart-attack-proof/ |url-status=dead }} Former American president Bill Clinton became a supporter when he adopted a plant-based diet after a heart attack.{{cite news |last1=Sherwell |first1=Philip |title=Bill Clinton's new diet: nothing but beans, vegetables and fruit to combat heart disease |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8038801/Bill-Clintons-new-diet-nothing-but-beans-vegetables-and-fruit-to-combat-heart-disease.html |newspaper= The Daily Telegraph |issn= 0307-1235 |date=3 October 2010 |access-date=April 5, 2018 |archive-date=June 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616153734/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8038801/Bill-Clintons-new-diet-nothing-but-beans-vegetables-and-fruit-to-combat-heart-disease.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=David S. |date=August 18, 2011 |title=From omnivore to vegan: The dietary education of Bill Clinton |url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/18/bill.clinton.diet.vegan/index.html |work= CNN |access-date=August 29, 2011 |archive-date=August 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829063127/http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/18/bill.clinton.diet.vegan/index.html |url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title= Bill Clinton Explains Why He Became a Vegan |first= Joe |last= Conason |date= July 25, 2013 |work= AARP |language= en |url= https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-08-2013/bill-clinton-vegan.html |access-date= January 26, 2025 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20250126173500/https://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-08-2013/bill-clinton-vegan.html |archive-date= January 26, 2025 |url-status=live}}

Wilfred Niels Arnold, professor of biochemistry at the University of Kansas Medical Center, reviewed the book in Leonardo reviews in 2005: "[T]he authors anticipate resistant and hostile sources, sail on with escalating enthusiasm, and furnish a working hypothesis that is valuable. In fact, the surprising data are difficult to interpret in any other way."{{cite journal |last1=Arnold |first1=Wilfred Niels |url=http://www.leonardo.info/reviews/feb2005/china_arnold.html |title=The China Study |journal=Leonardo Reviews |date=February 2005 |access-date=29 August 2011 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174418/http://www.leonardo.info/reviews/feb2005/china_arnold.html |url-status=live }}

Harriet Hall, writing for Science-Based Medicine, said that the book had references that do not support directly the claims made by the authors and that it did not explain the exceptions to his data, such as high rates of stomach cancer in China.{{Cite web|last=Hall|first=Harriet|date=2009-04-09|title=The China Study|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/385/|access-date=August 9, 2018|archive-date=October 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013133629/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/385/|url-status=live}}

Stephan Guyenet reviewing the book for Red Pen Reviews commented that The China Study is a "scholarly and well-written book" but three of its key scientific claims are "not very well supported overall".Guyenet, Stephan. (2019). [https://www.redpenreviews.org/reviews/the-china-study-the-most-comprehensive-study-of-nutrition-ever-conducted-and-the-startling-implications-for-diet-weight-loss-and-long-term-health/ "The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107235453/https://www.redpenreviews.org/reviews/the-china-study-the-most-comprehensive-study-of-nutrition-ever-conducted-and-the-startling-implications-for-diet-weight-loss-and-long-term-health/ |date=November 7, 2020 }}. Redpenreviews.org. Retrieved 17 August 2021.

References

External links

{{Official website|http://www.thechinastudy.com/}}
{{Official website|http://nutritionstudies.org/|T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies official website}}
[http://nutritionstudies.org/the-china-study/ The China Project Data and References]
[https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2001/06/china-study-ii-western-diet-might-bring-western-disease Asians' switch to Western diet might bring Western-type diseases, new China-Taiwan study suggests]
[https://www.health.harvard.edu/cancer/cancer-and-diet-whats-the-connection Cancer and diet: What’s the connection?]
[https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/#protein-bottom-line Protein]