The China Study by Thomas Campbell

DIABETES 151

shift, along with low exercise levels, might be to blame for this

explosion of diabetes. 12

• In England and Wales the rate of diabetes markedly dropped from
  1940 to 1950, largely during World War II when food consump-
  tion patterns changed markedly. During the war and its aftermath,
  fiber and grain intake went up and fat intake went down. People
  ate "lower" on the food chain because of national necessity. Around
  1950, though, people gave up the grain-based diets and returned
  to eating more fat, more sugar and less fiber. Sure enough, diabetes
  rates started going Up.1 3


• Researchers studied 36,000 women in Iowa for six years. All were
  free of diabetes at the start of the study, but more than 1,100 cases
  of diabetes developed after six years. The women who were least
  likely to get diabetes were those that ate the most whole grains and
  fiber14-those whose diets contained the most carbohydrates (the
  complex kind found in whole foods).

All of these findings support the idea that both across and within

populations, high-fiber, whole, plant-based foods protect against diabe-

tes, and high-fat, high-protein, animal-based foods promote diabetes.

CURING THE INCURABLE

All of the research cited above was observational and an observed as-
sociation, even if frequently seen, may only be an incidental association
that masks the real cause-effect relationship of environment (including
diet) and disease. There is, however, also research of the "controlled"
or intervention variety. This involves changing the diets of people who
already have either full-blown Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes or mild diabetic
symptoms (impaired glucose tolerance).
James Anderson, M.D., is one of the most prominent scientists study-
ing diet and diabetes today, garnering dramatic results using dietary
means alone. One of his studies examined the effects of a high-fiber,
high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet on twenty-five Type 1 diabetics and
twenty-five Type 2 diabetics in a hospital settingY None of his fifty
patients were overweight and all of them were taking insulin shots to
control their blood sugar levels.
His experimental diet consisted mostly of whole plant foods and the
equivalent of only a cold cut or two of meat a day. He put his patients on
the conservative, American-style diet recommended by the American