270 THE CHINA STUDY
These vegetables recommended by the [National Academy of Sci-
ences reportl ... are the ones we should increase[:l cabbages, Brus-
sels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and spinach .... Mom
was right!
Research scientists and technicians at General Nutrition Labs,
realizing the importance of the research, instantly went to work
to harness all of the vegetables and combined all of them into a
natural, easy to take potent tablet.
[Tlhe result is Health Greens [sic], a new potent breakthrough
in nutrition that millions of people can now help safeguard their
well-being with ... the greens that the [National Academy of Sci-
ences Committeel recommends we eat more of!
GNC was advertiSing an untested product and improperly using a
government document to support its sensational claims. So the Federal
Trade Commission went to court to bar the company from making these
claims. It was a battle that lasted years, a battle that was rumored to
cost General Nutrition, Inc. about $7 million. The National Academy
of Sciences recommended me as their expert witness because of my co-
authorship of the report in question and because of my harping on this
point during our committee deliberations.
A research associate in my group, Dr. Tom O'Connor, and I spent
three intellectually stimulating years working on this project, including
my three full days on the witness stand. In 1988, General Nutrition,
Inc., settled the false advertising charges relating to Healthy Greens and
other food supplements by agreeing to pay $600,000, divided equally,
to three different health organizations.^3 This was a small price for the
company to pay, considering the ultimate revenues that were generated
by the exploding nutrient supplement market.FOCUS ON FATThe focus on individual nutrients instead of whole foods has become
commonplace in the past two decades, and part of the blame can be put
on our 1982 report. As mentioned before, our committee organized the
scientific information on diet and cancer by nutrients, with a separate
chapter for each nutrient or class of nutrients. There were individual
chapters for fat, protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals. I am
convinced it was a great mistake on our part. We did not stress enough
that our recommendations were concerned with whole foods because