The China Study by Thomas Campbell

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SCIENTIFIC REDUCTIONISM 283


Most recently, the Nurses' Health Study is cited as having come up
with an even more powerful endorsement for eggs. A recent news item
stated:

Eating eggs during adolescence could protect women against
breast cancer.. .. 39
The article goes on to quote a Harvard researcher as saying:

Women who had, during adolescence, a higher consumption of
eggs ... had a lower risk of breast cancer .... 39

Most people who read this news article will likely say that eggs are
back in favor-even when they don't know how many eggs per day are
okay or whether there are exceptions to this generalization. Eggs will
only seem to be more healthful when the henhouse industry adds their
words of wisdom. But wait a minute-evidence says egg consumption
for teenage girls is okay, maybe even good, but evidence also says more
egg consumption overall increases breast cancer risk. By the way, here's
something else to think about. Multiple studies have rather conSistently
shown that egg consumption can increase colon cancer risk, more so for
women than for men.w
What are we to believe? One minute alcohol intake can reduce our
disease risks, the next minute it can increase them. One minute fish
consumption can help to reduce our disease risks, the next minute it
can hurt. One minute eggs are bad, the next minute they can be healthy.
It seems to me that what is missing here is the larger context. What you
have without that context is just a lot of confusion.

UNRAVELING DIET AND CANCER
In addition to stating that diet and exercise are unrelated to breast can-
cer, the Harvard researchers have been chipping away at other popular
notions regarding diet and cancer. For example, the Harvard studies
have not been able to detect any association between colorectal cancer
and fiber or fruit and vegetable intake.^4 • 4 1, 42
Dietary fiber, of course, only comes from plant-based foods, thus
these findings put a dent in the idea that fiber or fruits, vegetables and
cereals prevent large bowel cancer. Keep in mind that the Harvard stud-
ies are dealing with uniformly carnivorous populations, almost none
of which are using a whole foods, plant-based diet that is naturally low
in fat and high in fiber. It is likely that the potential protective effect of
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