The China Study by Thomas Campbell

288 THE (HINA STUDY

business developing testimony for the Federal Trade Commission and

the National Academy of Sciences in their court case against General

Nutrition, Inc. I argued that specific health benefits for chronic diseases

could not be claimed for isolated vitamins and minerals in supplement

form. For this, I took a lot of heat from my colleagues who believed

otherwise. Now, more than fifteen years later, after hundreds of millions

of dollars of research funding and billions of dollars of consumer spend-

ing, we now have this conclusion from a recent survey of the evidence:

The u.s. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concludes that

the evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against the use of

supplements of A, Cor E; multivitamins with folic acid; or antioxi-

dant combinations for the prevention of cancer or cardiovascular

disease.^49 • 5o

How many more billions of dollars must be spent before we under-
stand the limitations of reductionist research? Scientific investigations
of the effects of single nutrients on complex diseases have little or no
meaning when the main dietary effect is due to the consumption of
an extraordinary collection of nutrients and other substances found in
whole foods. This is especially true when no subjects in the study popu-
lation consume a whole foods, plant-based diet when it is this diet that
is most consistent with the biologically-based evidence, supported by
the most impressive array of professional literature, consonant with the
extremely low disease rates seen in the international studies, far more
harmonious with a sustainable environment, possessed of the power to
heal advanced disease, and has the potential, without parallel, for sup-
porting a new, low-cost health care system. I categorically reject the idea
of doing reductionism research in this field without seeking or under-
standing the larger context. The endless stream of confusion generated
by misinterpreted reductionism undermines not only the entire science
of nutrition, but also the health of America.