296 THE CHINA STUDY
favorable product image and "confidence." In addition to keeping an
eye on potentially damaging projects, the Club was trying to generate
research that might show that cancer could be prevented by drinking
cow's milk. What a coup that would be! At that time, the industry was
getting quite edgy about the growing evidence showing that the con-
sumption of animal-based foods is associated with cancer and related
ailments.
Their hook for this research was an unusual group of fatty acids
produced by bacteria in the cow's rumen (the biggest of the four stom-
achs). These fatty acids were collectively called conjugated linoleic acid
(CLA), which is produced from the linoleic acid commonly found in
corn that the cow eats. From the cow's rumen, CLA is then absorbed
and gets stored in the meat and milk of the animal, eventually to be
consumed by humans.
The big payday for The Airport Club was when initial tests on ex-
perimental mice suggested that CLA might help to block the formation
of stomach tumors produced by a weak chemical carcinogen called
benzo(a)pyrene.ll, 12 But there was a catch in this research. The catch
was that researchers gave CLA to the mice first, and then gave the car-
cinogen benzo(a)pyrene. The ordering of these chemical feedings was
backwards. In the body there is an enzyme system that works to minimize
the amount of cancer caused by a carcinogen. When a chemical such as
CLA is initially consumed, it "excites" that enzyme system so that it has
increased activity. So the trick was to administer CLA first, to excite the
enzyme system, and then administer the carcinogen. In this order, the en-
zyme system excited by CLA would be more effective at getting rid of the
carcinogen. As a result, CLA could be called an anticarcinogen.
Let me give you an analogous situation. Let's say you have a bag of a
potent pesticide in your garage. The pesticide bag says, "Do not swal-
low! In case of ingestion, contact your local poison control health au-
thorities," or some such warning. But let's say you're hungry and you eat
a handful of pesticide anyway. That pesticide in your body will "rev up"
the enzyme systems in all of your cells that are responsible for elimi-
nating nasty things. If you then go inside and eat a handful of peanuts
dripping with aflatoxin, your body's enzyme systems will be primed to
deal with the aflatoxin, and you'll end up with fewer aflatoxin-induced
tumors. So, the pesticide, which will ultimately do all sorts of nasty
things in your body, is an anticarcinogen! This scenario is obviously
absurd, and the research on mice that initially showed CLA to be an