298 THE CHINA STUDYresearch equaled that of the headline. The study cited in this article only
showed that CLA is higher in the milk of cows fed corn oil. That's a long
way from having any relevance to human cancer. No studies had yet
shown that humans or even mice drinking cow's milk had a lower risk
of cancer-of any kind. Yet Bauman, who is a technically competent
researcher, was quoted as saying that these findings have "good poten-
tial because CLA happens to be tal very potent [anticarcinogen]." The
journalist went on to say "CLA has been shown to suppress carcinogens
and inhibit the spread of colon, prostate, ovarian and breast cancers and
leukemia," and concluded that "all indications are that CLA is effec-
tive in humans even in low concentrations." According to the article,
Bauman says that this "research represents the new focus on designing
foods to enhance their nutritional and health qualities." These claims
could not be more dramatic, conSidering the absence of the necessary
human research.
Bauman, Pariza and their many other colleagues^19 have vigorously
pursued this line of research for fifteen years and have published a large
number of research papers. Although additional beneficial effects of
CLA are said to exist, the key research still has not been done, namely,
testing whether the consumption of milk from cows fed high-corn oil
diets really will reduce human cancer risk.
More recently, Bauman and his colleagues have attempted to take a
step toward finding this essential connection. They have shown that
the milk fat of cows fed high amounts of corn oil (i.e., linoleic acid, the
parent of CLA), like synthetic CLA, was able to decrease tumors in rats
treated with a carcinogen.2o But again, they used the tricky experimental
method. They administered the milk fat before, not after the carcinogen.
Yet their claims will be as dramatic as ever, because this is the first time
that CLA, as present in food (i.e., the fat), is shown to be as anticarcino-
genic as the isolated chemical. Translated: eat butter from cows fed corn
oil-it prevents cancer!
THE SCIENCE OF INDUSTRYThe CLA story is a good example of how industry uses science to in-
crease demand for its product in order to make more money. At the very
least, industry science often leads to public confusion (Are eggs good?
Are they bad?) , and at its worst, industry science leads unsuspecting
consumers to foods that are actually bad for them, all in the name of
better health.