The China Study by Thomas Campbell

LESSONS FROM (HINA 77

affluence and diseases of poverty. As a developing population accumu-

lates wealth, people change their eating habits, lifestyles and sanitation

systems. As wealth accumulates, more and more people die from "rich"

diseases of affluence than "poor" diseases of poverty. Because these dis-

eases of affluence are so tightly linked to eating habits, diseases of afflu-

ence might be better named "diseases of nutritional extravagance." The

vast majority of people in the United States and other Western countries

die from diseases of affluence. For this reason, these diseases are often

referred to as "Western" diseases. Some rural counties had few diseases

of affluence while other counties had far more of these diseases. The

core question of the China Study was this: is it because of differences in

dietary habits?

STATISTICAL SIG NIFICANCE

As I go through this chapter, I will indicate the statistical signifi-

cance of various observations. Roman numeral one (I) means 95+%

certainty; roman numeral two (II) means 99+% certainty; and ro-

man numeral three (III) means 99.9+% certainty. No roman numeral

means that the association is something less than 95% certainty.ll

These probabilities also can be described as the probability that an

observation is real. A 95% certainty means a 19 in 20 probability

that the observation is real; a 99% certainty means a 99 in 100 prob-

ability that the observation is real; and a 99.9% certainty means a

999 in 1,000 probability that the observation is real.

BLOOD CHOLESTEROL AND DISEASE

We compared the prevalence of Western diseases in each county with
diet and lifestyle variables and, to our surprise, we found that one of the
strongest predictors of Western diseases was blood cholesterol.lII

IN YOUR FOOD-IN YOUR BLOOD

There are two main categories of cholesterol. Dietary cholesterol is
present in the food we eat. It is a component of food, much like sugar,
fat, protein, vitamins and minerals. This cholesterol is found only in
animal-based food and is the one we find on food labels. How much
dietary cholesterol you consume is not something your doctor can
know when he or she checks your cholesterol levels. The doctor can't