80 THE CHINA STUDYBLOOD CHOLESTEROL AND DIET
Blood cholesterol is clearly an important indicator of disease risk. The
big question is: how will food affect blood cholesterol? In brief, animal-
based foods were correlated with increasing blood cholesterol (Chart
4.5). With almost no exceptions, nutrients from plant-based foods were
associated with decreasing levels of blood cholesterol.
Several studies have now shown, in both experimental animals and
in humans, that consuming animal-based protein increases blood cho-
lesterollevels.1s-^18 Saturated fat and dietary cholesterol also raise blood
cholesterol, although these nutrients are not as effective at doing this as
is animal protein. In contrast, plant-based foods contain no cholesterol
and, in various other ways, help to decrease the amount of cholesterol
made by the body. All of this was consistent with the findings from the
China Study.CHART 4.5. FOODS ASSOCIATED WITH BLOOD CHOLESTEROL
As intakes of meat,' milk, eggs, fish,'-" far and Blood Cholesterol goes up.
animal protein go up ...
As intakes of plant-based foods and nutrients (in- Blood Cholesterol goes down.
eluding plant protein,' dietary fiber," cellulose,"
hemicellulose,' soluble carbohydrate," B-vitamins
of plants (carotenes, B 2 , B 3 ),' legumes, light
colored vegetables, fruit, carrots, potatoes and
several cereal grains) go up ...These disease associations with blood cholesterol were remarkable,
because blood cholesterol and animal-based food consumption both
were so low by American standards. In rural China, animal protein
intake (for the same individual) averages only 7.1 glday whereas Ameri-
cans average a whopping 70 glday. To put this into perspective, seven
grams of animal protein is found in about three chicken nuggets from
McDonald's. We expected that when animal protein consumption and
blood cholesterol levels were as low as they are in rural China, there
would be no further association with the Western diseases. But we were
wrong. Even these small amounts of animal-based food in rural China
raised the risk for Western diseases.
We studied dietary effects on the different types of blood cholesterol.
The same dramatic effects were seen. Animal protein consumption by