LESSONS FROM CHINA 81men was associated with increasing levels of "bad" blood cholesterolIIl
whereas plant protein consumption was associated with decreasing lev-
els of this same cholesterol. II
Walk into almost any doctor's office and ask which dietary factors af-
fect blood cholesterol levels and he or she will likely mention saturated
fat and dietary cholesterol. In more recent decades, some might also
mention the cholesterol-lowering effect of soy or high-fiber bran prod-
ucts, but few will say that animal protein has anything to do with blood
cholesterol levels.
It has always been this way. While on sabbatical at the University
of Oxford, I attended lectures given to medical students on the dietary
causes of heart disease by one of their prominent professors of medi-
cine. He went on and on about the adverse effects of saturated fat and
cholesterol intakes on coronary heart disease as if these were the only
dietary factors that were important. He was unwilling to concede that
animal protein consumption had anything to do with blood cholesterol
levels, even though the evidence at that time made it abundantly clear
that animal protein was more strongly correlated with blood cholesterol
levels than saturated fat and dietary cholesterol. 15 Like too many others,
his blind faith in the status quo left him unwilling to be open-minded.
As these findings poured in, 1 was beginning to discover that being
open-minded was not a luxury, but a necessity.FAT AND BREAST CANCERIf there were some sort of nutrition parade, and each nutrient had a
float, by far the biggest would belong to fat. So many people, from
researchers to educators, from government policy makers to industry
representatives, have investigated or made pronouncements on fat for
so long. People from a huge number of different communities have been
constructing this behemoth for over half a century.
As this strange parade got started on Main Street, USA, the attention
of everyone sitting on the sidewalks would ineVitably be drawn to the
fat float. Most people might see the fat float and say, "I should stay away
from that," and then eat a hefty piece of it. Others would climb on the
unsaturated half of the float and say that these fats are healthy and only
saturated fats are bad. Many scientists would point fingers at the fat float
and claim that the heart disease and cancer clowns are hiding inside.
Meanwhile, some self-proclaimed diet gurus, like the late Dr. Robert
Atkins, might set up shop on the float and start selling books. At the