80 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.In this country, we consume an enormous amount of cheese.
Our record-high increase in cheese consumption is alarming: a 193
percent increase in the past twenty-five years.^42 Cheese has more
saturated fat and more hormone-containing and -promoting sub-
stances than any other food, and the incidence of our hormonally
sensitive cancers has skyrocketed.
In spite of studies that do not show an impressive association
with small differences in fat consumption later in life, large changesearly in life have huge repercussions.^43 When we consider the diet
consumed throughout our life, meal and dairy continue to be impli-
cated as a strong causal factor in breast cancer.^44 There is almost no
breast cancer at all in populations that consume less than 10 percent
of their calories from fat.^45 After reviewing many studies on this is-
sue for the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a group of promi-
nent scientists concluded that the studies that failed to show the
relationship between animal-product consumption and breast can-
cer suffered from methodological problems.^46Unraveling the Protein Myth
We have been indoctrinated since early childhood to believe that an-
imal protein is a nutrient to be held in high esteem. We have been
brought up with the idea that foods are good for us if they help us
grow bigger and faster. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The public as well as the media are confused about this issue.
They continue to associate the term better nutrition with earlier matu-
rity and larger stature resulting from our greater consumption of
animal protein and animal fats. These unfavorable trends are repeat-
edly reported as positive events. Earlier writers and nutritionists have
mistakenly equated rapid growth with health. I believe an increased
rate of growth is not a good thing. The slower a child grows, the
slower he or she is aging. Slower growth, taking longer to reach ma-
turity, is predictive of a longer life in animal studies.^47 We are finding
the same thing in humans: an unnaturally rapid growth and prema-
ture puberty are risk factors for cancers and other diseases later in
life. Evidence continues to mount that these same factors leading to
early maturity and excessive growth in childhood increase the oc-
currence of cancer in general, not just breast and prostate cancer.^48
Excluding malnutrition or serious disease, the slower we grow and
mature, the longer we live.