The China Study by Thomas Campbell

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SCIENTIFIC REDUCTIONISM 273

CARNIVOROUS NURSES

In order to understand my rather harsh criticism, it is necessary to ob-

tain some perspective on the American diet itself, especially when com-

pared with the international studies that gave impetus to the dietary fat

hypothesis.^7 Americans eat a lot of meat and fat compared to developing

countries. We eat more total protein, and even more Significantly, 70 %

of our protein comes from animal sources. The fact that 70 % of our total

protein comes from animal sources means only one thing: we are con-

suming very few fruits and vegetables. To make matters worse, when

we do eat plant-based foods, we eat a large amount of highly processed

products that often have more added fat, sugar and salt. For example,

the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) national school

lunch program counts French fried potatoes as a vegetable!

In contrast, people in rural China eat very little animal foods; they

provide only about 10% of their total protein intake. The striking dif-

ference between the two dietary patterns is shown in two ways in Chart

14.1.^8

These distinctions are typical of the dietary differences between

Western cultures and traditional cultures. In general, people in Western

countries are mostly meat eaters, and people in traditional countries are

mostly plant eaters.

So what about the women in the Nurses' Health Study? As you might

guess, virtually all of these women consume a diet very rich in animal-

based foods, even richer than the average American. Their average

protein intake (as % of calories) is around 19%, compared with a U.S.

CHART 14.1: PROTEIN INTAKE IN THE U.S. AND RURAL CHINA8

·w c

ro >, 100 .... a^100

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Cl. ...

80 80

(^63 60) ]
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+' ro '+-
.f:^40 a^40
·w c 20 ro <lJ Ol^20
.... ....
Cl. e^0 u c <lJ^0
US China Cl. Qj US China
I Animal Protein 0 Plant Protein 1 I Animal Protein 0 Plant Protein I