VERIFIED FORMAL LARGE-SCALE
HUMAN DIET & NUTRITION STUDIES
The China Study
(Vegetarian & Vegan): The New York Times called it “The Grand Prix” of nutritional studies. From 1983-89, the China Study engaged the most comprehensive and strictest epidemiological nutrition study ever conducted. Tracking participants in 65 Chinese provinces the study documented their eating habits. An international team of researchers from from Cornell University, Oxford University, and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine have given us major insight as to how diet affects our health. The study definitively proves, eating less meat lowered the risks of major chronic diseases. The number of calories, the mix of protein and carbohydrates all mattered much less than the amount of meat based protein consumed. This larger study goes beyond the findings of other diet and nutrition studies. Correlating 800 different nutritional factors, the study shows that the intake of plant-based protein in every region of China correlated with good health and the intake of animal protein with ill chronic health or the common chronic diseases of modern times.
The Seventh-Adventist Study
(Vegetarian/Vegan): Begun in 1959 and sponsored by Loma Linda University, this tracked the lives of 22,940 Seventh-Day Adventists in California. It has a five-year formal and 25 year informal follow up. The Seventh-Adventist study showed that there was a 7.3 year longer life-expectancy average for men (and women 4.4). Similar statistics were tracked in Norway, Finland and Holland to show longer life expectancy and lower risk of most all chronic ailments. This large population of Seventh-Day Adventists who were vegetarian had significant lower cancer rates of all types as well as of all cardiovascular diseases, and as compared to even non-smoking non-Adventists. Vegan (stricter than vegetarian) eaters raised the bar. They had still lower blood pressure, LDL levels, obesity and premature death and overall chronic ailments. See: Diet, Life Expectancy, and Chronic Disease: Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists and Other Vegetarians by Gary E. Fraser.
The European Epic Study
The EPIC STUDY recruited over a half-million individuals in ten European countries for a massive and diverse nutritional study. It is led by Dr Elio Riboli, Head of the Division of Epidemiology at the Imperial College in London. “Only a fraction of the available data has been computerized thus far, but that which has suggests that vegetarians and vegans are generally lighter and less likely to be obese than meat eaters.” The study is showing that obesity play a large part in the development of many degenerative diseases, especially diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular ailments. Other preliminary findings include that a diet high in fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of pre-mature death by 20%. Also see the official EPIC site for more information.
The Oxford Vegetarian Study
Vegetarian & Vegan): The Oxford Study observed 6,000 vegetarian and 5,000 non-vegetarians, and covering a longer span of time in a formal study, namely 12 years. This confirmed lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other degenerative disease.The mortality figures were even more dramatic than the Seventh-Day Adventist study. The Pub-Med abstract reports“all-cause mortality in the whole cohort was roughly half that in the population of England and Wales.” Vegans had still lower LDL levels than fish-eating vegetarians. A followup Oxford studyshowed a lower rate of emergency appendectomies, indicative of acute apendicitis) among the vegetarian subjects.
The Pritikin Study
(Mostly Vegetarian): Since the 1950’s, over 90 studies have shown the advantages of a dietary approach (mostly low-fat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables) with animal proteins restricted to one serving a day or less! If animal protein is allowed willd fish is always preferable to even organic, free range poultry and red meat is not a part of the program and is not to be eaten more than once a month. An analysis of almost 4,600 patients showed an across the board improvement in heart disease risk factors. The average 23% drop in LDL levels within 3 weeks and an average 33% drop in triglycerides. Also 14 more studies confirm the above or show the effects of using the Pritikin type diet against high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer prevention, and metabolic diseases. These include a 45% reduction in prostate cancer cell growth, lower blood pressure and control of diabetes. Keep in mind, 1000’s of students who have attended Creative Health Institute over years have been able to duplicate and even exceed the results shown in all of the aforementioned studies.
OTHER LARGE STUDIES
Harvard’s Pooling Project of Prospective Studies of Nutrition and Canceroffers a meta-analysis of over 28 large-scale nutritional studies. This includes a Harvard Study of 50,000 health professionals It showed that men who ate meat as their main dish 5 or more times a week tended to have 4X the risk of colon cancer. Heavy meat eaters were 2X as prone to have prostate cancer. Over a hundred studies have been published based on this Harvard study of male health professionals.
The Nurses Health Study
Started in 1976 and expanded in 1986, this study surveyed the nutritional status of 238,000. Women consuming over 95 gm protein/day had a 22% increased risk of forearm fracture compared with women consuming less than 68 gm/day. The increased risk of osteoporotic fractures was seen for animal protein but not for vegetable protein.
The Framingham Study
(All Diets) )The Framingham study began in 1948, recruited 5209 men and women between the ages of 30 and 62 years of age who had not yet developed overt cardiovascular disease or suffered a heart attack or stroke. Satellite studies have since recruited more than twice as many. Among the findings of risk factors were high HDL cholesterol, inactivity, smoking, and obesity. Also low LDL cholesterol levels indicated decreased risk. Other factors, like calcium deposits, thickening and hardening of the arteries also need to be considered for life-time risk past age 50.
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Robert Morgan, Naturopath 