Sarah's Shorts - The China Study, Chapter Two

Thank you, sweet little monkey, for the inspiration to the title Sarah's Shorts. While it could be mistaken as pervertish, I think it adequately explains my version of Cliff's Notes.

Chapter Two touches the importance of protein in our society and the beginning of T. Colin Campbell's journey into his studies concerning how animal protein affects our bodies. He also explains the meanings of some common scientific terms, for which I, the science n00b, am eternally grateful.

Chapter Two

Protein, at its root, literally means 'of prime importance.' Since discovered in 1839, protein has taken nutritional science's center stage. The families that had the most money at the most meat, effectively eating the most protein. According to the public perception, protein equaled meat which equaled wealth. As I was writing this, I pondered to myself, "Self. I wonder where the phrase 'bringing home the bacon' started? Could it have something to do with this bias, Self?"

Well..

European peasants c. 1500's could only sometimes obtain or afford pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man 'could bring home the bacon.' They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat.”

Ha!

Voit, one of the first scientists to study protein, found that man only needed approximately 45g a day to live healthily, but recommended 118 grams a day. After all, isn't bigger better? You can't have too much of a good thing, right? (Wrong.) Rubner, on of Voit's students, stated, "a large protein allowance is the right of civilized man." This assertion continues, evidenced as I was asked if my husband still felt like a man after taking me to an all raw meal for our anniversary.

Another of Voit's students, Atwater, became the first director of the USDA and made an official recommendation of 125g of protein per day for a healthy American individual. And, of course, that protein simply had to come from meat. Yikes!

The Nitty Gritties of Protein

Fats, carbohydrates, and protein are macronutrients, meaning the make up most of the weight of the food we ate. Vitamins and nutrients are micronutrients, though are no less important despite their humble offering to the final heft of our food. Protein is extremely vital to the body; it functions as enzymes, hormones, structural tissues, and transport molecules. Proteins are made up of 15-20 amino acids, but eight of them are considered essential to make tissue proteins. If one of the essential amino acids is missing, protein synthesis is slowed or stopped until it becomes available to the body through digestion.

Protein quality is thought to mean that, upon digestion, the substance has the right kinds and amounts of amino acids needed to efficiently synthesize tissue proteins. Guess what is considered the highest 'quality' of protein replacement? Human flesh.

Uh, pass.

Animal proteins, therefore, are considered next highest in quality. Plant foods are considered 'low' quality because they may be lacking in one or more essential amino acids. However, as a group, they do contain everything our bodies need for protein synthesis.

In a perfect world, the highest quality of replacement protein would promote the best quality of health, but it does not. This misleading language confuses Americans. It is a common misconception that plants do not contain protein or one most create carefully matched meals to take in the appropriate amino acids. Not so, my loves. Not so. Plant food does indeed contain protein and the body allows for a slow and steady synthesis for our protein needs.

The Protein Gap

Studies upon studies, meetings upon meetings, and councils upon councils have discussed what-oh-what we should do about the protein gap. These well-meaning individuals have set out to combat hunger and malnutrition. A great majority of these individuals have focused on animal protein, however. The UN declared, "..by and large, the lack of protein is without question the most serious qualitative deficiency in the nutrition of developing countries. The great mass of the population of these countries subsists mainly on food derived from plants deficient in protein, which results in poor health and low productivity per man."

Yes, plants do not contain all the replacement amino acids needed to be strong and healthy. However, it is important to point out that in these countries, variety of plant food suffers. Instead of looking at ways to increase plant variety, many of our top scientists and schools worked diligently to provide the suffering masses with animal protein.

After obtain his graduate degree, this is where T. Colin Campbell began his work. Employed by Virginia Tech and with the help of many colleagues, he set out to the Phillipines to empower the mothers of malnourished children by forming 'mothercrafts,' self-help nutritional educational centers. It was agreed that the most appropriate form of protein would be found in peanuts, but that presented a bigger problem: peanuts are often contaminated with a fungus-produced toxin called aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is shown to promote liver cancer, and it known as the most potent chemical carcinogen ever discovered.

They set out on a two fold mission:

• To find out who was consuming aflatoxin
• How does aflatoxin affect the liver

In their studies, it was found that children were the most affected. However, the children that were affected were from the best-fed families, which ate a mostly western diet including large amounts of animal protein.

This whole time, it was assumed that the high cancer rate was due to the low intake of animal protein, but the children that consumed the most animal protein had the highest cancer rates!

Around the same time as Campbell made this startling discovery, an Indian research team published equally startling results. Two groups of rats were given equal levels of aflatoxin; one group was given a diet consisting of 5% animal protein, the other a diet consisting of 20% animal protein. In 30 days, the group eating the highest level of animal protein had liver cancer or its precursor lesions. The group eating the smallest amount of animal protein had no liver cancer and no precursor lesions.

The wheels in T. Colin Campbell's head began to turn.