This incredibly insightful book details the findings of “The China Study”, the most comprehensive study of diet, lifestyle and disease ever done with humans in the history of biomedical research. It was a extremely provocative book that has profoundly impacted how I view health & nutrition. While it’s clear the author advocates for a vegan diet, the books was written to inform, not preach.

My notes are really light because massive book can be boiled down to one key concept – eat a whole-food plant based diet. This diet is very different than the “junk food” vegetarian diet that so many vegetarians embrace (this is why you still see so many overweight vegetarians). The rest of the book is supporting evidence and extremely interesting commentary and observations on the authors 40+ years as a scientific researcher and healthcare industry insider .

It was an especially interesting read because of the current healthcare reform debate in the U.S. (which I’ve consciously decided to not follow). I realize that a lot of people will dismiss the book and its findings as too radical. This is extremely unfortunate as I think readers would be shocked and moved to action if read with an open mind. I know I was.

After reading this book, I plan to complete a 30 day vegan trial. Look for more on that in the near future.

Notes

A Failing System-  from three perspectives-1) prevalence, 2) medical care efficacy and 3) economics.

Two thirds of Americans are overweight, and over 15 million Americans have diabetes”.

Our health care system costs too much, it excludes far too many people and it does not promote health and prevent disease.

Americans are confused because how health information is generated and communicated and who controls such activities (it’s not who you might think).

The distinctions between government, industry, science and medicine have become blurred. The distinctions between making a profit and promoting health have become blurred. The problems with the system do not come in the form of Hollywood-style corruption. The problems are much more subtle, and yet much more dangerous.

Challenging Assumptions – The Groundbreaking Findings

Some assumptions are so integrated into our life that we take them for granted. Be prepared to have them shattered. A few of the more groundbreaking findings include:

1.people who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease
2.Protein promotes cancer. What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at high levels
of intake? The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy.

A Toxic Food Environment
No doubt about it, we live in a toxic food environment.

Illuminating the landscape and the realities of diet and health so clearly, so fully, that you need never again fall prey to those who profit from keeping you misinformed, confused and obediently eating the foods they sell.

Nothing in medicine is without risks and one major cause of extreeme costs was the overuse of medicine.

“Nearly thirty per cent of Medicar’s costs could be saved without negatively affecting health outcomes if spending in high and medium costs areas could be reduced to the level in low cost areas” – Peter Orszat, the President Obama budget director.

Physician-owned hospitals can give physicians a temptation to overorder.

Healthcare as a means of improving health vs healthcare as a revenue stream to be maxamized for profit.

As they point out less often, we also pay them as individuals, rather than as members of a team working together for their patients. Both practices have made for serious problems.

On the totality of care: “Providing health care is like building a house. The task requires experts, expensive equipment and materials, and a huge amount of coördination. Imagine that, instead of paying a contractor to pull a team together and keep them on track, you paid an electrician for every outlet he recommends, a plumber for every faucet, and a carpenter for every cabinet. Would you be surprised if you got a house with a thousand outlets, faucets, and cabinets, at three times the cost you expected, and the whole thing fell apart a couple of years later? Getting the country’s best electrician on the job (he trained at Harvard, somebody tells you) isn’t going to solve this problem. Nor will changing the person who writes him the check.”