Positive Health Online

I have long been discovering that much that I had once been taught about science or health is incorrect, or that the information was presented with a biased agenda.

This process started for me in the mid-1980s when I moved from being a molecular biology researcher to a nutrition and health researcher. I will never forget being interviewed on radio regarding my book about organic germanium, with an opposing 'expert' who stated that there was no research behind the published data regarding organic germanium's immune enhancing properties. This despite the more than 100 references to the published scientific literature, of which this 'expert' had obviously no knowledge.

Similar experiences have followed during the past 20 years, particularly regarding Vitamin C, again assertions from a variety of 'experts' that there is no research regarding Vitamin C's clinical efficacy, when in fact Vitamin C is one of the most highly researched nutrient in the literature. Twice Nobel laureate Dr Linus Pauliing still suffers the slings of outrageous criticism, even after his death, due to his fierce defence of vitamin C as an immune enhancer.

The same pertains to the many established links between Nutrition and Cancer; many thousands of research papers have been published during the past twenty years in the field of Diet, Nutrition and Cancer. It was and remains this dissonance between the published scientific literature and the general recognized view of the medical establishment (that nutrition may play a role in cancer prevention, but not in cancer treatment) which originally led to the founding of Positive Health and which has been at the its core for the past 13 years of publication.

I have described these stark dichotomous research views as like being in a parallel universe, and, along with very good company, have valiantly attempted to ascribe reasons for these vastly different views. Over the years, Positive Health has published book reviews by leading researchers who have challenged, with impeccable and unimpeachable accuracy and eloquence, the prevailing view about cherished medical myths. One of the most distinguished of these was The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov MD PhD (www.positivehealth.com/ books.asp?i=87). Dr Ravnskov had taken the time and effort to follow and dissect research from over 50 years, which demonstrated that the demon in heart disease was not necessarily dietary cholesterol. This is one of the cherished tenets of the medical and pharmaceutical profession who are at this very time attempting to broaden the prescription of cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins to healthy individuals.

The China Study by Dr T Colin Campbell PhD, reviewed in this issue by David Lorimer, (please see page 53) is another seminal book which communicates how a substantial body of published Nutrition research, which demonstrates the direct link between levels of animal-based protein and diseases of affluence, has either been ignored, misunderstood or misrepresented by the medical and research communities.

The China Study itself is based on a monumental survey initiated in the 1970s on death rates for 12 different kinds of cancer covering more than 2400 Chinese counties and 880 million (then 96%) of their citizens. Campbell and colleagues were able to follow this with a detailed study of the relationship between diet and disease, resulting in more than 8,000 statistically significant associations between lifestyle, diet and disease variables. Differences between diseases of affluence and diseases of poverty became very clear – he calls the former "diseases of nutritional extravagance". He found that death rates from coronary heart disease were 17 times higher among American men than rural Chinese and that the American death rate from breast cancer was five times higher than the rural Chinese rate. It also became clear that the average blood cholesterol level among rural Chinese was around 127mg/dL while the comparable figure in the US is 215mg/dL. Campbell concludes that "lower blood cholesterol levels are linked to lower rates of heart disease, cancer and other Western diseases, even at levels far below those considered safe in the West." He also found that "plant based foods are linked to lower blood cholesterol; animal based foods are linked to higher blood cholesterol. Animal based foods are linked to higher breast cancer rates; plant based foods are linked to lower rates. Fibre and antioxidants from plants are linked to a lower risk of cancers of the digestive tract."

Two authoritative features with substantial references to the published literature in this issue of Positive Health include Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Depression by Dr Alan C Logan ND FRSH (Cover Story – please see pages 24-29) and Oral Health – How to Reduce Risks of Periodontitis by Dr Nelson Wood DMD DSc MS.

Learning not to be fixed in our world views of knowledge can be an exceptionally health-enhancing attribute, which is more important than ever before, given the multitudes of agendas – financial, political or otherwise, driving the lobby groups of so many organizations. If we can learn to be discriminating and discerning about what we read, and attempt to extract the truth, we will be able to protect our health and that of our loved ones.