China data expanded

[Guest guest]

The long-term health benefits to Chinese and other Asian people who have

traditionally existed on a primarily

plant-based diet might be lost as more people in Asia switch to a Western-style

diet that is rich in animal-based foods.

That conclusion is being drawn by some scientists after reviewing results from

the latest survey of diets, lifestyles,

and disease mortality among Chinese populations - this one comparing current

dietary habits in Taiwan and mainland

China - and measuring them against a time when fewer meat and dairy products

were available in rural China.

http://www.lef.org/news/nutrition/2001/08/03/eng-newsrx/eng-newsrx_093017_66_061\

7036861368.html

http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/projects/cecology1989/

Both surveys afford an opportunity to investigate the effect of dietary change

from the typical plant-based diet of

rural China to a Western-style diet that includes more animal-based foods, as

consumed in urban China and in Taiwan.

Statistically significant correlations from the China studies:

* Even small increases in the consumption of animal-based foods was associated

with increased disease risk.

* Plasma cholesterol in the 90-170 milligrams per deciliter range is positively

associated with most cancer mortality

rates.

* Plasma cholesterol is positively associated with animal protein intake and

inversely associated with plant protein

intake.

* Breast cancer is associated with dietary fat (which is associated with animal

protein intake) and inversely with age

at menarche (women who reach puberty at younger ages have a greater risk of

breast cancer).

* For those at risk for liver cancer (for example, because of chronic infection

with hepatitis B virus) increasing

intakes of animal-based foods and/or increasing concentrations of plasma

cholesterol are associated with a higher

disease risk.

* Cardiovascular diseases are associated with lower intakes of green vegetables

and higher concentrations of apo-B (a

form of low-density lipoprotein blood cholesterol), which is associated with

increasing intakes of animal protein and

decreasing intakes of plant protein.

* Colorectal cancers are consistently inversely associated with intakes of 14

different dietary fiber fractions

(although only one is statistically significant).

* Stomach cancer is inversely associated with green vegetable intake and plasma

concentrations of beta-carotene and

vitamin C obtained only from plant-based foods.

* Western-type diseases, in the aggregate, are highly significantly correlated

with increasing concentrations of plasma

cholesterol, which are associated in turn with increasing intakes of

animal-based foods.

Analyses of data from the China studies by his collaborators and others,

told the epidemiology symposium, is

leading to policy recommendations. He mentioned three:

* The greater the variety of plant-based foods in the diet, the greater the

benefit. Variety insures broader coverage of

known and unknown nutrient needs.

* Provided there is plant food variety, quality, and quantity, a healthful and

nutritionally complete diet can be

attained without animal-based food.

* The closer the food is to its native state - with minimal heating, salting,

and processing - the greater will be the

benefit.

========================

Good Health & Long Life,

Greg ,

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gowatson

gowatson@...

[Guest guest]

Hi Greg,

Don't disagree with results but, I don't see how I'd get plasma

cholesterol below 90. Am i reading that right?

Regards.

>

> * Plasma cholesterol in the 90-170 milligrams per deciliter range

is positively associated with most cancer mortality

> rates.

>

>

> ========================

> Good Health & Long Life,

> Greg ,

> http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gowatson

> gowatson@a...