melaniebarket wrote:My friends and clients have often asked me this question. I was wondering if you might point me in the right direction.
In The China Study and other studies how do we know if the outcome is/was from the switch away from animal products and not the reduction of refined carbs that made/make the difference?
Does this question make sense?
Thanks, Melanie
1) Why does it have to be one or the other? Maybe it is both.
2) If you look at caloric contributions, we get many more calories from refined carbs then we do from animal products.
3) Refined carbs often come in the form of junk foods loaded with unhealthy fats (hydrogenated, tropical, etc), added sugars and added salt, which must be considered when pointing the finger at refined carbs.
4) A whole food plant based diet, that is high in added salt, added sugars or added plant fats is not going to be healthy. So, it is more than either/or.
5) Total dietary patterns matter much more than any one (or two) foods or types of foods.
6) The China Study is an ecological study and only shows casual relationships amongst groups of people (not individuals). It is not the best example of a study to answer this question.
To me, this question might make sense if one was a huge problem and the other a little problem (ie, total sugar vs type of sugar) but they are both huge problems. So, the answer is to fix all that is wrong with the diet and the standard American diet, has a lot that is very wrong with it.
In Health
Jeff