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About The China Study

About The China Study

The China Study measured 367 diet, lifestyle, and disease related variables by studying 6500 adults in 65 different counties around China, representing 2,500 counties across rural China and Taiwan. Researchers asked the Chinese subjects to fill out dietary questionnaires, took blood and urine samples, measured household food intakes and analyzed food from the marketplace. When all was said and done, the variables were compared against each other and the scientists had generated more than 8000 statistically significant associations.

The China Study is Unique:

  • The range of cancer incidence in rural China varies enormously from county to county. One county might have 100 times as many cases of a certain cancer, per 100,000 citizens, than another county.
  • The typical dietary intake in rural China was mostly composed of plant foods. Very few large studies have ever been conducted in this range of plant-based diets, and the China study did it with exceptional comprehensiveness. To show just how dramatically different the diet is in rural China compared to the diet typically eaten in America, take a look at the following table:

The Chinese subjects consumed far less fat, less total protein, and far less animal protein. On the other hand, they consumed far more iron, more fiber, and more calories overall (per kg of body weight).

The China Study is High-Quality:
Unlike most diet and health human studies, which merely use dietary questionnaires, which are known to be less than perfect, the China Study measured diet and lifestyle variables in a variety of ways. Urine and blood was collected and analyzed, food intake was measured over a three-day period by observers in the homes of subjects, food was collected in the marketplace for analysis, AND dietary questionnaires were used.
Subjects were limited to those adults between the ages of 35-64. The disease statistics for this group of people are far more reliable than the disease statistics for the elderly.

The populations under investigation were stable. Most adults grew up in the same county they lived, and ate the same locally-grown food that was measured at the time of the study. This was crucial because the diet and lifestyle factors that contributed years ago to the genesis of disease were the same diet and lifestyle factors that were being measured during the survey.

The China Study is Comprehensive:

The following types of variables were measured:

  • Disease mortality rates
  • Nutrition, viral, and hormonal indicators in the blood
  • Biochemical factors in the urine
  • Specific food intakes
  • Intakes of non-nutrient contaminants (pesticides, heavy metals)
  • Geographic and climactic Factors

All of these features, and others, make the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Study a one of a kind investigation, a research story with lessons for us all. Several of the more provocative findings are mentioned in this report. In summing up the impact of this landmark project, the Saturday Evening Post wrote, ?This landmark investigation should shake up medical and nutrition researchers everywhere.?