I was so excited to hear from “NEWBIE” mommy that T. Colin Campbell appeared on Larry King Live last night. I spent some time today researching what was said regarding a WHOLE FOOD PLANT BASED DIET. Dr. Campbell stated many times that this type of diet is the best for overall health- this according to his research studies.
His opposition in the debate was Dr. Nancy Rodriguez, professional of nutritional sciences, University of Connecticut. Dr. Rodriguez was very adamant that human beings need animal protein to be healthy. She respectfully disagreed with Dr. Campbell in regards to people getting their essential amino acids solely from a plant-based diet. She said 3 times during the debate that “animal proteins like BEEF, EGGS and DAIRY are examples of quality protein“.
She must like BEEF, EGGS and DAIRY…right? Well- it’s more than that.
Her research program is funded by the following agencies:
The National Dairy Council
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
The Egg Nutrition Center
(http://www.cag.uconn.edu/nutsci/nutsci/hpg/nrr.html)
Other agencies that fund her research are: USDA, NIH and The American Heart Association
Just so we understand this correctly, the opposition to T. Colin Campbell…(whose research we know is based off of scientific, peer-reviewed studies funded by NIH- National Institutes of Health), is Dr. Nancy Rodriquez, a nutritionist whose research studies are partly funded by the animal INDUSTRY. These three industries benefit very highly from animal protein diets. Does Dr. Campbell benefit from people eating more vegetables? Doesn’t it make you curious when the only defenders of animal products are paid by that industry, and the defenders of Vegetarianism/Vegan or Whole Foods are the ones providing the peer-reviewed independent research?
This bias opposition shouldn’t surprise me…I just wish they would have stated her link with these industries during the show.
“A whole foods plant-based diet really has all the nutrients that we actually need at optimum levels of intake. We have learned that we can actually turn on cancer development by simply increasing the level of animal protein intake above the amount of protein that we really need. We can turn it off by simply taking it away.” T. Colin Campbell http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0910/12/lkl.01.html
Source: WFM Blog 16