A cursory review of this thread convinces me that I am no expert on the subject of aging and longevity. Still, I have been doing a lot of reading lately on the subject. I started with Valter Longo's book
The Longevity Diet. Longo writes approvingly of the work of Dr. Dean Ornish, who in turn has this to say about a book entitled
The China Study: "This is one of the most impressive books about nutrition ever written - reading it may save your life."
A thread that runs through all of the writings of these experts is the importance of shifting our eating habits to being more of a whole-food, plant-based (WFPB) diet. This is explicitly put forward in
The China Study. Many years ago, Chou En Lai, second in command behind Mao Ze Dung in China, while he was dying of cancer pushed forward a massive epidemiological study of China. Later, T. Colin Campbell collaborated with Chinese experts to review and refine the results of this study.
The China Study is one result of that effort. It also includes review of a lot of scientific studies conducted in the West that corroborate the findings of their review.
Bottom line is that a WFPB can be helpful in preventing a large number of diseases that are especially prevalent in the West. This includes diabetes, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disorders, etc. It can even help reverse the negative effects of such diseases. Resistance to adaptation of such a dramatically revised diet comes from vested interests that want us to keep consuming meat and dairy products in large quantities. Confusing the issue further are a lot of fad diets that have been put forward that lack a sound scientific validation. There is also a very deep cultural resistance to adopting the diets of other cultures. Anything that requires a change in living habits seems to engender such resistance. Just look at the problems encountered in persuading people to wear masks during a pandemic. Certainly, diet should be a matter of choice, but such choice should be well informed free of myth and distorting misinformation.
This thread also puts forward a lot that further complicates the issue. Miracle cures might seem to render use of a WFPB diet as obsolete. Yet, most of these cures remain untested and unproven. The positive effects of a WFPB are well documented and explained in
The China Study and other studies. Scientists are even beginning to understand why this is the case.
To learn more, here is a link regarding
The Longevity Diet:
https://www.amazon.com/Longevity-Diet-D ... 0525534075 and here is a link concerning
The China Study:
:https://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Com ... 932100660
Don't mourn, organize.
-Joe Hill