Another "study" financed by Big Food
Another "study" financed by Big Food
And what's up with my coronary arteries
“Vegans need Ultra-Processed Proteins for Heathy Diet, Study Says”
That’s the Newsweek headline that caught my attention late in the week. Naturally, I know this to be fully FALSE. I track my protein intake and know from experience I can get plenty from whole plant foods. But the words at the end, “Study Says” were the key part. What kind of study would dare to make such an easily disproven claim?
*FYI, links to sources of every claim I make in this article are included at the bottom.*
So I clicked through from the Newsweek article to the study itself, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, arguably the most respected medical journal in the world. So I went there, and I read it. And then I looked at the “conflict of interest” disclosures.
The study was funded by the following: Alzchem, Dupont, Natural Alternatives International, JBS, and Not Company. So then I took a closer look at each of those companies.
Alzchem: Here’s what Alzchem says about its new product, Creapure® on its website. “The new generation of plant-based meat substitutes contains Creapure®”
Dupont: Here’s a headline from Greenpoint. “DuPont to make synthetic salmon from algae.”
Natural Alternatives International: This company makes supplements and supplement-enhanced juices. Claims it can “build more muscle faster” on their website.
Not Company: is “Latin America’s leading contender in the plant-based meat and dairy substitute market” according to TechCrunch
JBS: On its website, JBS boasts that it’s the #1 producer of beef, #2 producer of chicken, #2 producer of pork in the US.
And it gets worse. The lead scientist in the study accepted “honorariums” (cash) for speaking at lectures for and sitting on the advisory board of Alzchem.
Think about that for a minute…
We have here, companies who make fake meat funding a study that says vegans can’t get enough protein without fake meat, while paying the lead scientist. We have companies who make supplements joining in to help convince vegans we can’t enough protein without their products, either. And we have one of the world’s largest animal slaughter companies paying to convince us the vegan diet lacks protein, that we need frankenfoods to balance it out, and wouldn’t “real” meat make more sense?
How is any of that objective? And dare we ask how much Alzchem is paid the lead scientist? What is his “honorarium” as a member of their advisory board and speaker at their functions? Anyone? Bueller?
So a layperson like you or I can look at this and see that’s it doesn’t look like trustworthy or even very believable information. It looks like bought and paid for propaganda. It’s certainly not objective information. It’s very likely skewed to favor the people paying the scientists rather than the science. It’s human nature. One does not bite the hand that feeds them.
The biggest question in my mind is why the JAMA would publish it.
And also, how dare they?
I’m not saying you can’t trust science
I am saying you can’t always trust scientists. They are as corruptible as any other human. Greed is a powerful force.
What I’m also saying is that Big Food companies are always evil, no matter whether they make meat and dairy or meat and dairy alternatives. They have one goal, and it’s not our health. It’s profit.
How do we know what to believe, then? Well, first of all, we must educate ourselves, and take everything with a grain of salt. (Not real salt. We don’t want the sodium.)
I’ve read enough and lived this lifestyle long enough to have recognized the headline as provably false the minute I saw it. My investigation wasn’t to find out the truth. I already knew the truth. All plants have protein. All plants have all the essential amino acids (to make proteins) in varying amounts. We only need 10% of our total calories to come from protein. A potato has that much. Beans, lentils, quinoa, brown rice are loaded with proteins.
I knew the truth. My investigation was to search for possible motives for the obvious falsehood, and I found one right there in plain sight in the study’s disclaimers. They don’t even try to hide it.
As to studies, I often look for meta-analysis type studies. These are studies of other studies, where scientists look at multiple previous studies on the same topic to get a wider view of the results of them all combined. This gives us a kind of consensus. I mean, they can’t all be corrupt. Good people still outnumber bad, IMO.
I also look for studies by people I trust. The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine participates in a lot of high-quality studies on lifestyle and its impact on disease, for example, and most of those are linked from their site. So does Dr. Dean Ornish, who just completed a groundbreaking study on diet and lifestyle links to Alzheimer’s. So does T. Colin Cambell Ph.D. Read his latest book, The Future of Nutrition. So does Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. Read his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.
But beyond that, live the lifestyle. Consume the reliable media. The Plant Strong Podcast is also an excellent resource.
Measure your own results. Get frequent checkups. Get bloodwork done as frequently as your provider can find an excuse to make your insurer pay for it. Watch your levels. Keep an eye on your coronary arteries. And speaking of coronary arteries…
What’s up with my coronary arteries?
Turns out I’ve been wrong about some things — mainly the “I don’t have to be that strict because I don’t have heart disease.”
Oops.
A recent chest scan for an unrelated issue (that is fine) showed increased calcification of my coronary arteries from the previous scan. That’s coronary artery disease. And that’s with what I have considered minimal “cheating” with plant-based foods that are not whole, (the very foods the above study says we can’t live without) and a more sedentary shift over the past 6-10 months due to life in general. (I sit on my ass for a living. But I’m composing this post from the treadmill!)
I’ll have more on that later. I have appointments and tests ahead, so after a couple more weeks we can discuss it further. I’m not dying, but calcification is the hard stuff you can’t undo. You can remove the plaque with enough green leafies, but not once it hardens. (I cried for an entire day over this. Now I’m back and ready to do the work.)
I was shocked, because honestly, I am pretty good and careful about my diet, but things got busy over the spring & summer. I had classes, then had to write a novel over summer break and then more classes. Meanwhile hubs’ job picked up big time, and since I’m the one working from home, I’m the one doing most of the cooking and once or twice a week I prioritize other things, run out of time, and go for the shortcut meal.
But there’s nothing more important than the food, when it comes down to it. No work, no deadline, no paycheck is worth skimping on the food. Here’s what I’m coming to understand even more than I did before.
It takes way LESS of the bad stuff than we think to do us harm.
It takes way MORE of the good stuff than we think to reverse it.
Even for me.
The more whole food plant foods in our diet, the better. 100% is the goal.
95% means that 5% of what we eat could be causing our bodies irreversible harm.
To my mind, doing irreversible harm 0% of the time is the smarter way to go, even when it’s hard. Life is worth it.
And exercise must be a bigger part of the equation than we think. No matter how important you currently exercise is to your health, it’s more. It’s far more.
So eat well. Eat foods while being aware of what they are going to our bodies once they enter our mouths. Think of the vitamins and minerals, the antioxidants, the proteins, and super healthful carbs and fats, the nitric oxide bubbles bursting into our bloodstreams, expanding our arteries and healing our damaged epithelial cells. Eat for thriving health.
And enjoy!
Sources
Dupont: https://www.greenprophet.com/2022/04/dupont-salmon-lab/
Natural Alternatives Int’l: https://www.nai-online.com/carnosyn-brands/
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