Veganist: Lose Weight, Get Healthy, Change the World by Kathy Freston

not to say that anyone is to blame for “creating their cancer,” but rather that we have a powerful tool available to us to prevent further damage and possibly to reverse the damage already in motion.]
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    The nutrients from animal-based foods, especially the protein, promote the development of the cancer, whereas the nutrients from plant-based foods, especially the antioxidants, reverse the promotion stage.
    —T. Colin Campbell
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    Consuming plant-based foods offers the best hope of avoiding cancer, perhaps even reversing cancer once it is diagnosed. Believing that cancer is attributed to genes is a fatalistic idea, but believing that cancer can be controlled by nutrition is a far more hopeful one.
     
    KF: You said that initially something attacks the genes—chemicals or other agents. Like what?
    TCC: Cancer, like every other biological event—good or bad—begins with genes. In the case of cancer, gene[s] that give rise to cancer either may be present when we are born or, during our lifetimes, normal genes may be converted into cancer genes by certain highly reactive chemicals (i.e., carcinogens).
    Consider “cancer genes” as seeds that grow into tumor masses only if they are “fed.” The “feeding” comes from wrongful nutrition. It’s like growing a lawn. We plant seeds, but they don’t grow into grass (or weeds) unless they are provided water, sunlight, and nutrients. So it is with cancer. In reality, we are planting seeds all throughout our lifetime, not only for cancer but also for other events as well. But this mostly does not matter unless we “nourish” their growth.
    The chemicals that create these cancer genes are called carcinogens. Most carcinogens of years past have been those that attack normal genes to create cancer genes. These are initiating carcinogens, or initiators. But more recently, carcinogens also may be those that promote cancer growth. They are promoting carcinogens, or promoters.
    Our work showed that casein, an animal protein widely used in research studies, is the most relevant cancer promoter ever used in a laboratory. This striking research observation was then used to investigate whether it was consistent with practical diets, and we found, both biochemically and epidemiologically, that all diets rich in animal foods and low in whole plant-based foods had the same effect, thus indicating all animal protein, not just casein.
    The most important point to consider is that we cannot do much about preventing initiation, but we can do a lot about preventing promotion.
     
    KF: What exactly is so bad about animal protein?
    TCC: I wouldn’t say “exactly,” because it suggests something very specific. Rather, animal protein causes a broad spectrum of adverse effects.
    Among other fundamental effects, it makes the body more acidic, alters the mix of hormones, and modifies important enzyme activities, each of which can cause a broad array of more specific effects. One of these effects is its ability to promote cancer growth (by operating on key enzyme systems, by increasing hormone growth factors, and by modifying the tissue acidity). Another is its ability to increase blood cholesterol (by modifying enzyme activities) and to enhance atherogenesis, which is the early stage of cardiovascular disease.
     
    KF: Okay, so I am clear that it’s wise to avoid casein, which is intrinsic in dairy (milk and cheese), but how is other animal protein, such as chicken, steak, or pork, implicated in the cause and growth of cancer?
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    Casein, which is a protein in dairy products, is the most relevant cancer promoter ever discovered.
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    TCC: I would first say that casein is not just “intrinsic” but is the main protein of cow milk, representing about 87 percent of the milk protein.
    The biochemical systems that underlie the adverse effects of casein are also common to other animal-based proteins. Also, the amino acid composition of casein, which is the characteristic primarily