Dr. Campbell's credentials on the subject of nutrition may be matched but cannot be surpassed by anyone in the world. Combined with his own research and supporting references, which take 36 pages, plus sound logic, his admonition for a whole foods, plant-based diet is overwhelmingly persuasive. No need to repeat other readers' laudatory comments.
There are a few points that I wish could be further addressed. The suggestion that we not consume dairy food is based on the unhealthful effect of casein, the primary protein in milk. Numerous research articles have been published since he wrote this book 20 years ago. I checked most references on the Wikipedia page for "casein" related to potential health issues. Those that have found no health risks are now marked with disclaimers as a standard in scientific publication, typically claiming to have no connection with a commercial entity. That used to be a serious problem when Dr. Campbell wrote the book (see the part "Why haven't you heard this before?"). I believe flagrant violation of ethical rules has died down in the past few decades. In short, more research is needed to confirm or disprove the harm done by casein, or dairy foods in general.
Secondly, an unconditional attack on reductionism is not warranted. Science progresses by synthesis for sure, but more by analysis and reduction. Whole food is healthy and we all should embrace it. But it doesn't mean we should stop pursuing the science of finding the reason why any food, whole or not, is good or bad. Just because we can't narrow down to a few manageable ingredients out of a thousand in today's research doesn't mean we should give up in that direction for good, especially considering that food science may benefit from AI just as other branches of biological and medical sciences (notably cancer research) do. Reductionism is a fundamental principle in modern science, including nutrition studies.
Having said that, personally, I heed Dr. Campbell's advice and have adjusted my diet accordingly. I've long had in my mind a personal healthfulness rank of animal food, i.e. fish > chicken > pork > lamb ≈ beef. Now I completely avoid beef and lamb, greatly reduce intake of pork, and cut down on chicken. But I still eat fish once in a while, because, well, I'm also a fan of Dr. Andrew Weil, another trustworthy health advocate, and because fish is a big part of Mediterranean and Japanese cuisine. I have more or less changed back to regular yogurt from Greek yogurt, which contains more casein, even though I have some doubt about the health issues on casein as I said. Needless to say, I have significantly increased intake of various vegetables and further diversified vegetables and fruits. In case you missed one point while reading the book: Dr. Campbell has provided us a simple solution to the dilemma that you like to eat a lot of tasty food but don't like to gain weight by eating a lot, and the solution is to eat plant-based food so you can eat it to your heart's content and still maintain your weight. For this as well I do appreciate his wisdom.
Trivia: Some readers complain about the title of the book, because the China Study is only part of the book. According to Dr. Junshi Chen, the counterpart on the China side of this study, the book title was given by the publisher, so it's not that Dr. Campbell is a fan of clickbait. Also, there's one person in the book who is undervalued. Dr. Gopalan and his team published an important paper on aflatoxin in a little known journal in 1968. While Dr. Campbell acknowledges the significance of this research, it's worth pointing out that Coluthur Gopalan (1918-2019) is hailed as the Father of Indian Nutrition Science.
(originally published on Goodreads)
