Sofia Pineda Ochoa | Animal Protein and Cancer @endgame2050 | Uploaded March 2015 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
This video chapter summarizes the medical literature addressing the links between animal protein consumption and increased cancer risk.
The first part of the transcript is included below for reference, and the full transcript (which is too long to have here) is available on our website with sources and credits at this link: meatyourfuture.com/2015/03/chapter-2
[The following transcript is an approximation of the audio in video. To hear the audio and see the accompanying visuals, please play the video.]
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
In the previous chapter of our health section, we discussed the basics of protein and diet. In this chapter, we’ll be discussing the relationship between animal protein and cancer.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell, from Cornell University, one of the most prominent figures of nutritional biochemistry, noted that “an elevated intake of protein (particularly animal protein) is a risk factor for certain cancers” and that it “promotes carcinogenesis.”
In this particular study, researchers from Berkeley and Cornell, including Dr. Campbell, delivered a liver carcinogen to rats and then fed those rats different amounts of animal protein. One group of the rats was fed a high protein diet containing 22% animal protein. The other group was fed a diet with only 6% protein. Again, all of the rats were first given the same liver carcinogen. It was observed, at 100 weeks, that most of the lower protein fed rats were still alive and “were healthier and thriftier in appearance”, whereas many of the higher protein fed rats were “already dead or were severely burdened with tumors”. The group with the highest animal protein intake — 22% — developed the highest incidents of tumors (90% developed tumors), had the largest overall tumor mass and had three times higher prevalence of tumor metastases as compared to the group fed the lowest animal protein diet.
In another experiment, rats were similarly administered a carcinogen and then fed differing levels of animal protein. Specifically, the rats were given a liver carcinogen called aflatoxin, then half were fed a diet containing 20% animal protein. As shown on the upper curve of this graph, that group exhibited the expected increased cancer development corresponding with the higher doses of the carcinogen they received. This is not surprising. The more carcinogen they were given, the more cancer they developed. But, look what happened to the other half of the rats who were instead fed a lower protein diet after being given the carcinogen. Cancer development did not increase for these rats, as would have been expected with the increasing doses of the carcinogen they received. Decreasing the amount of animal protein in their diet almost made the cancer producing substance stop having its cancer producing effect. As the authors of the study put it, “These data rather convincingly show that the growth and development of preneoplastic foci” (…the precursor clusters of cancer cells that grow into tumors…) “primarily occur in response to the level of dietary casein[,]” providing evidence that, “nutrient intake…is more rate limiting towards the development of these preneoplastic lesions than is the carcinogen dose.” In other words, this study indicated that some cancer development may be controlled more by dietary protein levels than by exposure to the underlying carcinogen.
These two studies that we just reviewed examined animal protein. But what about plant protein? Would it have the same effect on cancer development that animal protein has? The answer is, “No” it does not. When rats under the same conditions were similarly dosed with the same liver carcinogen (aflatoxin), but then fed diets with plant protein instead of animal protein, they did not exhibit the same increased cancer development — even when they were given diets with high levels of plant protein after being dosed with the carcinogen. The study found that the rats fed a diet of 20% plant protein after being dosed with the carcinogen exhibited far less cancer development than rats fed diets with 20% animal protein. Again, all of the rats were dosed with the same liver carcinogen, but the rats fed a high animal protein diet exhibited the high levels of cancer development, while the rats fed a high plant protein diet did not. The conclusion of this and similar studies is that large amounts of animal protein greatly enhance tumor growth, while large amounts of plant protein do the opposite.
[Remainder of transcript, along with sources and credits, available here: meatyourfuture.com/2015/03/chapter-2/]
This video chapter summarizes the medical literature addressing the links between animal protein consumption and increased cancer risk.
The first part of the transcript is included below for reference, and the full transcript (which is too long to have here) is available on our website with sources and credits at this link: meatyourfuture.com/2015/03/chapter-2
[The following transcript is an approximation of the audio in video. To hear the audio and see the accompanying visuals, please play the video.]
PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT:
In the previous chapter of our health section, we discussed the basics of protein and diet. In this chapter, we’ll be discussing the relationship between animal protein and cancer.
Dr. T. Colin Campbell, from Cornell University, one of the most prominent figures of nutritional biochemistry, noted that “an elevated intake of protein (particularly animal protein) is a risk factor for certain cancers” and that it “promotes carcinogenesis.”
In this particular study, researchers from Berkeley and Cornell, including Dr. Campbell, delivered a liver carcinogen to rats and then fed those rats different amounts of animal protein. One group of the rats was fed a high protein diet containing 22% animal protein. The other group was fed a diet with only 6% protein. Again, all of the rats were first given the same liver carcinogen. It was observed, at 100 weeks, that most of the lower protein fed rats were still alive and “were healthier and thriftier in appearance”, whereas many of the higher protein fed rats were “already dead or were severely burdened with tumors”. The group with the highest animal protein intake — 22% — developed the highest incidents of tumors (90% developed tumors), had the largest overall tumor mass and had three times higher prevalence of tumor metastases as compared to the group fed the lowest animal protein diet.
In another experiment, rats were similarly administered a carcinogen and then fed differing levels of animal protein. Specifically, the rats were given a liver carcinogen called aflatoxin, then half were fed a diet containing 20% animal protein. As shown on the upper curve of this graph, that group exhibited the expected increased cancer development corresponding with the higher doses of the carcinogen they received. This is not surprising. The more carcinogen they were given, the more cancer they developed. But, look what happened to the other half of the rats who were instead fed a lower protein diet after being given the carcinogen. Cancer development did not increase for these rats, as would have been expected with the increasing doses of the carcinogen they received. Decreasing the amount of animal protein in their diet almost made the cancer producing substance stop having its cancer producing effect. As the authors of the study put it, “These data rather convincingly show that the growth and development of preneoplastic foci” (…the precursor clusters of cancer cells that grow into tumors…) “primarily occur in response to the level of dietary casein[,]” providing evidence that, “nutrient intake…is more rate limiting towards the development of these preneoplastic lesions than is the carcinogen dose.” In other words, this study indicated that some cancer development may be controlled more by dietary protein levels than by exposure to the underlying carcinogen.
These two studies that we just reviewed examined animal protein. But what about plant protein? Would it have the same effect on cancer development that animal protein has? The answer is, “No” it does not. When rats under the same conditions were similarly dosed with the same liver carcinogen (aflatoxin), but then fed diets with plant protein instead of animal protein, they did not exhibit the same increased cancer development — even when they were given diets with high levels of plant protein after being dosed with the carcinogen. The study found that the rats fed a diet of 20% plant protein after being dosed with the carcinogen exhibited far less cancer development than rats fed diets with 20% animal protein. Again, all of the rats were dosed with the same liver carcinogen, but the rats fed a high animal protein diet exhibited the high levels of cancer development, while the rats fed a high plant protein diet did not. The conclusion of this and similar studies is that large amounts of animal protein greatly enhance tumor growth, while large amounts of plant protein do the opposite.
[Remainder of transcript, along with sources and credits, available here: meatyourfuture.com/2015/03/chapter-2/]
![ENDGAME 2050 | Full Documentary [Official]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/o8YomEOExkc/hqdefault.jpg "ENDGAME 2050 | Full Documentary [Official]
What will the future be like in the year 2050? A mere three decades away, most of us hope to still be around. So, what kind of future are we riding into? ENDGAME 2050 gives us a glimpse into that future, and it does not look good. Humanity has backed itself into an ecological endgame as we approach mid-century. Featuring musician Moby along with leading scientists, ENDGAME 2050 lays out the reality that, unless we act urgently now, we are hastening our own destruction.
Dr. Sofia Pineda Ochoa statement:
I was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico. I attended medical school there and, as a student, my dream was to help people as a doctor. I devoted a full decade of my life for medical training in that pursuit. Over time, however, my perspective changed on what I believe is most urgent.
I have come to understand that humans - myself included - are literally destroying the planet on which we live. Humanity is not only making the planet uninhabitable for human civilization, but also for countless other species with whom we share this world. I believe this is a crime like no other and feel a deep sense of concern, in particular, for all the other animals who are being decimated by human activities.
I made ENDGAME 2050 because I want people to wake up to the gravity of the situation before it’s too late.
I think many environmental films sugarcoat our reality and the extent of changes needed. They sometimes don’t want to make people too uncomfortable. But I think that does a grave disservice to the audience and the planet. I wanted this film to clearly lay out the dire situation in which we now find ourselves, and the responsibility for these global problems that we all bear. I think we owe it to the planet, other species, and ourselves to not bury our heads in the sand.
FEATURING: Moby, Boris Worm, Paul Ehrlich, Claire Kremen, Bill Ryerson, Malcolm Potts, Alicia Graves, David M. Romps, Daniel H. Miller, James Gerber, Philip Wollen, Kim A. Williams, Josh LaJaunie, T. Colin Campbell, Bandana Chawla, Munish Chawla, Michelle McMacken and Robert Ostfeld
WEBSITE: https://www.endgame2050.com/")
