Ross Walter Nutritionist and Naturopath health articles and blog

a one world diet attempts to save the planet and feed the world but will cause more nutrient deficiencies and disease

16/3/2021

In 2019, I wrote a series of articles to critique the EAT-Lancet Commission report, on a proposed new "one world diet" which alleged to save the environment as well as feeding the world. It sounds like a great plan, except it had some massive holes and wouldn't work to achieve either goal. You can read my earlier articles on this plan here:

http://www.rosswalter.com.au/art.../category/eat-lancet-diet

The initial report received wide media coverage and praise until some independent investigations (including from me) found the the proposed new diet was woefully deficient in multiple nutrients (include vitamin B12, vitamin D, vitamin K, sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, omega-3 fats, protein and amino acids, and more!) which was not sustainable for anyone to avoid health conditions.

The EAT-Lancet diet was in effect an optional-almost-no-meat, plant-based diet, but included manufactured or highly processed plant-based foods. The extremely low animal products would comprise 1/5 of an egg, 2/3 of a fish finger, 1/4 of a rasher of bacon, 1/16 of a burger pattie, or 1.5 chicken nuggets! And even then, animal-based foods are optional! No wonder it was so nutrient deficient! A subsequent investigation into the financial requirements of the EAT-Lancet diet concluded that approximately 1.5 BILLION of the world's 7 billion population today would not be able to afford the EAT-Lancet diet! (Hirvonen, Bai, Headey & Masters, 2019). The EAT-Lancet new world diet was a failure.

EAT-Lancet is an interesting collaboration of the EAT Foundation Group, founded by a billionnaire vegan couple, and The Lancet, a medical and scientific journal. The EAT-Lancet Commission and report was funded by The Wellcome Trust, a charity with pharmaceutical company roots (Eat Forum, 2019). Almost all of the report's authors and contributors were vegans - it was a highly biased group, and their report showed this. The group is attempting to meet the Umited Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement (for climate change) (EAT-Lancet Commission, 2021).

Recently, EAT-Lancet group is back with a new report, full of wonderful quotes and proposals, which deserve to be investigated again, so here are some key points:

• They make many unsubstantiated claims why the future of the planet is dire if we don't all make huge changes to the food supply system and improving nutrition for everyone. They claim that a diet rich in plant-based foods and fewer animal sources will improve health and environmental benefits. But offers no scientific references to back this claim.
• They make no differentiation between organic or grass-fed animal sources of food, versus factory-raised (and grain-fed and other garbage-fed) animals or processed meats, which can give significant differences in health.
• They forget that animals IMPROVE the soil with nutrients and bacteria, and even sequester more "carbon" into the soil (and meat) from the air than what they give out. They also forget that roaming animals do not need vast clearing of native forests, unlike mass mono-plant agriculture (ie, plant farming is more damaging to the environment, than animal farming).
• They make no differentiation between highly processed factory-produced plant sources of food (ie plant protein, soy, GMOs etc) and fresh, whole plant foods.
• They make no mention of the huge transportation issues of getting plant foods to people, or encouraging many people with gardens to grow their own foods!
• Their dietary recommendations are still based on useless calories, but it can be used as a good comparison, for example they recommend 811 calories PER DAY from grains (wow! An epidemic of Diabetes here we come), 78 calories from vegetables, 153 calories from dairy (and never mind the many cultures who traditionally haven't accessed or consumed dairy, and shouldn't), just 30 calories from beef, lamb and pork, 62 from chicken, 19 from eggs (remember just 1/5 of one!), a huge 284 calories from legumes (and again many can't tolerate these or the pea protein powder it mostly comes from), and a whopping 354 from unsaturated plant-based oils, and even 120 calories PER DAY from sugar.
• Their aim is to double the consumption of plant-based foods (except starchy vegetables which are to be limited, despite them being rich source of fibre...), limit red meat (highly nutrient-dense), and with eggs, chicken and dairy being optional.
• Reducing food waste is a goal too, and a good one as up to 45% of food produced is wasted or thrown out because of picky choosing by supermarkets and other food companies, limited resources for picking or processing, not being consumed quickly enough, or other causes. However reducing waste is a much later goal, when it should be done first...

The EAT-Lancet Commission haven't learnt from their earlier failure - no change has been done to their original plan to fix the issues with their "new world diet", to correct the obvious and highly damaging nutrient deficiencies that are present in it. On one hand the report says it is about trying to improve food quality and quantity to feed everyone in a sustainable way, but doesn't actually provide the nutrients it claims.

With all the other political and health agendas going on at the moment and for the past 12 months, this is another part of it. A committee of a few people cannot realistically come up with a plan that will address or fix the entire planet or improve the health of the entire population. These co-called experts did a terrible job of putting together the original report and the "study" of their proposed "one world diet" being the EAT-Lancet diet, with massive issues that were found by independent investigations, but still haven't been fixed 2 years later. I'm sure these experts won't personally be relying on 1/5 of an egg for their daily animal-based protein intake...

This is a plan for CAUSING chronic nutrient deficiencies and disease in the ENTIRE population, while pretending to save the planet and improve health. Pretty much the same as another agenda going on at the moment...

Yes the food supply needs improving in many ways, but this diet or plan is not the way it can be done.

Stay healthy!

#foodcanfixit #fktheEATLancetdiet #fkthenewworlddiet

References:

EAT Forum. (2019). How was the EAT-Lancet Commission funded? Retrieved 8th March 2021 from https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet.../eat-lancet-funding/

EAT-Lancet Commission. (2021). Healthy Diets From Sustainable Food Systems: Summary Report from the EAT-Lancet Commission. Retrieved 6th March 2021 from https://eatforum.org/content/uploads/2019/01/EAT-Lancet_Commission_Summary_Report.pdf

Hirvonen, K., Bai, Y., Headey, D., & Masters, W.A. (2019). Affordability of the EAT–Lancet reference diet: a global analysis. The Lancet, 8 (1), E59-E66. Doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30447-4

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review of the vegan documentary "The Game Changers"

11/11/2019

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(I have not included all the text of this review here, as it's very long! I have added the introduction, some initial points, and the conclusion. For the full review, click on the PDF file link at the bottom of this article, to open or save the file and read the entire content!)

Being a Clinical Nutritionist and Naturopath means seeing many clients with a variety of health conditions and helping them to improve their health by reducing symptoms and enabling healing. In almost every case, there needs to be some improvements to their food intake in order to get the successful results that the client is looking for.

To help clients achieve their goals requires a lot of knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of all body systems, biochemistry, metabolic pathways, pathophysiology of many diseases, and all the interactions between these. I am very evidence-based as a practitioner, in order to make good recommendations of nutrients and/or products and advice to help the client. There is also an amount of anecdotal evidence being in practice too, which is evidence from personal observations as a practitioner and from the patient. While this is not considered as "scientific evidence" it is still very important, as not everyone is the same or has the same experiences with the same treatments, which is often not reflected in scientific studies.

I am fully aware of the seemingly conflicting advice and recommendations about foods and diets - which diet is best, or whether coffee, chocolate, red wine, dairy, butter, soy or grains are good for you this week or not! Then next week they are bad again... Hence I like to keep on top of the nutritional advice which is given to the public. Which is why I frequently review food-related news stories, articles and documentaries to see what recommendations they say, and whether they are in fact, evidence based.

This review is for the new "plant-based" documentary called "The Game Changers". The documentary is produced by James Cameron (also the producer of Titanic, and Avatar movies and others), Arnold Schwartzenegger, Jackie Chan (actor, martial artist), Lewis Hamilton (F1 driver), and mostly hosted by James Wilks, a UFC martial arts fighter. The trailer for the documentary showed short snippets of several sporting stars and athletes allegedly improving their performance on a "plant-based" (read as "vegan") diet. Even bodybuilder Arnold Schwartzenegger is in favour, despite him not actually being a vegan at the time of his greatest successes! He achieved that on a very high animal protein diet with a side of anabolic steroids! Arnold said in the trailer and in the movie: "the marketing at the time was that real men ate meat, and lots of it", and "but that was marketing. It's not based on reality".

The very same could be said about this documentary - it's not based on reality, certainly not a scientific reality!

By the way, the word "vegan" or description of a vegan diet recommended in this documentary is never used! It's as if the producers know that the word "vegan" has such negative perceptions that they deliberately didn't use this word because they were embarrassed to do so! And there's many good reasons why the word "vegan" has deserved negative perceptions, not least of which is the tendency of the cult-like followers to suspend logic and science in their arguments.

Instead of the word "vegan", they repeat the term "plant-based" on and on and on. If the producers and contributors to the film are so pro-vegan, they should use the term, and not hide behind the confusion of whatever "plant-based" really means. This confusion will grow, particularly as some commonly promoted diets which prevent or improve health issues are "plant-based" but they contain meat and animal products, such as the Mediterranean diet! (Lăcătus, Grigorescu, Floria, Onofriescu & Mihai, 2019). Make no mistake, this documentary is NOT about a moderate "plant-based" diet with some animal products. It is talking about and promoting a VEGAN diet!

The main concept of the documentary is about protein, and that animal protein is not necessary for athletes to perform at the highest level. And that plant-based protein can not only help athletes, but reverse heart disease and diabetes. Or does it?!

As with my other food-related documentary reviews, this is a bit long. Very long, really! Sorry! But it needs to be, but will be very informative, scientific, with a more balanced point of view, and pointing out the errors or holes in their arguments with referenced articles and published studies!

The film quoted wisdom from the martial artist Bruce Lee:

"Research your own experience
Absorb what is useful
Reject what is useless
Add what is essentially your own."

This was Bruce Lee's way of life. And this is good advice, as we are all different!

Yet the aim of the documentary is the opposite - to get everyone to be the same.

This review might sound at this point to be anti-vegan. No it isn't! I am happy for people to look into this way of life and use it themselves, but what is missing in the documentary is balance! Or science. The documentary is extreme in its beliefs and information, and in many parts is completely lacking in good science on human physiology, metabolism, biochemistry and their effect on diseases. The purpose of this review is to perhaps fill in the holes or correct many aspects of science which were lacking in the documentary, and provide more balance, all fully referenced with published scientific studies.

The story
The documentary followed James Wilks and his journey to recovery after tearing ligaments in both knees after a sporting injury. In his search to finding ways to heal more quickly, he came across a book about the Roman Gladiators that found they had mostly a "plant-based" diet, which greatly surprised him. Researchers have found that the gladiators were referred to as hordearii or "barley men", because of their diet. Yet researchers analysed their bones and found them to be fairly strong, and seemed to recover from injuries quickly. So he set about looking into this more for a quicker recovery from his injuries.

My comments - Gladiators were slaves. They had short lives and were not fed well by their owners. They had very nutrient deficient diets, lacking in calcium that is needed for strong bones. Historical accounts showed that the gladiators downed vile brews of charred wood or bone ash or similar, to keep their bones strong. Gladiators were fed a lot of barley, because it made them fat! And they needed subcutaneous fat to protect them from cut wounds that would otherwise damage nerves and blood vessels! A skinny gladiator was "dead meat", and would not have made for a good show. So their plant-based and very high carb diet was done deliberately to make them fat (Curry, 2008). We know this today, that a high carb diet becomes blood sugar, which then gets turned into triglycerides or fat. A major point ignored in this film.

Protein for energy
A big assumption or belief throughout the documentary is the belief that we need protein for energy, and if you decide to go "meat free" as many athletes in the documentary have done, then people will ask "where will they get their energy from if they don't eat meat?!". And if one can get protein from plants, then we don't need meat!

My comments - Our bodies can use the macronutrients of carbohydrates, proteins and fats for fuel for energy. Depending on your typical food intake, the priority of which macronutrients get used first can differ. If you eat a typical Western diet or predominantly vegetarian or vegan diet that is high in carbs, then you will use these macronutrients in this order (Patton & Thibodeau, 2013):

Carbs -> glucose
Fats -> ketone bodies and glycerol
Protein -> amino acids.

If you are on a more ketogenic diet and are "fat adapted", your body's order of preference of fuel will be different (Freeman, Veggiotti, Lanzi, Tagliabue & Perucca, 2006, p153):

Fats -> ketone bodies and glycerol
Carbs -> glucose
Protein -> amino acids.

If you are an athlete, your body's order of preference of fuel can be different, depending on whether you are a distance athlete or a sprinter. Metabolising carbs is a quicker process, but not very efficient, and produces lots of lactic acid as a by-product, which makes muscles sore and burning during exercise, and you run out of energy or strength quickly. Metabolising fats for energy is slower, but MUCH more efficient in producing energy, but doesn't produce lactic acid, so you will have a lot more stamina and less sore muscles later. Hence for sprinters, a higher carb diet (not protein!) can be best for more explosive power in short events. For distance athletes, fats are the best fuel - not carbs and certainly not protein!

It is important to note that protein is always last in the order of preference for energy metabolism! This is important to note, as proteins have many more important functions, being used to make thousands of other proteins in the body, for repair of tissues and organs, and many other metabolic functions. Proteins are very important for your body, and your body doesn't want to "waste" protein to make energy, unless it has to. However, your body will use stored protein if you do not get enough protein in your diet. If you don't eat enough protein where will your body get protein from?

Your muscles.

Muscle tissue will be broken down to provide your body with the protein it desperately needs. You do not want this to happen. Especially if you are an athlete. Hence protein for energy is irrelevant. You need it for repair and recovery afterwards.

(see the PDF file link at the bottom of this article to read the full review content!)

Other issues with vegan diets
Due to the vegan bias in this documentary, there were no negatives of a vegan diet mentioned, so here is a little more balance to the reality:

Plant foods are high in "anti-nutrients" like TIs, oxalates and phytates, which bind to a lot of vitamins and minerals and other nutrients in the same meal, and prevent the body from being able to absorb and use those nutrients. Hence these plant anti-nutrients reduce the bioavailability of other nutrients, or in other words, the antinutrients can cause nutrient deficiencies
Many plant-based foods actually INCREASE inflammation in the body. Plant based foods such as sugar in sugary foods and drinks, processed foods, vegetable/seed oils (especially when heated), and grain products (and they chemicals they are sprayed with) all cause inflammation (de Punder & Pruimboom, 2013). As inflammation reduces the function of the immune system, and is the main driver of chronic disease conditions like arthritis, dementia, diabetes, heart disease and cancer, inflammation-causing foods should be avoided or reduced
Many people have undiagnosed or unknown intolerances or sensitivities to different foods. While this is not restricted to just plant foods, some of the biggest culprits include wheat, gluten in wheat, rye and barley, lectins in legumes, soy, and corn, although an individual can be intolerant to any food
Sadly, modern plant agriculture and farming relies on toxic agricultural chemicals, which often cover the plant foods exposed to them, and which doesn't come out in the processing of those foods, so you end up eating them and having these chemicals affect your health. Genetically modified (GMO) corn actually produces its own toxins in the plant (from a toxin-producing bacterial genes being spliced into the corn genes). So you end up eating these toxins and they have a terrible effect on your digestive system, microbiome and your health
There is a belief that all humans of all cultures and ethnicities are all the same. We are not. We do not have the same genetics, and hence there is no one diet which is ideal for each and every one of us.

Follow the money
As the old Russian proverb says, "When money speaks, the truth keeps silent". Or the more modern catchphrase "follow the money" to find the truth.

James Cameron, one of the directors and contributors to the film, wants you to buy into a plant-based protein eating plan because... he and his wife own many plant-based food industry companies, from which they want to make even more money from gullible people who believe what they see in this documentary, without really checking the scientific facts. The Camerons founded Verdient Foods, a US-based company, and have other similar plant-based food companies and joint ventures with other plant-based companies around the world. His opinion in this film is extremely biased as a result of his financial interests in these food industry companies (Bloomberg, 2019).

Dr David Katz is a medical doctor in the USA, and author of several books and many peer-reviewed studies, mainly on the topic of nutrition (Sboros, 2018). He was a contributor and interviewee in the film, possibly as he is well known as an outspoken voice on nutrition science in the USA. Yet he has faced controversy in his beliefs and articles, and even faced being sacked from some publications due to undeclared conflicts of interest. He was being paid by various companies and appearing to write articles on favour of those companies, and not disclosing his financial benefits from those companies, which would rightly be seen as a conflict of interest (Sboros, 2018).

Dr Katz has been caught out many times in previous publications with similar conflicts of interest, writing favourable reviews but not declaring a financial interest, biased writing, defending manufacturers of unhealthy or junk foods, or even writing favourable product reviews using a pseudonym. He has ties to many producers of sugary foods and drinks, and he promotes or defends their products, for a fee of course. He has denied these conflicts of interest (Sboros, 2018; Greene, 2019).

Other contributors to the documentary include:

Dr Walter Willet - a Harvard University scientist, who has a long list of affiliations and conflicts of interest with vegetarian and vegan groups (The Nutrition Coalition, 2019)
Dr Micael Greger - a medical doctor specialising in nutrition, but vegan nutrition only. He promotes veganism with a religious fervour and will cherry-pick studies promoting the benefits on plant-based diets while never saying anything positive about animal foods (Schwarcz, 2017).

Conclusion
The overall message of the documentary was good, that for athletes to get the best personal or team results, they must do more than just train and practice, but focus on eating healthy meals which provide all of the nutrients that their bodies need to:
1) provide energy for training and in events
2) provide nutrients for repair and recovery
3) provide the right nutrients needed for many metabolic processes
4) have a good digestive system function to digest, absorb and assimilate the nutrients (this was actually completely missed in this documentary!)

The vegan bias of this documentary was particularly evident, with deliberately withheld information, incorrect assumptions or beliefs, misinformation, selective blaming of animal products when plant products cause the same issues, and in some cases, outright lies with regard to human physiology or biochemistry in favour of a plant-based approach vs. a healthy balanced animal and plant based diet! In particular is the completely wrong message in the film that protein is used for energy, when protein metabolism is the last resort for energy production!

Again, everyone is different! SOME people can do fairly well on a vegan diet (perhaps only in the beginning of a vegan diet, as mentioned above), while I see many (as clients) who do not do well at all due to the many inherent nutrient deficiencies of this approach. Athletes need to be very, very careful on a vegan diet to make sure they are getting even more of the nutrients they need. I would highly recommend that anyone considering a vegan diet to working with an experienced Nutritionist to make sure your nutrient needs are being met! As a practitioner, I have never suggested to a vegan to start eating animal products again to rectify any deficiencies which may be causing their health issues. I respect their decisions to be vegan, and I help them address their issues.

There is a lot of blind faith, word of mouth or perception that a vegan diet is healthier, when scientific studies show that some vegans can be healthy (if their diet is done well), and omnivores can be healthy too! But conversely, there are a lot of vegans and omnivores who are not healthy. The problem is not which diet someone is following, but how that diet affects the individual! As we are not the same in our genetics, there is no one diet which is good for all of us. Find what works for you, and seek professional help from experienced nutritional medicine practitioners if any symptoms arise from any change of diet, as it means there is something not right. Having a blind faith in a vegan diet as being perfect for you isn't scientific, but is akin to following a new religion because it's trendy.

Similar to other vegan documentaries I've reviewed in the past, if the producers really want people to follow their way of life or see the health benefits that they claim, then they should at least tell the truth or the full story, and not repeat common misbeliefs based on poor quality science or old science to "prove" their arguments. None of the producers of the documentary have any scientific or nutritional background to completely understand the information they obtained in the making of this, nor were they able to look at the many health consequences of what they are trying to promote. But I guess that was their plan.

The documentary concluded with a disclaimer, "the information in this film is not intended to be medical advice". Yep, they got that right. Sadly too many will buy into the biased and incorrect information in this film, and not see this disclaimer at the end.

Even as a Clinical Nutritionist, and an evidence-based one at that, I have determined that being vegan is not for me. Not because I perceive it as being too difficult, but simply as I know my body better than anyone else. I know what it needs, how it reacts to various foods, and how it works. I am very aware of many quality published studies showing that a vegan diet is deficient in many nutrients, and the health consequences of these. And I'd rather just eat real food and not rely on supplements to get my daily requirements! If being vegan worked, no supplements should be needed, and I shouldn't see any vegans as clients, but sadly that is not the reality.

This more balanced look at this documentary should show that BOTH animal foods and plant foods are needed for a healthy body and healthy life! Too much of one or the other can cause health consequences. However of equal importance to the quantity of nutrients being needed, the quality of those nutrient sources is also as important, as well as other factors such as your own genetics and uniqueness, digestive system function, how foods are cooked, and more.

Wishing you the best of health!

(PS - I have attached my full review of The Game Changers documentary in a PDF document below! Feel free to download, read and share this around! The above article is just a summary of the introduction, main points and conclusion of the full article, which debunks and busts every error, omission or lie in the film!)

the_game_changers_documentary_review.pdf
File Size:	898 kb
File Type:	pdf

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Are vegetarian or vegan diets healthier?!

21/1/2019

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There's a growing trend amongst food producers or retailers or restaurants to provide more vegetarian and vegan meal options, as well as fully vegan meals or products. The number of people in Australia identifying as "mostly" vegetarian is approximately 12% according to statistics in 2016.

But is going vegetarian or vegan a healthier option for you?

The short answer is... "it depends", or "in many cases, no"!
The long answer follows...

As a Clinical Nutritionist and Naturopath, I analyse my clients' diets for possible deficiencies or excesses which could be contributing to their health conditions. After all, your food makes up your body's cells and enables it to work properly, as long as you are getting the nutrients you need!

I do tend to find that most people eat too many processed or packaged foods, such as grain based foods - cereals, breads and other bakery products, and not enough vegetables. I also tend to see the surprisingly, people aren't eating enough protein (not just meat, but plant based protein too), and not enough healthy fats (but too many bad ones), but I'm mainly taking about vegetables in this article!

With more people eating more plant-based foods to improve their health, that is a great thing! But as with any other foods, there are concerns about quantity and quality, so just because you are vegetarian or vegan, doesn't mean you are healthier than someone who is an omnivore (who eats meat and plant foods)!

Plant food crops grown in large scale monocultures to produce large quantities of single crops are not sustainable, nor good for the environment due to the large amounts of agricultural chemicals used (pesticides, fungicides,and herbicides like Roundup or glyphosate). These mostly toxic chemicals don't come out in the processing of the crops, so you end up eating them, which of course will have some effects on your health. Unless you choose to eat "certified organic" or home grown foods!

Many plant-based diet advocates (including those who push the ridiculous government food guidelines) recommend eating a huge amount of grain-based foods so you get enough fibre. I usually see vegetarians or vegans eating far too many sugary foods or processed grain products which are high in carbohydrates, which leads to high blood sugars, high cholesterol, weight gain, and inflammation. These can contribute to diabetes, and other chronic health conditions, including cancer.

There are some very poor quality "foods" (and I use that term very loosely here) which are marketed as being vegetarian or vegan (see the meme picture) but they are highly processed, full of additives and chemicals, but are nutrient depleted. These "foods" are not going to be good for you, even if they allegedly are "vegan"! And you can just as easily over-eat such "foods" to the detriment of your health.

So just because a food is marketed as being "all natural", "suitable for vegetarians", or "vegan friendly", it doesn't mean that it is healthy or good for you! Highly processed foods which come in a box or plastic packaging are NOT "vegan"! Sorry, but they are not!

We are all different, due to different genetics, ethnicity, and physiology too! There is no one meal plan which is ideal for everyone, and that includes vegetarian or vegan diets. Vegetarian and vegan diets can be a great improvement in SOME people who perhaps haven't been eating enough plant-based foods in the past, but how healthy these diets are really depends on the types of foods chosen, their quality and quantity, and your individual tolerances or intolerances to those foods. I can help you with improving your diets, if you are not getting the benefits or improved health from what you are currently doing!

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My review of the vegan documentary "What the health"

12/7/2017

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I've had the opportunity (read as "misfortune") to watch the recently released "What the health" documentary on your food intake and your health. It's really about veganism, which is what they didn't tell you about beforehand, but want everyone to follow.

I have written a long review of the documentary, which I will post on my website, but for the moment, here are some summarised details (I can't call them "facts" as there was a huge lack of this in it):

The three main claims made in the all by "experts" in the film were:

processed meat and animal products causes <insert your favourite disease here>, and
sugar doesn't cause <insert your favourite disease here>, and
a vegan diet will prevent and fix <insert your favourite disease here> in all people.

I don't want to be seen to be bashing veganism at all, as it CAN be a very healthy option for SOME people. Being in practice as a Nutritionist and Naturopath and helping people to improve their health, reducing symptoms and treating chronic health conditions, I know that one type of diet or treatment doesn't work for everyone. I keep saying "everyone is different", because it's true! I have seen many vegetarians and vegans suffer chronic health conditions because they don't do their food intake well. I just don't like the lack of or very poor science used to suggest that veganism is the only way to go for everyone... I am not a massive carnivore as I have greatly reduced my meat intake and often have vegan meals, but I think a more balanced documentary would have been better, but then that wasn't their point.

Sadly the film was extremely biased, with most experts being interviewed (and the directors and producers) being vegan. I have nothing against vegans, but I do against misrepresentation of the facts to support their causes. Despite many of the experts having medical qualifications, there was very little factual information when it came to the body's physiology or biochemical processes. What was mentioned was irrelevant, misleading or facts against plant-based diets being completely ignored.

There were some truths in the documentary - one doctor saying that the medical system is in the business of treating sick people, and not about trying to prevent people from becoming sick. Another doctor saying that all the major diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia and more) are largely diet and lifestyle related and therefore preventable. True.

The film refers to very few published studies, but those that were mentioned I studied. There was some misinformation or misunderstanding of the interpretation of the studies to blame meats and animal products for heart disease, diabetes and other chronic diseases, when the study did not actually prove this. See my longer review for some examples.

There were some brief elements of good public information in the film, such as how environmental chemicals enter the food chain and accumulate more in animals higher in the food chain, or what farmed animals are fed can have an effect on your health. Environmental health is just as, if not more, important than individual human health. But commercial plant-based agriculture is just as damaging to the environment with its use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, large scale clearing of forests, loss of nutrients in the soil, damage to the water table and aquifers, and more...

Another good bit of information, while it wasn't news to me, was that the various public health organisations (American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, and the US Dietary Advisory Committee) all have many commercial and food industry "financial sponsors" and clearly showed this on their websites. This is why we cannot trust these organisations with the advice and information they give. However, what the film didn't mention were any of the plant-based food industry sponsorships of these organisations! (I checked). I have written about this influence before in an article below on my Facebook page or website.

There was a big focus in the film of the health implications of eating saturated fat and cholesterol, which are mostly (but not only) found in animal foods. Again I have written articles on these topics before (see my website or FB page), as a LOT of scientific evidence (which was ignored by all the "experts" interviewed) shows that these are not causes of most of today's chronic diseases.

Pretty much everything health related was blamed on meat and animal products, so the message in the film was a bit extreme for my liking. The lack of real science or accepted evidence was hugely disappointing, and deliberately misleading. If the documentary really wanted to make a difference to your health, perhaps a more balanced (ie, less biased) approach would have made more of an impact to more people. Unfortunately the film will just make the divide between the vegans (and possibly vegetarians) and the rest of the population (including those informed on both sides of fence, and the uninformed and ignorant) all the wider. Good luck if you can last more than 10 minutes of this film!

The "What the health" documentary can be seen on Netflix, or perhaps temporarily on Youtube via this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IANuQET0n9s

For my full notes, please see the text below:

Notes:
Within 60 seconds of the start of the movie, Dr Robert Ratner of the American Diabetes Association is saying that 1/3 of US medicare dollars are spent on people with diabetes, and 1/10 of all US healthcare dollars are spent on diabetes, yet when asked how diet affects diabetes, he REFUSED to answer this and cancelled the interview when pressed on this issue!

The host and filmmaker is Kip Andersen, a "recovering hypochondriac", which changed apparently when the World Health Association announced in 2015 that processed meat was deemed a carcinogen (ie, cancer causing) by increasing cancer risk by 18%.

Kip tried to arrange other interviews, with the American Cancer Society, which was apparently agreed to, but then cancelled when he told them the interview was to be on the topic of diet and cancer. Again, why would they not want to talk about this as poor food choices are a major cancer risk? Maybe it was to do with Kip not dressing professionally for the interviews or having any manners like removing his hat when inside their offices and talking to people... or other reasons, which are suggested later in the film.

There were some truths in the documentary - one doctor saying that the medical system is in the business of treating sick people, and not about trying to prevent people from becoming sick (as there would be no money for them if that were the case). Another doctor saying that all the major diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, dementia and more) are largely diet and lifestyle related and therefore preventable.

The topic of diabetes was covered a lot and this is where it got very interesting, annoying, and full of misleading or incorrect information...

A "diabetes expert" doctor was interviewed about the causes of diabetes, and said "diabetes is not and never was caused by a high carbohydrate diet or eating sugar"! Just wow! That's not what all the recent (or decades worth of) peer-reviewed scientific studies show! He said diabetes is caused by a buildup of fat in the blood from a typical meat-based diet! Also, allegedly, the fat in the blood causes insulin resistance which leads to diabetes.

It seems the doctor missed his physiology and biochemistry lectures and exams, and the thousands of published studies and texts on diabetes or what causes it! Yes, in diabetes there is an abnormal amount of blood lipids and abnormal cholesterol levels, but this is not the cause of diabetes, but rather a side effect of a diet high in sugar and refined carbs like grains, cereals, and alcohol... Stress also causes high cholesterol, but there was no mention of this regarding diabetes.

There was a big focus in the film of the health implications of eating saturated fat and cholesterol, which are mostly (but not only) found in animal foods. Again I have written articles on these topics before (see my website or FB page), as a LOT of scientific evidence (which was ignored by all the "experts" interviewed) shows that these are not causes of most of today's chronic diseases.

Later in the film, the host and some of the key experts referred to a 1940s study (something that old is irrelevant, or should not be used as "evidence"!) done on reversing many diseases by just using diet alone. While that doesn't surprise me, but the researcher then had used white rice, fruit and table sugar - all very high carbohydrate foods! These experts were actually mentioning this to support their arguments for the causes and treatment of type 2 diabetes not being related to sugar! They said it was all good because the carbs used in this old study "were all plant based"! Unbelievable!

Kip is in no way a trained or qualified medical, nutritional or science expert, and seems to have selected people to interview based on their being vegan, rather than on any shred of evidence about what they were saying. Hence he didn't question what the "experts" were saying or even understand what they said. Nor was there any balance or opportunity for the "other side" to give any comments.
Another "weight loss expert" doctor said that when you eat fat, it gets stored straight as fat! No, it doesn't! Fats get used for making your hormones, neurotransmitters, myelin sheaths around your nerves, for energy production, for the cell walls of hundreds of billions of new cells you make each day, and more uses! Fat storage from fat intake is the last option, although it does depend on which type of fat is consumed...

The two main claims made in the all by "experts" in the film were:

processed meat causes diabetes, and
sugar doesn't cause diabetes.

The implication in this film is that all meat is evil, causes cancer and diabetes and other health issues, when it is mainly processed meats (tinned meats, hot dogs, and cured deli meats) which can be the problem.

The film refers to very few published studies (which I checked by pausing the film on the screenshot of the study title) and investigating them. There was some misinformation or misunderstanding of the interpretation of the studies to blame meats for heart disease and diabetes, when the study did not prove this. One example (Micha, Michas & Mozaffarian, 2012) showed that there is a higher risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes from a daily intake of processed meats, and little or no risk from unprocessed meats, and the difference was due to the preservatives (nitrates and sodium) in the processed meats, not because of the meat itself! The preservatives in the meat were said to cause atherosclerosis and insulin resistance (which high carb diets do also)! The same study showed it was NOT the saturated fat which caused the health effects, as the fat content of the unprocessed vs processed meat was the same! So this disproves what the "experts" in the film are saying! Additionally, the study suggested it was also how the meats were cooked could influence health effects, such as high temperature cooking or frying causes toxic chemical compounds to form which increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes - again, it's not the meat, but how it's prepared! These simple things were ignored in the film.

And this is just in the first 10 minutes... geez, there's another 1 hours and 20 minutes of this tripe to get through! I seriously considered stopping watching the documentary at this point because it was so full of lies, half-truths, misinformation and bias that it was painful to watch. However in the interests of the public health I persevered, hence this review of the whole film!

The film mentioned that certain carcinogens are found in meat - heterocyclic amine (HCA) and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds. This forms from high temperature frying or barbequing of meat. However this doesn't happen for all types of meat in all circumstances, as lightly frying or grilling meat doesn't cause this or in harmful quantities. Yet the film doesn't mention this! Also not mentioned, which I find highly misleading is that frying or baking carbohydrates such as starchy vegetables and grains, ALSO create these carcinogenic compounds! But of course this being a biased vegan film wasn't going to mention that...

The film changed topic to start attacking chicken, as it's the most popular form of meat eaten in the USA, after overtaking beef in consumption, and also attacking eggs. Chicken was being blamed for the high levels of cancer consumptions of cholesterol and sodium. Eggs were the equivalent of having 5 cigarettes per day! Eggs were "bad" because of their high content of saturated fats and cholesterol, both of which are NOT health causing issues in most people, as I have written articles on recently and based on many research articles over the past decades. They even used Steve-O (a "comedian" and punishment guinea pig on the "Jackass" TV shows) was interviewed, and he explained his bewilderment about attending a function at the American Diabetes Association, where chicken was served, and he stormed out as "serving chicken at a diabetes event was the same as serving alcohol at an AA meeting". Why did they interview such a non-expert in health and nutrition? (but he was no worse than the other "experts" interviewed)

The film then started attacking the dairy industry, as dairy is allegedly the number one source of saturated fat in diets. That cheese was "one of the world's best foods which compromise health", really and not sugar or trans-fat?! And "most people in the world are lactose intolerant"? How did they feed their babies if breast milk contains lactose?! Sure dairy products aren't great for many people, and I recommend people perhaps eat less of it, especially if they have an undiagnosed intolerance to dairy. The frequent use of various terms for different forms of dairy as "cheese being coagulated cow pus" and similar got a bit cringeworthy after a while.

There were some brief elements of good public information in the film, such as how environmental chemicals enter the food chain and accumulate more in animals high in the food chain, or what farmed animals eat has an effect on your health. Environmental health is just as, if not more, important than individual human health. Farmed animals are kept in unhealthy conditions, and fed GMO grains (known to cause cancer, inflammation and many health effects), antibiotics (to prevent infections and also to increase body weight), hormones and other chemicals, none of which are good for you. Most of the world's GMO grains are used to feed farmed animals, and most of the world's antibiotics are used on them too. Stick to organic and grass-fed or free range animal products instead to reduce your health risks!

Another good bit of information, while it wasn't news to me, was that the various public health organisations (American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, and the US Dietary Advisory Committee) all had many commercial and food industry "financial sponsors" and clearly showed this on their websites. I don't believe that industry sponsorship should be allowed of such organisations as it then can be seen as giving biased (or bought) advice to the people who the organisation are supposed to help with advice to reduce their risks or improve their health. The film suggest the industry sponsorship of these organisations was why they were promoting eating of unhealthy foods which were contributing to the very diseases they are supposed to prevent. A lawyer interviewed said as a result of this sponsorship, we cannot trust these organisations with the advice and information they give, because they are financially biased. However, what the film didn't mention were any of the plant-based food industry sponsorships of these organisations!

There was also mention of the lobbying done (and huge budgets spent) by the food and pharmaceutical industries to politicians to write laws which benefit their industry and profits, but which are not actually in the best interests or health of the public. And they also mentioned pharmaceuticals and medical procedures which have nothing to do with preventing or fixing the causes of health issues.

The doctor experts did admit that they were not taught of the power of food and nutrition in their medical studies, hence why most doctors don't know about this or ask clients about their diets, or recommend changing their diets. There was an attempt in the USA to mandate 7 hours of nutrition training in each 4-year period for all medical doctors, but many of the medical associations came out in public (in government hearings) to oppose against this nutrition training!

Cancers were then blamed on all meat and animal products. At least they said cancers are mostly caused by diet and lifestyle factors, and not genetics, and cancers can be prevented by improving your diet and lifestyle - they got that bit right.

The Chief Medical Officer of the American Diabetes Association was shown again in the film (before he cancelled and stormed out of his interview) saying their organisation's mission is "identifying a prevention and cure for diabetes, and until then, improving the lives of all people affected by diabetes". Yet when he was asked what is the best way to prevent diabetes, he said "for type 2 diabetes it is unclear"! He said their organisation doesn't recommend any form of diet to prevent diabetes! But there are many good studies which show a LOW carbohydrate (ie, low in refined carbs, sugar, grains, and alcohol etc) CAN prevent and even reverse type 2 diabetes!

Now onto protein! We are told "plant proteins are better" - no they are NOT! They are no better or worse than animal protein! The experts were asked whether we (as humans) need to eat animal products for protein. One expert said "all protein is made by plants", which is again another bit of misinformation at best (or a misleading lie at worst), as animals make proteins too, and so do we as humans - we take in animal and plant proteins, break them down into their individual amino acids, then we build them up again into many different types of proteins to be used around the body. Once plant or animal proteins are digested and turned into their individual amino acids, your body cannot distinguish whether an amino acid came from a plant or animal, and will use it regardless of where it came from!

One of the staunchest vegan experts (Dr Michael Greger, a very biased vegan doctor) said "breast milk is the perfect food for human babies", but that's not very vegan is it?! He contradicts himself several times in the film...

The film suddenly changed track to suggest we as humans are not omnivores but "frugivores", a mainly fruit eater. I thought the documentary was about being vegan, and now we are meant to eat fruit?!

Gorillas were mentioned and shown to be frugivore yet they can be very strong, muscular and powerful (well, the males anyway). The film messes up by then showing frugivore teeth are flat and are for chewing, not biting and tearing with sharp incisors or canine teeth seen in omnivorous animals, so we humans can't be omnivores. But humans have incisors and canine teeth, and gorillas and other primates have even bigger canine teeth than we do! Their other reasons for humans being frugivores were rather weak and pathetic...

Now we come to vitamin B12, which is ONLY found in animal products. One "expert" was asked "what is in animal foods which you can't get in plant based foods?", and he answered "cholesterol and HCAs"! Well, plants have very similar compounds to cholesterol called phytosterols, which have beneficial activities in our bodies (just as cholesterol does)! And I've already said HCAs are also in plant foods... He said "there's nothing you can't get in plant based foods", but he completely missed the rather large fact of vitamin B12 only being in animal foods as animals store it in their muscles!
Dr Greger at least mentioned the lack of vitamin B12 in plant foods, and suggested we should get it from "fortified foods" or a vitamin B12 supplement. Then he contradicts himself, saying "there is no vitamin, mineral or nutrient you can't get from non-animal sources".

References
Anderson, K. (2017). What the health. Retrieved 10th July 2017 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IANuQET0n9s
Micha, R., Michas, G., & Mozaffarian, D. (2012). Unprocessed Red and Processed Meats and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease and Type 2 Diabetes – An Updated Review of the Evidence. Current Atheroslcerosis Reports, 14 (6), 515–524. doi: 10.1007/s11883-012-0282-8

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