Ross Walter Nutritionist and Naturopath health articles and blog

My review of the vegan documentary "What the health"

12/7/2017

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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My review of the vegan documentary "What the health"

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