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Through a variety of experimental study designs, epidemiological evidence (studies of what affects the illness and health of populations), and observation of real-life conditions that had rational, biological explanations, Dr. Campbell has made a direct and powerful correlation between cancer and animal protein. For this book I asked Dr. Campbell to explain a little about how and why nutrition (both good and bad) affects cancer in our bodies.

He explains that at various times throughout our lives, cancer cells pop up in all of us. (Yes, you read that right.) But what “feeds” the cancer and fortifies it is, among other things, animal protein. Why is that? Because animal protein (all meat, dairy, and eggs) creates an acidic environment in the body, alters the mix of hormones to favor cell growth, modifies important enzyme activities to increase activation of carcinogens, and causes inflammation and cell proliferation—all of which creates an ideal environment for cancer to thrive.

On the other hand, when you eat a plant-based (vegan) diet, you are getting the antioxidants inherent in vegetables and fruits that are critical to neutralizing cancer-causing free radicals in the body, along with fiber, which acts like a scrub brush as it moves through your body. A varied, plant-based diet, he claims, is a protective diet—sufficient in amino acids for protein needs; high in fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals; and low in saturated fats.

The following is a conversation I had with Dr. Campbell to better understand this dynamic.

Straight from the Source: T. Colin Campbell, PhD, on Diet and Cancer

KF: What happens in the body when cancer develops? What is the actual process?

TCC: Cancer generally develops over a long period of time, which can be divided into three stages: initiation, promotion, and progression.

Initiation occurs when chemicals or other agents attack the genes of normal cells to produce genetically modified cells capable of eventually causing cancer. The body generally repairs most such damage, but if the cell reproduces itself before it is repaired, its new (daughter) cell retains this genetic damage. This process may occur within minutes and, to some extent, is thought to be occurring most of the time in most of our tissues.

Promotion occurs when the initiated cells continue to replicate themselves and grow into cell masses that eventually will be diagnosed. This is a long growth phase occurring over months or years and is known to be reversible.

Progression occurs when the growing cancer masses invade neighboring tissues and/or break away from the tissue of origin (metastasis) and travel to distant tissues when they are capable of growing independently, at which point they are considered to be malignant.

KF: Why do some people get cancer and others don’t? What percentage is genetic, and what percentage has to do with diet?

TCC: Although the initiated cells are not considered to be reversible, the cells growing through the promotion stage usually are, which is a very exciting concept. This is the stage that especially responds to nutritional factors. For example, 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. This is a very promising observation because cancer proceeds forward or backward as a function of the balance of promoting and anti-promoting factors found in the diet. Thus, consuming anti-cancer-promoting, plant-based foods tends to keep the cancer from going forward, perhaps even reversing the promotion. The difference between individuals is almost entirely related to their diet and lifestyle practices.

Although all cancers and other diseases begin with genes, this is not the reason why the disease actually appears. If people do the right thing during the promotion stage, perhaps even during the progression stage, cancer will not appear, and if it does, it might even be resolved.