Includes bibliographical references (pages 389-438) and index.

The China study. Problems we face, solutions we need -- A house of proteins -- Turning off cancer -- Lessons from China -- Diseases of affluence. Broken hearts -- Obesity -- Diabetes -- Common cancers : breast, prostate, large bowel (colon and rectal) -- Autoimmune diseases -- Wide-ranging effects : bone, kidney, eye, and brain diseases -- The good nutrition guide. Eating right : eight principles of food and health -- How to eat -- Why haven't you heard this before? Science, the dark side -- Scientific reductionism -- The "science" of industry -- Government : it is for the people? -- Big medicine : whose health are they protecting? -- Academia -- Repeating histories -- Afterward -- Q & A : protein effect in experimental rat studies -- Experimental design of the China Study -- The "vitamin" D connection.

This work presents the results of a large study of diet and death rates from cancer in adults across China and Taiwan and explains the study's significance and what it reveals about the implications of poor nutrition. While revealing that proper nutrition can have a dramatic effect on reducing and reversing these ailments as well as obesity, this text calls into question the practices of many of the current dietary programs, such as the Atkins diet, that enjoy widespread popularity in the West. The impact of the politics of nutrition and the efforts of special interest groups on the creation and dissemination of public information on nutrition are also discussed.