Messenger of the Lord

Modern Research Confirms Health Principles

Clive McCay. The late Dr. Clive M. McCay, professor of nutrition at Cornell’s New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (where he taught for thirty-seven years—1925-1962), was recognized worldwide as a pioneer and authority in nutritional theory, research, and history. ¹⁸⁵ MOL 333.9

After coming into contact with the health principles of Ellen White through Helen Chen, a 20-year-old Seventh-day Adventist graduate student, he wanted to know more about her church and its health teachings. Eventually he received Counsels on Diet and Foods at his request. This book, a compilation of Ellen White materials on a healthful diet and its relation to physical, mental, and spiritual health, also dates and lists the source of the various extracts. Since McCay believed that anything written before 1900 was unscientific, he urgently asked Helen: “Where did she [Ellen White] get her information?” ¹⁸⁶ MOL 334.1

Later, Dr. McCay talked to F. D. Nichol, editor of the Review and Herald, about his new interest in Adventist health principles as set forth by Ellen White. Nichol, knowing that the Unitarian scientist probably would not understand the Biblical doctrine of spiritual gifts, parried his questions about Ellen White. He told McCay that her critics dismissed her as a plagiarist, copying from contemporaries. MOL 334.2

“Nonsense!” McCay responded. “I simply cannot accept that explanation: it creates a much bigger problem than it resolves! If she merely copied her contemporaries, how did she know which ideas to borrow and which to reject, out of the bewildering array of theories and health teachings current in the 19th century? Most were quite irrational and have now been repudiated! She would have had to be a most amazing person, with knowledge beyond her times, in order to do this successfully.” ¹⁸⁷ MOL 334.3

In the years following, McCay gave lectures featuring Ellen White’s writings on nutrition to various groups, including scientific bodies. A summation of his findings was published in the Review and Herald. ¹⁸⁸ MOL 334.4

U. S. Department of Agriculture and Health, Education, and Welfare. In July 1980, USDA and HEW issued jointly their “Dietary Guidelines for Americans“: (1) Eat a variety of foods. (2) Maintain ideal weight. (3) Avoid too much fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. (4) Eat foods with adequate starch and fiber. (5) Avoid too much sugar. (6) Avoid too much sodium. (7) If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. ¹⁸⁹ This report served as a ringing wakeup call to health workers as it was to the general population. But if this report had been issued in 1863, it would have been as startling as Ellen White’s instructions were at that time! MOL 334.5

In 1995 the same offices issued their updated “Dietary Guidelines,” emphasizing that “vegetarian diets are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and can meet Recommended Dietary Allowances for nutrients. ¹⁹⁰ This 1995 update placed greater emphasis on the plant foods consistent with the Food Guide Pyramid. “The revised guideline also acknowledges that grains are associated with ‘a substantially lowered risk of many chronic diseases, including certain types of cancer,’ that antioxidant nutrients have a ‘potentially beneficial role in reducing the risk of cancer and certain other chronic diseases,’ and that folate ‘reduces the risk of a serious type of birth defect.’” Further, the revised guideline emphasized that foods, not the salt shaker, are the source of most dietary sodium, continuing to note “the link between sodium and hypertension” and that sodium “is an essential nutrient substantially overconsumed by the American public in general.” ¹⁹¹ MOL 334.6

National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council). This research-oriented body gave a joint report in June 1982, entitled “Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer.” Focusing on the connection between diet and cancer, this report was essentially the same as the government report of 1980. MOL 334.7

Their research indicated that by making changes in one’s diet, cancer risk can be greatly reduced. Specifically they urged eating largely of fruits, whole grains, and vegetables, and reducing consumption of fats, sugar, salt, and alcohol. ¹⁹² MOL 334.8

American Cancer Society. In February 1983 the editor of the Society’s journal, Cancer News, published an article entitled, “At Last, An Anti-Cancer Diet.” The first paragraph pointed to California Seventh-day Adventists as having a much lower rate of colon/rectal cancer than other Americans. MOL 335.1

Later in the article, studies were noted that indicated breast, colon, and prostate cancer “is significantly lower among people who eat lots of vegetables. This ‘startling finding,’ says Walter Troll, professor of environmental medicine at New York University, suggests that vegetables contain substances ‘capable of inhibiting cancer in man.’” ¹⁹³ MOL 335.2

Surgeon General of the U.S.A. In July 1988 C. Everett Koop, M.D., released the first nutrition report by a U. S. Surgeon General. Based on more than 2,500 scientific articles, his prescription for America was: “Less fat, more vegetables and fruit.” ¹⁹⁴ MOL 335.3

Preventive Medicine Research Institute at the School of Medicine, University of California. In 1990 Dean Ornish, president of this research institute at the University of California, published his findings that arterial blockage built up by cholesterol can be reversed by a largely vegetarian diet plus exercise and stress reduction. His conclusions were backed up by four-color slides of computer-analyzed coronary angiograms and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans. MOL 335.4

After a dramatic study of 6,500 persons at Cornell University in 1990, Ornish wrote a parody on the slogan used by the American Beef Association: “Meat. Real food for real death [of people].” ¹⁹⁵ MOL 335.5

Authority on high blood pressure. Norman M. Kaplan, professor of internal medicine and head of the hypertension section of the Southwestern Medical School (University of Texas) in Dallas, speaking at Loma Linda University to more than 1,000 healthcare professionals, said: “You as Adventists may have espoused a certain dietary lifestyle on the basis of faith, in the past; but now you can practice it on the basis of scientific evidence. Hopefully you will not [go back and re-] join the midstream, but [rather] adhere to your health heritage.” ¹⁹⁶ MOL 335.6

Adventist Mortality Study, 1958, and a joint study with the American Cancer Society, 1960. These California studies compared the cause of death for a large group of Seventh-day Adventist men with a similar number of non-Seventh-day Adventist men. The research does not differentiate between Adventists who eat meat daily, weekly, monthly, or none at all. Neither does it distinguish between lacto-ovo-vegetarians and total vegetarians. Compared with non-Seventh-day Adventist men, Adventist men can expect fewer deaths caused by some form of cancer. For example, according to the results of the Mortality Study listed below, Adventist men have 20 percent fewer deaths caused by lung cancer compared to the general population’s death rate from lung cancer. Note the percent of fewer deaths expected among all Adventists for other kinds of cancer: MOL 335.7

20 percent, lung cancer

5 percent, mouth, throat, and larynx cancer

32 percent, bronchitis and emphysema

28 percent, bladder cancer

34 percent, esophageal cancer

13 percent, cirrhosis of the liver

72 percent, breast cancer

65 percent, digestive tract cancer

62 percent, leukemia

61 percent, ovarian cancer

54 percent, uterine cancer

66 percent, other cancer

53 percent, strokes

55 percent, diabetes

42 percent, peptic ulcer

31 percent, suicides

59 percent, deaths attributed to all medical causes. ¹⁹⁷

The Adventist Incidence Study in 1974. Sent to 63,350 Adventist households in California, this questionnaire enumerated “348 variables covering demographic, socioeconomic, and religious belief and practice characteristics; family and personal medical histories; and nutritional, drug use, and exercise patterns.” ¹⁹⁸ The results continue to bear out the positive health benefits of the Adventist health message set forth by Ellen White a century ago. ¹⁹⁹ MOL 336.1

European studies confirm these two Adventist studies. A Norwegian seventeen-year study covering all Adventists in that country concluded in 1981 that Norwegian Adventists enjoyed about the same benefits as California Adventists. The study confirmed the observation “that neither social groups nor geographic selection explains the health advantage observed among Norwegian Seventh-day Adventists” and that “the total life style generally advocated and followed by Seventh-day Adventists explains the observed results.” ²⁰⁰ MOL 336.2

In 1982 Denmark’s Cancer Registration Office in Copenhagen reported, after a thirty-five-year study, that only one in ten Adventists developed cancer, whereas the rate for the Danish population was one in four during the same period. The Cancer Registration’s chief medical director said “that, without doubt, the Adventists studied in the investigation sustained far less risk of developing cancer than the average person. Their risk was 70 to 80 percent less than that of the general Danish population.” ²⁰¹ MOL 336.3

In 1983 a Dutch study reported an 8.9-year life expectancy advantage for Adventist men and a 3.7-year advantage for Adventist women. ²⁰² MOL 336.4

A Polish study reported in 1985 that Adventist men had an advantage of 9.5 years, and Adventist women a difference of 4.5 years. ²⁰³ MOL 336.5

American Cancer Society Guidelines on Diet, Nutrition, and Cancer Prevention, 1996. Their four basic guidelines were: MOL 336.6

1. Choose most of the foods you eat from plant sources. Eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables each day. Eat other foods from plant sources, such as breads, cereals, grain products, rice, pasta, or beans several times each day. MOL 336.7

2. Limit your intake of high-fat foods, particularly from animal sources. Choose foods low in fat. Limit consumption of meats, especially high-fat meats. MOL 336.8

3. Be physically active: Achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Be at least moderately active for 30 minutes or more on most days of the week. Stay within your healthy weight range. 4. Limit consumption of alcoholic beverages, if you drink at all. ²⁰⁴ MOL 336.9