Carcinogenicity of casein
Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:40 pm
Heretic raised a little prickly pear of a point in another thread that I felt warranted breaking out as a separate thread. I understand Campbell's work showing that in rats exposed to aflatoxin B1, you can "turn cancer on or off like a switch" by varying the casein from 5% to 20% of calories, and the effect is so dramatic that the low-casein groups were virtually cancer-free and the high-casein groups were all dead, and that the effect disappeared when soy protein was substituted. Campbell, as we know, generalized this into the broad claim that animal protein causes cancer in dose-dependent fashion, period.
Heretic makes the rather dubious claim that it's the unique combo of aflatoxin + casein and that casein itself is harmless. I went looking for data to rebut that, but I found that in every study mentioned in The China Study aflatoxin was the carcinogen, and I also found this one, where a different carcinogen was used and casein was protective (!!): http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/r ... 12/905.pdf
This ought to be a slam-dunk for this crowd, who bases much of their rationale on Campbell. Can you find me studies showing:
1. the "on/off switch" effect of casein with a carcinogen other than aflatoxin?
2. the "on/off switch" effect with a different animal protein -- say, whey or a defatted meat protein concentrate?
Heretic makes the rather dubious claim that it's the unique combo of aflatoxin + casein and that casein itself is harmless. I went looking for data to rebut that, but I found that in every study mentioned in The China Study aflatoxin was the carcinogen, and I also found this one, where a different carcinogen was used and casein was protective (!!): http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/r ... 12/905.pdf
This ought to be a slam-dunk for this crowd, who bases much of their rationale on Campbell. Can you find me studies showing:
1. the "on/off switch" effect of casein with a carcinogen other than aflatoxin?
2. the "on/off switch" effect with a different animal protein -- say, whey or a defatted meat protein concentrate?