Nutrition Researcher, Vegan Athletes Promote Healthy Diets to Congress
 Members of Congress and their staffs got a lesson in nutrition
when PCRM visited the Capitol with healthy vegan food, a leading
nutrition researcher, and two vegan athletes. As Congress geared
up to debate Sen. Tom Harkin’s Child Nutrition Promotion
and School Lunch Protection Act, PCRM hosted a congressional briefing
and reception on April 27 to educate policy-makers about Congress’ role
in helping America get healthy.
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., a Cornell
University researcher and author of the groundbreaking book The
China Study, described
the lessons learned from more than 40 years of research into the
links between diet and disease. His landmark Oxford-Cornell-China
Study on Diet and Health showed that plant-based diets explain
the low rates of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer in certain
areas of rural China.
Those lessons, Dr. Campbell said, should
be applied in the United States. “Nutrition, if properly
understood, can be a major solution to the medical care cost problem,” Dr.
Campbell told the audience. He explained how a low-fat, plant-based
diet has been shown to prevent, suspend, or cure a wide range of
diseases from diabetes to Alzheimer’s disease.
Also speaking
were two vegan athletes at the top of their fields: ultramarathoner
Scott Jurek and Ironman triathlete and author Brendan Brazier.
Ultramarathons can span more than 100 miles and occur in temperatures
ranging from 30 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Jurek has dominated
the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run for each of the past
seven years. In 2005, just two weeks after winning Western States,
Jurek set a course record at the Badwater 135-mile Ultramarathon
(24 hours, 36 minutes). Jurek credited his wins to his vegan diet,
which allows for faster recovery to restore his body to a higher
level of conditioning.
Brazier began experimenting with vegan diets
to enhance his athletic performance in 1990. He said that a vegan
diet allows him to recover faster and therefore train harder, and
it has also improved his mental clarity. On May 6, Brazier won
the Canadian 50km Ultra Marathon Championships in Toronto and set
a new course record of 3:10:52.
But Brazier’s concerns go
beyond athletic competition. He said that it is imperative that
we have better nutritional choices in schools. “We’ve
done a good job educating kids on what foods are healthy and what
foods are not,” Brazier said. “But
kids are not always given the healthy options and they will always
choose the path of least resistance.”
PCRM executive director
Mindy Kursban urged members of Congress to support good nutrition
through legislative action. One of PCRM’s
key areas of concern: Federal food assistance programs such as
the Women, Infants, and Children Program need better nutritional
standards that not only promote healthy foods, but also eliminate
unhealthy foods. Kursban said that the Child Nutrition Promotion
and School Lunch Protection Act, which would update federal nutrition
standards and apply them to all food sold on school grounds, is “a
good first step in the battle against obesity.” PCRM also urged Congress to expand the USDA’s Fresh Fruit
and Vegetable Program to cover all 50 states. The program is currently
in place in only 14 states and three Indian reservations.
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