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 Asian 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. The landmark
China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project
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 field: ultramarathoner
Scott Jurek and Ironman triathlete and author Brendan Brazier.
Jurek, who has been vegan since 1999, spoke about training for
ultramarathons, which are races that can span more than 100 miles
and occur in temperatures ranging from 30 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
Jurek won the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run seven consecutive
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 has allowed him
to recover faster and therefore train harder, and it has also improved
his mental clarity. Brazier said that it is imperative that schools
provide better nutritional choices. “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 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 allocate $42 million to expand the
USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program to cover all 50
states. The program is currently in place in 14 states and three
Indian reservations and is helping children to eat more healthfully at
home and at school.
PCRM Online,
May 2006
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