Vegetables Against Meat, Ancient Chinese Nutritional Teachings And Yang Deficiency - An Analysis Of Statistical Fallacies In A Nutritional Study

Vegetables against Meat, Traditional Chinese Dietetics and Yang Deficiency - an Analysis of Bias and Statistical Fallacies in a Dietary Study In the autumn of 2010, a publisher of Chinese medicine advertised a book based on a dietary study conducted in China pretending to prove that meat is unhealthy and leads to cardiac infarction and cancer whereas vegetables protect against these diseases. In Ancient Chinese medicine, however, meat is a basic component of nutrition and constitutes the most important source of Yang which enables a person to resist diseases. The analysis of the scientific evidence of this study indeed reveals well-known statistical fallacies and biases that may confound the alleged findings. In Ancient Chinese medicine, symptoms of false heat are considered to be the result of Yang deficiency, as in the case of menopause disorders. If false heat is treated with Yin medicines, Yang declines and, thus, the occurrence of diseases may rather increase. Yin tonification by the use of estrogens, as has in fact been shown, leads to an increase of total mortality in postmenopausal women. Similarly, treatment with antioxidant vitamins also compromises Yang and can lead to an increase of diseases. A compromised Yang means an added susceptibility to diseases. Meat is an important dietary source of Yang, and therefore people with Yang deficiency may well tend to eat more meat. As a result, people with a weak Yang may suffer more from diseases not because, but in spite of the consumption of meat.