Vegan Scientists and Doctors

Dr. Michael Greger

— Is the most frequently cited vegan doctor. It may even give the impression that he is the only doctor promoting veganism. Of course, he is not the only one! It is simply impossible not to quote him, because he created a huge knowledge base accessible to the average person, accumulating the results of thousands of scientific studies in the field of medicine.

Dr. Greger is a medical practitioner, (according to Wikipedia) ” American physician, author, and professional speaker on public health issues”. He founded  NutritionFacts.org project, which involves a team of physicians  who work on thoroughly studying available nutritional research. They do really huge amount of work analyzing not only results of research and comparing it with similar once, but also taking into account which organization sponsored the study and what possible financial interested it had in certain results. Doctor Greger explains this process here.

Dr. Greger is author of a famous cookbook “How not to die” – collection of recipes plus useful information and evidently proven facts about different foods. I would say, it’s vegan’s handbook.

Melanie Joy, Ph.D.

— one of the founders of the international organization Proveg, whose mission is to reduce world animal consumption by 50% by 2040. She received her M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her Ph.D. in psychology from the Saybrook Graduate School.,

Dr. Joy is the eighth recipient of the AHIMA Prize (previously awarded to the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela) for her work on global non-violence.

At this picture she is 50 years old! I was very impressed by her talk at TedX where she explains the concept of the legality of eating animal products (carnism).

Thomas Colin Campbell, Ph.D.

— scientist, Ph.D., emeritus  professor at Cornell University, teacher and writer. He spent 60 years of his life on scientific research revealing the connection between people’s nutrition and their health. He is the author of the famous The China Study, a 20-year project that correlated cancer mortality with dietary habits. You can read more about this study on Wikipedia, or elsewhere. Or you can read the book itself, which is even greater.

An interesting fact is that Campbell himself grew up in a farmer’s family, and when he began the study, he expected to get exactly the opposite results. Ironically. In March 2020, he turned 86 and looked quite fit.

Dr. Neal Barnard

—  MD, American author, clinical researcher, and founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. He is also very often invited as a speaker. You can find a lot of lectures with him, speeches and you can see him in documentaries about veganism. He also often gives interviews. I personally really like his approach, what topics he raises for discussion, his humor and temperament. The first video that I watched with his participation was this video about physical addiction to certain products. Perhaps it was this material that helped me give up cheese once and forever.

Neil Barnard, unlike Michael Greger (who is mostly involved in disseminating scientific information among us, end users), is actively engaged in dialogue with the government and large organizations. Here is an interview where he tells how he won the courts against the US government, proving the harm to eggs, the dairy and meat industry (in court!). Also, Neil Barnard has written a lot of books on nutrition. “Your Body in Balance: the New Science of Food, Hormones, and Health” is next on my list to read. Official website https://www.pcrm.org/

Prof. Walter Veith

— scientist, zoologist, professor, evangelist, speaker and writer known for his work in the fields of nutrition and creationism. He was a professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cape Town and taught in the Department of Biological Sciences. Then he joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church and rejected the theory of evolution in favor of creationism and was therefore forced to give up teaching at the University of Cape Town.

Walter Veith wrote the book “Diet and Health” and there are publicly available recordings of his lectures (with Russian translation as well) on the topics of plant-based nutrition. His biography may seem confusing, since science and religion somehow do not fit into the general context, but the lectures seem worthwhile to me. For me personally, this particular video finally cleared up the confusion over the properties of phytoestrogens in foods like soy. And I also found many answers about calcium in this lecture. He speaks in more detail about phytoestrogens in the lecture “Phytoestrogens, Anti-Cancer Products” – I recommend watching it, especially if you have stereotypes about the dangers of soy.

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn

—  American physician, surgeon, cardiologist, nutritionist, writer and Olympic rowing champion. This man saved many lives of people with heart disease by recommending veganism. He promotes a low-fat, whole-food plant-based diet as the healthiest diet for heart health. Esselstyn recommended that his patients completely eliminate animal products and refined oils, and minimize (avoid) avocados and nuts. But here we are talking specifically about the “low fat” whole-plant diet.

For the record, a whole-plant diet (which is my “reference point” in my lifestyle) involves a plant-based diet with no refined foods. That is, vegan, oil-free, sugar-free, low in refined salt, no refined flour: purely whole foods.
Esselstyn was a guest speaker on Forks Against Knives, where he talks about his work with seemingly hopeless patients.

Roger Hallam

—  environmentalist, activist, founder of the environmental organization Extinction Rebellion. I watched only one interview with his participation, but his radical thoughts are very close to me. Probably, when you think about the fate of the planet as a whole, you somehow become callous to the suffering of individuals- both people and animals. I, for example, do not gravitate towards animals and generally avoid contact with them, whereas according to the stereotype – all vegans protect animals and love to spend time with them. It’s not about me at all. It’s easier for me to establish contact with nature through  “dead rocks” – through clay, stones, earth…

Within the framework of the Planet’s history (which has survived all sorts of life transformations from the simplest bacteria to all animals that we know today), a separate life, and even entire generations, seem to be such a trifle…. It seems to me that Hallam prefers to see the entire picture. I like it. And at the same time, sad for him.