When a Doctor Knows Best First published in The Vegan, Autumn 1999 ©Katrina Fox 1999

©Vegan Society, UK

KATRINA FOX catches up with Dr Neal Barnard during his recent visit to the UK

Many of us will no doubt remember the look on our GP's face when we announced that our diet consists of no annual products whatsoever, including milk. It Could range from confusion or concern to downright hostility, so it's refreshing to meet a doctor who's not only a vegan, determined to prove to the whole world that ti's the healthiest way to be, but also a passionate campaigner against vivisection.

Dr Neal Barnard is President of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington DC, USA, which he founded in 1985. 'I was working in a hospital in New York City and I felt were doing a lot to detect and treat illness but nothing to prevent it. I felt there was a place for physician advocacy.'

PCRM now has about 5000 doctors among its membership. Its aims are to reform nutritional policy, conduct research and bring an end to animal experiments.

So, he has made a few enemies then? 'The dairy industry is rather upset with us at the moment, Barnard says. 'Our dietary guidelines for Americans are reconfigured every five years so we're now working on them so dairy no longer has its special group, so that means meat is no longer promoted. In 1995 we got the word "vegetarian" in the guidelines for the first time, but we need to go further so that vegan diets are encouraged and understood.

But Barnard als has his allies, even at the highest levels. PCRM's campaign against dairy products has earned it the support of the Congressional Black Caucus - the African-American members of Congress. 'If you look at blacks, Asians and Mexican Americans, the majority are lactose intolerant and you can't suggest to them that they have to swallow dairy products when there is no evidence that it does them any good, and in many cases causes harm.'

So what made a young man born in North Dakota, the heart of cattle country whose family works in the meat and dairy industry become a vegan? 'The process was a gradual one,' says Barnard. 'I became a vegetarian in the 1970s. Before I went to med school I had a job helping out with autopsies and it's one thing to hear about a heart attack but it's another to see one. To examine the heart, you have to pull a big wedge of ribs off the chest. After I had done one such examination we went to the cafeteria to find they were serving ribs for lunch - I became vegetarian shortly after that!'

Being vegan is a healthier option all round, believes Barnard. 'When you look at medical research, you have to be impressed that the rates of cancer and heart disease are so very low. And when you see all the worry around salmonella in beef and Mad Cow Disease, these are things that become totally irrelevant to you.'

With generations of people brought up to believe meat and dairy products are essential for a healthy diet, Barnard admits he has his work cut out trying to educate people. 'Myths die hard, but I think now that ours is not a minority view when it comes from the standpoint of research.'

PCRM's own research is looking at the link between dairy and prostrate cancer and a weight loss study is initially showing that a low fat vegan diet helps reduce menstrual pain in healthy young women.

As well as health concerns, Barnard became aware of animal welfare issues over the years, starting at medical school when he refused to run with the crowd. 'I was asked to take a live dog and to give it a variety of drugs to se how they affected its heart and then to kill it. I said "no chance", and then another student refused and they decided that this particular experiment would no longer be required, but would be optional. A few years later they got rid of it. That to me was an example of things that people continue to do unthinkingly and which are not only unnecessary but also very counterproductive.' He goes on to explain that, for example, the factors that contribute to obesity in rats are extremely different to those that cause it in humans, making animal research confusing.

Barnard's new book Foods that Fight Pain shows that not only is your general health improved by a vegan diet, but a melee of conditions such as migraine and arthritis can often be improved by it too. But be warned: there is a disadvantage to being vegan, says Barnard. 'You have to figure out what to do when all your non-vegan friends are dying off early in life!"

Resources
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), 512 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 404, Washington DC 20016, USA. Ph 1 202 686 2210
Website www.pcrm.org
PCRM publishes a quarterly magazine, Good Medicine.

The Vegan is the magazine of the Vegan Society in the UK. For more information, visit their website at http://www.vegansociety.com/