User:Forksover2/Forks Over Knives Feature Documentary Film

FORKS OVER KNIVES is a feature documentary film that was shot in 2009. FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the so-called “diseases of affluence” that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. Two major storylines in the film trace the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.

Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell University, was concerned in the late 1960’s with producing “high quality” animal protein to bring to the poor and malnourished areas of the third world. While in the Philippines, he made a life-changing discovery: the country’s wealthier children, who were consuming relatively high amounts of animal-based foods, were much more likely to get liver cancer. Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of the diseases he was routinely treating were virtually unknown in parts of the world where animal-based foods were rarely consumed.

These discoveries inspired Campbell and Esselstyn, who didn’t know each other yet, to conduct several groundbreaking studies. One of them took place in China and is still among the largest and most detailed health-related investigations ever undertaken. Their research led them to a startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented—and in many cases reversed—by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet. Despite the profound implications of their findings, their work has remained relatively unknown to the public. FORKS OVER KNIVES utilized state of the art animation and rare archival films to depict the science behind Campbell’s and Esselstyn’s discoveries. The filmmakers traveled with these men from their childhood farms where they both produced “nature’s perfect food”; to China and Cleveland where they explored ideas that were not only at odds with established thinking, but shook their own core beliefs. FORKS OVER KNIVES features leading experts on health, examines “why we don’t know”, and follows the journeys of “test patients” who have chronic conditions from high cholesterol to diabetes. Hard-hitting, moving, and informative, FORKS OVER KNIVES tackles the issue of diet and disease in a way that will have people talking for years.

In production for release in spring 2010.

FORKS OVER KNIVES was filmed all over the United States, and in Canada and China. It features appearances by:

Dr. Neal Barnard Founder and President, Physicians Council for Responsible Medicine, Washington D.C.

Gene Baur Founder, Farm Sanctuary, New York, California

Dr. T. Colin Campbell Author, “The China Study,” Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry, Cornell University, and Project Director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project

Dr. Junshi Chen Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

Connie B. Diekman, MEd, RD, FADA Director of University Nutrition, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and former President of the American Dietetic Association

Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn Author, “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease,” former internationally known surgeon, researcher and clinician at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio

Dr. David Klurfeld National Program Leader, Human Nutrition, USDA

Drs. Matthew Lederman and Alona Pulde Founders of Exsalus Health and Wellness Center, Los Angeles, California (practicing physicians)

Dr. Doug Lisle Co-Author, “The Pleasure Trap” and Director of Research, TrueNorth Health Center, Santa Rosa, California

Dr. Terry Mason Commissioner, Department. of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois

Dr. John McDougall Physician, Author, and Founder Dr. McDougall’s Health and Medical Center, Santa Rosa, California

Dr. Pam Popper Founder and Executive Director of the Wellness Forum, Columbus, Ohio

Executive Producer Brian L. Wendel

Writer & Director Lee Fulkerson

Producer John Corry

Co-Producer Allison Boon

Editors Brian Crance John Orfanopoulos

Composer Ramon Balcazar

Cinematography John Orfanopoulos Brian Crance Richard Chamberlin

IMDB Page Dr. Pam Popper Blog T. Colin Campbell Foundation