By Jimmy Downs

Friday Nov 15, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Hepatitis B is one major cause for liver cancer and people who have suffered hepatitis B or currently carry hepatitis B virus are at higher risk for the deadly disease.

Hepatitis B vaccine is intended to prevent any damage from this viral infection.  However, some people do not want hepatitis B vaccine for some reason.  Is there anything people who are at risk can do to lower their risk for liver cancer induced by hepatitis B virus or another cause?

According to Dr. T Colin Campbell, distinguished professor of Nutrition at Cornell University, eating vegan diet or plant-based diet can completely prevent liver cancer induced by hepatitis B virus or aflatoxin B, which is another major risk factor for liver cancer.

Dr. Campbell carried out a study to compare two groups of mice, one group of mice were fed a 20% soy protein based diet and one group of mice a 20% casein based diet.  Casein is the major protein found in milk.  Before the dietary intervention got started, all mice received a high dose of aflatoxin B which was intended to induce liver cancer in the animals.  All mice were kept until they were supposed to die.    The group on soy protein diet had all members alive and healthy at the age they were supposed to die, and the group on casein protein died out prior to the age they were supposed to die.

Dr.  Campbell did another study on the impact of a plant-based diet and a casein based diet to see how they affect the risk of liver cancer induced by hepatitis B virus.  He found that hepatitis B virus could not do any damage to the liver of mice that ate a plant-based diet while mice on a casein diet were vulnerable for the damage induced by hepatitis B viral infection.

These studies suggest that liver cancer can be prevented by using a plant-based diet without using any hepatitis B vaccine while they also suggest that eating a meat-based diet can increase the risk.

Dr. Campbell reported his findings in his book titled China Study, which is available on amazon.com.