Is a high-sugar, low-fiber diet really harmful to a person’s health?
In his classic book Eat Right – To Keep Healthy and Enjoy Life More (New York: Arco, 1979), Dr. Dennis Burkitt points out the absence of a certain group of diseases in third world countries where a high-fiber, low-sugar diet is the norm. He contrasts that with the astoundingly high incidence of this same group of diseases in the western world. The author makes these observations as a researcher who worked for twenty years as a surgeon in Africa. Dr. Burkitt found several interesting facts about the following problems.
Heart attacks. This is one of the most common diseases in America, killing about one man in four and becoming more common in older women who are no longer protected by natural estrogen. This health problem is almost completely unknown in rural areas of third world countries.
Gallstones. The operation for removal of the gallbladder is one of the most common operations in America. Gallstones almost never occur in rural areas of third world countries.
Diverticulitis of the colon. This problem causes untold misery and pain for older people, necessitating operations, for removal of parts of the colon and often mandating colostomies. It occurs in our country in about one in then people over the age of forty and one in three over the age of sixty. This disease is almost unknown in third world communities.
Appendicitis. An appendectomy is the most common emergency operation done in the United States. Appendicitis almost never occurs in rural countries.
Hiatus hernia. The herniation of the stomach up through the diaphragm causes burning indigestion, and discomfort in the upper abdomen. It is quite common in the United States, and it can be so severe that major surgery is necessary. It almost never occurs in rural Africa.
Varicose veins. Most women naively assume that varicose veins are a result of having been pregnant, and it is reported that as many as 44 percent of women between the ages of thirty and fifty have varicose veins. In rural societies, however, varicose veins occur in less than 5 percent of the population.
Hermorrhoids. The American who does not have haemorrhoids is fortunate. At least 50 percent of the people in the United States do, and many of those victims have had surgery because of this problem. Although it is assumed by most American women that haemorrhoids occur only as a result of pregnancy and labor this problem is rear in rural parts of third world countries.
Cancer of the colon. This cancer is the most common cause of cancer deaths in the western world, but it is unusual in rural and agrarian societies.
Diabetes. Diabetes is quite common in our society, occurring in as many as 15 percent of adults over the age of fifty. This disease is very uncommon in all rural and agrarian societies.
Obesity. This is an extremely common problem in this country, where at least 40 percent of middle-aged adults are over-weight. Yet obesity is almost never a problem for rural people who feed themselves by growing their own food.
History indicates that these diseases occurred infrequently in the Western world until the last hundred years, and that they all seem to be associated with the change in our dietary habits. One of the examples that Dr. Buritt uses is that although all these diseases are among black South Africans, they affect white South Africans to approximately the same extent as they do Americas – and in the United States they affect blacks and whites alike. His explanation is that in South Africa the blacks still exist on an agrarian diet, while the whites eat the traditional over-refined Western foods.
Copy typed by Shirley-Ann Pearman
An excerpt from page 808 of “1250 Health-Care Questions Women Ask With Straightforward Answers by an Obstetrician/Gynecologist” (by Joe S. McIlhaney, Jr., M.D. with Susan Nethery)
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