FOOD HABITS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 73, 8 January 1936, Page 3

FOOD HABITS

RELATION TO CANCER. AMERICAN’S INVESTIGATION. (Special to' the “Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, January 7. A study of the food-habits or New {Zealanders is to be made bv an American doctor, Dr. E. "C. Hill, who arrived at Wellington on Monday. The doctor, who is accompanied by his wife, intends also to gather facts about the cancer death rate. He believes that cancer is a “disease of civilisation” largely caused by overeating. Dr. Hill has practised medicine in Denver, Colorado, for 45 years, and has occupied the chair of chemistry at the Denver University for 20 years of tlia-t time. He is now retired. While not believing that a specific cure for cancer can be found, lie considers that preventive measures will check the disease. With that in mind, he is attempting to collect sufficient data to compile a treatise on the subject. He finds that the low incidence oi cancer in Egypt supports bis own theory. It had been thought that the water supply, or the magnesium content of the soil, might partially explain tlie immunity of'tlie Egyptians. Rut Dr. Hill is of the opinion that they are comparatively free from the disease because they do not get more than, enough to eat. Cancer, too, was nearly always found in the moderately prosperous class. It could be called a disease of civilisa tioin, because it was not prevalent among native races. A doctor who had attended thousands of natives in the Cook Islands had found no more than one case in five years. Nor was it at all common in China, Japan, native Africa, and South America.