THE YOUNG HEART

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22243, 6 November 1937, Page 20

THE YOUNG HEART

Diet and High Blood Pressure, By Dr I. Harris. The Hogarth Press. IS® pp. (10s 6d net.) Dr. Harris, an authority upon the heart and blood pressure, here presents “a code of living designed to prevent high blood pressure,, heart disease, and premature aging.” “To deal adequately with these problems,” he says, “preventative mrasures are necessary.” Statistically, high blood pressure is more fatal than cancer. As Dr. Harris’s dogma is that there is “no sin so deadly as that which cuts life short,” it is no wonder he throws himself into his task of enlightenment with the zeal of a Crusader.

Wrong diet, principally excessive protein intake over a period, is ope of the chief causes of the trouble. Another, almost as important, B mental attitude. Life lived at concert pitch without relaxation imposes more strain on the organs than is realised. For both the* reasons it is found that high blood pressure and heart disease are much more prevalent among the middle classes than the working clflssd Gardeners and clergymen have the best chances of longevity. Dr. Harris considers that a community that compels a large section of people to live so wastefully is not worthy to be called civilised and a an advocate of wholesale reform m diet and in management of occupation. A stockbroker, for instance, might have one month in the city and 11 months on a farm. Meanwhile, we must be careful of protein intake; avoid voracity by having man ysmall meals, be thrifty of our emotions—the case is cited of a man who died from a heart attack induced by a dispute with the plumber; find our ideal weight from the table at the end of the book, and keep approximately to it by using specimen diets, of which many are given. So we may enjoy a vigorous old age.