CANCER AND DIET

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 67, 17 September 1923, Page 7

CANCER AND DIET

LONDON, 14th September. Dr. Sydney A. Moncton Copemaii medical officer of the Ministry of Health' at a crowded meeting of the physiology section of the British Association, detailed cases of patients in advanced stages of cancer whose lives had been prolonged and freed of pain by a diel. from which foodstuffs of animal origin containing fat-soluble vitamin had been excluded, though bacon had been allowed because its fat-soluble factor wa s exceptionally small. Dr. Copeman said it was a tragic fact that one in seven of middle-aged people died from cancer, and the recorded mortality had trebled in two generations. It had long been a known fact that fatsoluble factor was absolutely essential for growth in the young, but its effect upon adults had not hitherto been investigated. The results of rationing during the war suggested a new treatment. Dr. Copeman also investigated enclosed orders of the Catholic Church, particularly the Carthusians, Cistercians, and Benedictines, who are practically vegetarians, and found that though they did not enjoy complete immunity from cancer, there was much less within the orders than among unenclosed orders whose food was not strictly limited. The enclosed orders had a plentiful supply of salad vegetables at hand.