General Discussion 205 



Cowdry: May I ask Dr. Sinclair whether the restricted diet during and 

 following the war has had any appreciable effect in this country? I 

 have in mind the statements emanating from California that eating eggs 

 is bad because of the cholesterol. The diet in eggs has been very 

 restricted in Britain for millions of people, though the time may not have 

 been sufficient to see any results. Have there been any significant 

 results from egg deficiency? 



Tunhridge: The reduction in egg consumption in Great Britain during 

 the war was not as great as it appeared. Figures quoted by a speaker at 

 one of the meetings of the Nutrition Society suggested that the real 

 consumption of eggs per head of the population was appreciably greater 

 than that of the official returns and of the order of 75 per cent of the 

 pre-war figures. 



Cozvdry: In animals there is evidence that chronic underfeeding 

 significantly reduces the incidence of spontaneous tumours. We have 

 had in the late war many people who have been starved almost to death, 

 with tremendous decreases in weight maintained for quite a long time. I 

 would like to discover whether in Britain anyone is consistently follow- 

 ing up the histories of those that suffered this kind of a handicap in the 

 war. 



Nicolaysen: In the last year or two considerable attention has been 

 focused on the fate of Danes and Norwegians kept in German concen- 

 tration camps. It appears that the number of late damage effects are 

 now slowly appearing. They are now trying to organize a thorough study 

 of these people. The study was originated in Denmark, but they are 

 now trying to do it systematically in Norway. We have been quite 

 surprised to see what they could tolerate. 



Cowdry: It will take time, of course. 



Franklin: I believe the Dutch people who were starved during the 

 war had a much lower incidence of eclampsia, wliich must make quite a 

 difference to the length of life of women. 



Sinclair: That I think is certainly true. It is extremely difficult to 

 analyse because in the famine in the Netherlands there were so many 

 other relevant factors, such as who was admitted to hospital. But I 

 think it is generally agreed that the incidence of eclampsia was con- 

 siderably decreased. 



McCance: We've had a longish discussion about whether the slow 

 attainment of maturity leads to a considerable increase in the span of 

 life, and it has been mostly about human beings. I can understand that 

 this is a most important question, and all sorts of policy may ultimately 

 be based upon it. But I should have thought that this was eminently 

 susceptible to experimental attack. Claude Bernard always made the 

 point, that the solution of your problem depends upon getting the right 

 animal. With the right animal I should have thought that this problem 

 could be solved conclusively in general terms in about fifteen to twenty 

 years. 



Aub: McCay talked of many animals but didn't mention the one that 

 I'm particularly fond of, and that is the deer. The deer doesn't live very 

 long, only fifteen years, and has one iniportant characteristic: it 



