Sophisticated Diets and Man’s Health 
taking up certain diseases and unhealthy trends in modern 
civilization and tracing them back to their major aetiology in 
sophistication of foods. 
Deficiency Diseases from Refinement of Staple Foods. ‘This group 
of effects is well exemplified by the problem of beri-beri in 
rice-eating communities. The refining of whole-grain rice 
leads to the removal of most of the husk and germ in which 
thiamine (vitamin B) is contained. When rice is the major 
source of calories in the diet, epidemic and endemic beri-ber1 
result. The story is well reviewed in an FAO report? (1954). 
The interest to our discussion is the tenacity with which the 
ordinary people of the East adhere to this particular form of 
food sophistication. Return to “naiural’’ or parboiled whole 
rice is resisted so strongly on account of taste, tradition and 
status symbolization that it has proved easier to enrich refined 
rice with synthetic thiamine. 
Very similar tenacity of prejudice has been experienced with 
the more educated people of Western civilization in regard 
to white and brown wheat flour. Britain and the U.S.A. have 
capitulated to public demand and approved a policy of 
enrichment of white flour with synthetic nutrients which are 
removed in the process of milling, notably thiamine, niacin 
and iron. 
Caries of Teeth. There can be no doubt about the unhealthy 
effects of sophisticated diets on the incidence and prevalence 
of caries of the teeth. The classic example of the experience 
of the people of Tristan da Cunha in this respect has been 
duplicated in many parts of the world. The exact mechanism 
is still obscure but it appears to be multiple. Firstly concen- 
trated foods, such as purified sugar, left in the gingival pockets 
encourage the growth of caries-producing bacteria. Secondly 
the reduction of friction on the gums from chewing of hard 
‘natural’ foods seems to alter physical conditions in the mouth 
and so reduce resistance to caries-producing bacteria. Finally 
it is possible that the acidity and chemical constitution of saliva 
may be altered, through internal metabolic effects of sophisti- 
cated diets, in a direction which promotes caries. 
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