Sophisticated Diets and Man’s Health 
problem of constipation. Although not in itself serious, 
constipation has led to widespread purgative abuse which has 
been encouraged by subtle advertising by the manufacturers of 
aperients. ‘This leads in turn to purgative addiction, secondary 
dyspepsia and much anxiety and tension. The net contribution 
to human misery and ill-health is difficult to measure but must 
be considerable. Admittedly lack of exercise and the tension 
arising from urban civilization play some part. 
Biltousness and Indigestion. Overloading the stomach and 
perhaps the liver with foods rich in fat and protein is, and has 
been, an immediate cause of biliousness ever since the food 
served at banquets became sophisticated. A healthy consti- 
tution can cope with periodic insults of this sort, but the 
twentieth century has brought repeated or even daily exposure 
to many more people. 
Indigestion detracts from the joy of healthful living and causes 
untold misery, and therefore wrong judgment and action, in 
sophisticated living. | 
Many other diseases could be cited which occur with 
increasing prevalence in sophisticated communities, for example 
peptic ulcer, appendicitis, etc. Those which have been 
discussed have been selected because it is believed that the 
consumption of sophisticated diets plays an important, although 
not a lone, part in their association with high standards of living. 
It must be emphasized that most of the remaining causes of 
morbidity and mortality in advanced communities have 
complex and multiple aetiology. This thought leads up to the 
next group of adverse effects—those that operate over long 
periods of time. 
LONG-TERM ADVERSE EFFECTS OF SOPHISTICATED DIETS ON HEALTH 
AND CONSTITUTION 
Much of what is to be said under this heading can be ex- 
pressed only in terms of probabilities and possibilities. Also, 
some of it may play into the hands of food faddists, and I am 
reluctant to expose myself to misquotation or misinterpretation 
by them. I believe, nevertheless, that it needs to be expressed 
49 
