Pillars of Health 2 : Nutrition and Disease

Let’s first start with establishing some of the negative consequences of certain dietary habits.  A study of low fiber diets published in 1972 by Dr Dennis Burkitt suggested associations with: heart attacks, gallbladder disease, diverticulosis and diverticulitis, colon cancer, hemorrhoids, and varicose veins.  Dr Burkitt concluded in a follow up paper in 1982 that the diseases of the 21st century would be diet-related, and therefore preventable.  In 2017, the Global Burden of Disease Report in the Lancet suggested that poor diet causes more global deaths than cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, or any other cause, and that 1 in 5 global deaths is attributable to poor diet. The next question is, what is a poor diet?  We will discuss that tomorrow.