Digestion and Cancer

Two British doctors, Burkitt and Trowell, discovered that the faecal matter passed by Africans was soft and bulky and that food passed through the body within 24 hours. By contrast the faecal matter of the British was hard, compressed and odiferous, taking three days to pass through the system. Since the Africans were largely free from cancer of the bowels and rectum it would seem particularly incumbent to assess the influence of their diet on their freedom from this form of cancer. The important factor was discovered to be vegetable fibre or roughage - the cellulose in plants which is indigestable but also indispensible in maintaining the health of the digestive system. Remember that animal foods contain no roughage or fibre. Wholegrain wheat begins its life as a nutritious fibre filled food but after heavy refining has removed its roughage, the wheatgerm is turned into fibreless white flour. Its is perfectly clear that white flour products and the consumption of animal foods are seriously implicated in the development of cancer of the bowel and rectum.