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15
Although there has been a sharp rise in the number of deaths
from lung cancer there also has been a rise in the number of deaths
due to diseases of arteries, and a smaller rise due to cancer as a
whole.
Diseases of Arteries
Recently the World Health Organisation published reports from
various research workers in the field of Human Nutrition. Their
main problem is one of shortage of food in certain areas of the
world but also brought to light is the fact that over feeding can
have a deleterious effect, especially the consumption of the wrong
sorts of food. Suspicion has fallen on certain hard fats (animal
fats) commonly used in the leading Western countries, where arterial
disease is so prevalent. The mechanism of how these fats are
harmful has not been shown but it is known that a fatty substance
(cholesteral) is found deposited on the lining of the diseased
arteries. Its incidence is highest in the countries where these
animals fats are used and overused. Where vegetable oils are used
instead the incidence is said to be lower.
Another authority lays emphasis on the fact that we do not
get sufficient of the essential fatty acids that are present in
wheat embryo, vegetable oils etc. It is thought that these protect
the lining of the arteries from the deposits of harmful fats.
Lung Cancer
The rise in deaths from lung cancer over recent years has set
innumerable research workers and statisticians to look for a possible
cause. Attention has been particularly focussed on the habit of
smoking and it appears from the evidence supplied that smoking
must be suspect as a contributory cause of the disease.
It is said that heavy smokers are much more liable to develop
cancer of the lung. One survey has shown that cancer of the lungs
was twenty times more common in heavy smokers than in non smokers.
Another survey put the incidence as forty times commoner in those
who smoked over 25 cigarettes a day compared with non-smokers.
Investigations into atmospheric pollution and its possible
relation to lung cancer continues.