Diet and Health: Diseases and Food 297This complexity keeps epidemiologists busy around the world, but the rapidity of
change should bring little surprise. In 1981 Trowell summarized the emergence of
CHD amongst East Africans: in the 1930s, he reported, autopsies had shown zero
CHD in East Africa, and only one case among 2994 autopsies conducted in
Makere University Medical School over the period 1931–1946. However, by the
1960s CHD in this region was emerging as a major rather than peripheral health
problem.^88
In China, between 1991 and 1995,^89 CHD accounted for 15 per cent of all
deaths. Cholesterol levels here, compared to those found in Western populations,
were low but were increasing rapidly among the urban populations where a more
affluent lifestyle was being adopted. Daily intake of meat, eggs and cooking oil had
increased while intake of legumes and cereals had decreased. A reduction in the
consumption of Western fast foods was also recommended as were increasing
physical activity levels, an urging which could be applied to many urbanizing
developing countries.
Food-related Cancers
Since the 1980s, dietary factors have been thought to account for around 30 per
cent of cancers in Western countries, making diet second only to tobacco as a pre-
ventable cause of cancer;^90 in developing countries diet accounted for around 20
per cent.^91 Table 13.12 gives the 1997 review of food-cancer research by the World
Cancer Research Fund. An updated report is due out in 2006.
Table 13.11 Age-standardized deaths per 100,000 population from CHD selected
countries, 1968–1996: womenWomen 1968 1978 1988 1996
UK 175 182 156 107
Finland 204 177 141 93
US 273 185 119 92
Austria 120 119 84 81
Australia 268 186 117 73
Canada 198 155 100 72
Belgiuma 111 100 61 46
Italya 87 82 51 43
Spain 33 46 39 34
France 49 44 30 22
Japan 45 99 21 21Note: a latest statistics for 1994.
Source: British Heart Foundation from WHO country statistics