ABSTRACT
Probably every disease known to mankind has some connection with the diet, at least in the sense that nutritional deficiencies weaken the natural defence mechanism of the body. A serious metabolic disturbance, like diabetes, even if corrected by the administration of insulin, predisposes to unrelated diseases, like coronary disease, presumably because neither the quantity, nor the timing of the dosage is as good as the regulatory effect of the healthy pancreas. Once a dietary pathogen has been identified, the disease it causes tends to fade into insignificance. Diseases which were the scourges of mankind, tend to yield to ridiculously simple measures once the cause is known. Most diseases which are known to be diet-related, are therefore only of historical interest. The toxic substance, for instance, a food additive, may be detectable, but it is thought to be harmless. In such cases the discovery that a seemingly harmless substance is pathogenic, may demand an immense amount of medical detective work.
