THE GREAT by D. H. KRESS, M.D.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 17, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 45.

THE GREAT

By D. H. KRESS, M.D.

INCREASE OF CANCER

Is Not Hereditary — May Be Imparted by Contact — The Causes of the Disease — The Most Successful Treatments By D. H. KRESS, M.D. New England Sanitarium, Melrose, Massachusetts

It is estimated that in the United States alone no fewer than one hundred thousand persons are afflicted with cancer at all times, and that over seventy thousand die of the disease each year. In civilized countries, the deaths from cancer have increased very rapidly during the past thirty years.

If this increase continues, the mortality from the disease will soon equal that from tuberculosis. At present, one woman out of every ten, after reaching the age of thirty-five, is doomed to die of this disease.

A COMMUNICABLE DISEASE

Whether the disease is due to a germ, or whether it is a wild growth of tissue, has not yet been fully determined. One thing of great importance has been discovered, and that is, cancer can be transplanted from one animal to another, and is therefore a communicable disease.

There has been a universal belief that cancer runs in families. Some persons may find comfort in the knowledge that the disease is not hereditary. However, it does run in families. But if a mature person has cancer whose father or mother had it, the probability is that both parent and offspring lived in such a way as to induce it; that “like causes, acting on like organisms in succeeding generations, produce like results.”

PREDISPOSING CAUSES OF CANCER

Anything that defiles the blood acts as a predisposing cause of cancer. The free use of foods that are impure, or that through decay in the alimentary tract form impurities, tends to pave the way for cancer. Meat not merely contains a large amount of these impurities, but it readily undergoes decay in the human alimentary canal, thus forming poisonous irritants which excite the tissue to become abnormal and degenerate.

Dr. W. A. Jamieson, physician for diseases of the skin at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, in discussing the causes of cancer, expresses the belief that the increase in the consumption of butcher’s meat, and especially the extensive use of beef, is one of the leading causes of the greater prevalence of cancer in modern times. There are many other authorities who hold to the same view.

Dr. Burney Yeo says, “Among other evils attending an animal dietary, one is that it favors the tendency, where it exists, to the development of cancer.”

In the report of the mortality due to cancer among the workers in Packington, who live largely on meats, Dr. Guilfor shows an enormous prevalence of cancer among the workers. In the statistics furnished, foreigners of the so-called flesh-eating nations reveal the highest death-rate, in marked contrast to the nations that consume fifty to forty per cent less meat per capita.

VEGETARIANS ARE IMMUNE

From returns collected in England by Dr. Roger Williams, it appears that of one hundred and ninety-three cancer patients, ninety-nine had been moderate eaters of meats, seventy-eight used little, and sixteen much, and “there was not a single strict vegetarian among them.” The orthodox Jews, who adhere closely to the laws of Moses, and abstain from the use of pork, rarely suffer of the disease.

The following table, obtained from the Hon. R. Russell’s work on “Strength and Diet,” shows how the prevalence of cancer stands related to the use of meats in various countries:

In England

The cancer rate is high. The flesh eaten is much.

In Ireland (South)

The cancer rate is rather low. The flesh eaten is little.

In Italy

The cancer rate is moderate. The flesh eaten is moderate.

In Saxony

The cancer rate is very high. The flesh eaten is much.

In Hungary

The cancer rate is very low. The flesh eaten is little.

In Sardinia, where the deaths caused by cancer are less than two to ten thousand, and in Bombay, where in 1875 the deaths due to this disease were at the rate of only one to every ten thousand, the use of meat is almost unknown. In Persia the disease is seldom met; and in Egypt, Tunis, and Algeria there is a decided immunity.

PREVALENT AMONG THE MEAT EATERS

In Canada, the United States, and Australia, the death-rate from cancer ranges from two hundred eighty to four hundred seventy out of every ten thousand deaths. The disease is four hundred times as prevalent in Australia as in Bombay.

This is not a mere coincidence. The people of Sardinia, Bombay, Persia, and Algeria are practically non-carnivorous, while Australians are the greatest meat eaters in the world.

Another point of interest is, in Australia, more meat is consumed in the rural districts than in the cities. We find that cancer is more common in the rural districts of Australia than in the cities, while in Europe and America, where meat is more freely used in the cities, the reverse is the case, the disease prevailing more in the cities than in the country. All of this points to meat as one of the chief causative factors in the production of cancer.

The chief predisposing cause of cancer is a vitiated blood stream, resulting from the absorption of impurities found in meats, or of highly toxic impurities produced by putrefaction of meats in the alimentary canal. Any habit, however, that tends to lower the vitality of the body tissue, undoubtedly acts as a predisposing cause.

The excessive use of salt, beer, tea, coffee, and tobacco, and the breathing of impure air, act as contributing causes of the disease. Animal fats, butter, and sugar all favor the development of products that pave the way for cancer.

WORST AMONG THE OVERFED

Cancer does not, as a rule, affect the scantily fed. Its victims are chiefly among the high livers, or the overfed.

Cancerous growths usually develop in tissue that has been subjected to irritation or to injury. Cancer of the lip, the mouth, or the throat from the use of tobacco, is for this reason practically confined to men, and cancer of the breast to women. The stiff corset, by keeping up constant pressure and irritation, and the excitation due to nursing, are common causes.

Pepper, mustard, pickles, and other direct irritants, and sugar, jellies, greasy foods, and soft, starchy foods, which favor fermentation and the formation of irritating products, act as exciting causes of cancer of the stomach and liver. Since dietetic errors are equally common among men and women, we find cancer of the stomach and liver equally distributed among men and women.

CAREFUL LIVING WILL PREVENT IT

While cancer is not transmitted from parents to children, yet children may inherit an inferior organism or a predisposition to cancer; but if careful in living, they need never die of the disease.

Cancer is not unusual among animals that are kept confined, and whose surroundings are unhygienic. This is probably the chief cause of its prevalence among cows. The prevalence of the disease among animals is one of the sources of its growing frequency among men. Often in cutting up meat, butchers encounter internal cancerous tumors. These they remove, but the remainder of the carcass is always sold. The cancer cells frequently circulate in the blood, and are deposited in various parts of the body of the animal. Cancer in fish is common. By the use of infected meat, the cancer cell may be directly transplanted from the animal to man; and those who have previously filled their tissues with impurities through improper habits, naturally fall victims to it.

THE BEST TREATMENT FOR CANCER

Surgery is indicated as soon as the growth makes its appearance. In removal of superficial cancers, escharotics or plasters may be employed. The results are often disappointing. Sir James Paget, a most distinguished surgeon, in speaking of surgery as a cure for cancer, said, “As to the influence of an operation in prolonging life, I believe the removal of the local disease makes no material difference in the average duration of life.”

Dr. Mayo, America’s chief surgeon, in his outline of pathology, wrote, “After amputation of a cancerous breast under the most favorable circumstances, I believe that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the disease returns.”

For treatment to be effective, a cancer should be removed at the earliest possible opportunity. The needed reforms in eating, drinking, etc., must be made. When this is done, there is justifiable hope for permanent relief in many cases.

CAREFULNESS IN DIET A MAIN HELP

In order to avoid cancer, or to rid the system of the disease after it exists, animal flesh as an article of food should be aban

doned. Cheese, butter, sugar, and other foods that readily decay or ferment in the alimentary tract, and thus produce irritants which, when absorbed, tend to give rise to inflammatory processes in the tissues of the body, should be eaten sparingly or not at all.

Well-baked breads, corn flakes, puffed rice, zwieback, shredded wheat biscuits, and unfermented breads, thoroughly baked and well masticated, are safe articles of food. Fresh fruits, as pineapples, grape fruit, oranges, apples, grapes, peaches, etc., should be freely used. Cooked vegetables readily ferment, and should therefore be used in but small quantities. Raw vegetables, as celery, lettuce, cabbage, etc., aid in keeping the alimentary canal sterile, and prevent the formation of irritants. Ripe olives and olive-oil, or a moderate amount of nuts, should be substituted for butter and other animal fats. Figs and persimmons may take the place of sugar, if sweets are desired. Salt should be used sparingly. Pepper, mustard, and spices should be given up entirely.

CLEANSING THE TISSUES AND STARVING THE CANCER

If the patient has an abundance of flesh, a complete fast for a week will be found beneficial. During this time, half a glassful of pure distilled or soft water should be taken at intervals of one half hour. At the end of the fast, subacid fruits may form the exclusive diet for another week, and then the well-baked cereals may be added. Fresh fruits and raw vegetables may form the diet for several months.

The purpose is not to starve the patient, but to cleanse the tissues, and thus starve the cancer.

Careful adherence to a vegetarian dietary not only tends to prevent cancer, but in one case that came under my observation a cure was effected in this manner. I know of a number of cases where such a dietary was adopted by patients after a surgical operation, and in most of these cases the cancer did not return.

I am convinced if the regime outlined were followed religiously, the prevalence of cancer could be reduced to a minimum.