The consumption of barbecued meat, smoked pickled fish and alcohol and deficiency of magnesium and Vit A are related to gastric cancer. The increased intake for Vit. C and refrigeration has been postulated to be responsible for decrease in gastric cancer.
Diet and Peptic Ulcer
Milk stimulates acid secretion. Taking milk between meals and bed time is not healthy. Wheat husk contains pentosans which are found to be beneficial. So it is always useful to take whole wheat bread and avoid maida, bread, pastries and maida sweets. The right kind of carbohydrates are the single most important element in the diet, they can be the cheapest kind of food, most nourishing and least fattening. Most common sources of carbohydrates are bread and rice.
Bread has been used since pre-Biblical days. Grinding grains of wheat between stones to produce the gritty powder called flour, people have later mixed it with yeast, salt and water to make dough. The dough is kept to ferment. the risen mass is baked in the oven to form bread.
Wheat has three components, bran wheat germ and endosperm. If you want to get real benefit from bread you must eat all of the three components in the same proportion as God has provided. Some 80 years ago man found that if bran and germ are removed from the flour they can produce white flour which can be kept for years. It could be stored and sold at higher prices. Since then we have been using flour (maida) to make the bread.
Bran and wheat germ contain all life sustaining vitamins and minerals and they are as follows: Pyridoxine, riboflavine, potassium, linolic acid, protein, pantothenic acid, iron, phosphorus, manganese, copper, sulphur, iodine, flourine, chlorine, sodium, silicon, boron, inositral, folic acid and vitamin E… So white flour becomes poorer in life sustaining properties. The name of “enriched” bread was not heard till world war II. It started in the U.S. with Generals and Admirals who insisted on enriching the bread and flour out of fear that their soldiers would not be able to stand up to the wholewheat eating Germans and Japanese. Enriching consists of adding few cheap synthetic vitamin to wheat flour.
If someone pulled out 32 of your healthy teeth and gave you back 8 false ones in return would you consider your mouth to be enriched? Same is true about rice. Polishing of rice started almost at a later date but for the same reason. If you strip off rice from bran, it looks clean and whiter. It can be stored for years unspoiled by germs. Bran is one of the richest sources of vitamin B-Complex. Its deficiency in food causes Beri Beri. Patients suffer from lack of concentration, poor memory, anaemia and even phychosis and senility.
Dr. Takaki, a naval doctor, studied Beri Beri which was a common occurrence in the Navy. This was a common condition after a long voyage and half the crew used to be affected by it. Dr. Takaki after detailed investigation concluded that it was dietary disease and occured due to polished rice and lack of protein. On a sea voyage of 9 months he added whole wheat bread and increased the allowance of 9 months he added whole wheat bread and increased the allowance of milk. He found only 9 cases of Beri Beri out of 300 crew whereas earlier their number was 169.
Later on, it was proved that there is substance in the pericap of rice, which is water solube and protected from a disease similar to Beri Beri. Eijkman, the discoverer won the Nobel prize. Beri Beri can thus be prevented and cured. The husk of rice and bran of wheat not only protect us from Beri beri but also from cancer and other diseases. The fibre food needs more chewing and it is bulkier and so more filling and less fattening than low fibre food.