Ray Audette <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >From a Wall Street Journal article abstracting a recent Lancet Study:
>

> "Diseases of affluence" such as heart disease and strokes are killing
> more people in the developing world than in richer richer
> countries........
>
> By 1990, therefore there were already 50% more cancer deaths in less
> developed countries than in developed countries........
>
> I feel this study dispells the myth that these disorders are found
> mostly in our decadent western societies (see NeanderThin review).

These facts do not surprise me.  The population of the developing world is
so much greater than the richer countries (especially if the latter is
narrowly defined) that to have more deaths of any disease in the former is
not unlikely.  I would guess there are more deaths of AIDS, cholera, TB,
and other causes unrelated to diet, even road accidents, in the developing
world.  What is of more interest is the proportion of deaths in the
different parts of the world, and if we are to make inferences about diet
we must allow for the better medical facilities in the richer world - I
expect the prevalence of, say, breast cancer is similar but the mortality
is higher in the developing world, simply from lack of treatment.

Andrew Millard

 =========================================================================
 Dr. Andrew Millard                              [log in to unmask]
 Department of Archaeology, University of Durham,   Tel: +44 191 374 4757
 South Road, Durham. DH1 3LE. United Kingdom.       Fax: +44 191 374 3619
                      http://www.dur.ac.uk/~drk0arm/
 =========================================================================