Ernest H. Tipper
Ernest Harry Tipper M.R.C.S was an English physician, surgeon and alternative cancer treatment advocate.
Biography
Tipper served for many years in the West African Medical Service.[1] He authored The Cradle of the World and Cancer, in 1927.[2] The book was based on his twenty years of medical practice in Nigeria.[3] He examined only six cases of cancer out of an estimated 300,000 patients. The Nigerian diet was low in meat and high in fibre which is opposite to the European diet.[3] Tipper came to the conclusion that constipation and excessive meat-eating were the causes of cancer.[3]
According to Tipper the Béné tribe, who live in the Niger Delta amongst whom he practised for twenty years, are almost free from cancer and live on a semi-vegetarian diet.[4] They live on beans, fruits, seeds, monkey nuts, yams, maize, cayenne peppers, palm oil and occasionally palm wine.[4] Tipper reported that they use 4 oz. of red palm oil daily.[5] They eat eggs and fish, the occasional chicken but rarely any red meat. The drinking of milk is repulsive to the natives. Tipper reported that the men can carry a load of 50 lb on their heads 25 miles a day in tropical heat and their bones and teeth are remarkable.[4] Tipper recommended his readers to abandon meat-eating and dairy, limit flour intake from bread or pastry and substitute butter with palm butter.[4] Tipper's ideas did not receive much notice in medical literature and his book remains obscure.[3] There was a positive review in the British Medical Journal.[1]
Tipper's research is quoted by Sir William Arbuthnot Lane in his book The Prevention of the Diseases Peculiar to Civilization, in 1929.[6]
Selected publications
- The Cradle of the World and Cancer: A Disease of Civilisation (1927)
See also
References
- ^ a b "Notes On Books". The British Medical Journal. 2 (3477): 352–353. 1927. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.3477.352. S2CID 220228935.
- ^ A. W. (1928). "Reviewed Work: The Cradle of the World and Cancer: A Disease of Civilisation by Ernest H. Tipper". Journal of the Royal African Society. 27 (106): 198.
- ^ a b c d Horton, James C. (2000). Inner Hygiene: Constipation and the Pursuit of Health in Modern Society. Oxford University Press. p. 202. ISBN 0-19-513581-4
- ^ a b c d "The Cradle of the World and Cancer: A Disease of Civilization. By E. H. Tipper, M.R.C.S.Eng., L.R.C.P.Lond., West African Service (retired)". The Clinical Journal. 56: 575. 1927.
- ^ Hastings, V. E. (1938). "Cancer And Vitamin A Deficiency". The British Medical Journal. 1 (4042): 1390. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4042.1390-a. S2CID 72384405.
- ^ Lane, William Arbuthnot. (1929). The Prevention of the Diseases Peculiar to Civilization. London: Faber & Faber. pp. 54-56