Over-eating
Sir: I am sorry to disagree with Dr Linklater (March 9) but a great deal of what he writes about foodstuffs is hard to swallow. Whilst it may be true that 'primitive' man owes his freedom from certain diseases to the fact that he eats 'natural' foods, it is also the fact, is it not, that in quantity he eats much less than we do, as I had occasion to observe for myself a few years ago when 1 spent a week in an Indian village. Moreover, in our society natural foods are expensive and take time to prepare: moreover, being tastier, they tend to encourage over-eating. Further, exercise is nowhere mentioned. Primitive man is a hunter and works on the land: we tend to sit at desks or in motor cars and fail to exercise our muscles. I agree with what he writes about breast-feeding, but the general tone of his article seems too much to dress up Rousseau's myth of the noble savage in scientific clothes. Animals do become overweight when they have access to food ad lib and have no incentive to roam free; and so do humans in 'primitive countries', as many an Indian sweetmeat stall holder will testify. There they sit, these great fat greasy people, while the miserable peasant toils and slaves. Maybe the increasing price of world foodstuffs will do us a good turn by forcing us all to eat less. •
G. Chowdharay-Best
174 Clay Hill Road, Basildon, Essex
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