Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-07-24
DIET AND RHEUMATISM
BY H. Addington Bruce

y EW hope for not few sufferers from
L ' rheumatism is held out in a clinical re-
port by a Boston physician, John A,
Turnbull. 1t involves a return, though from
novel point of view, to the old theory that
rheumatism's essential cause often is tound
in faulty diet
OF recent years this theory has been pref
ty generally superseded by the 3o-caled focal
infection theory, according to which rheuma-
tlsm is the product of a slow poisoning bv
disease germs that have invaded the system
from assesses and pus pockets in teeth.
tonsils, and the sinuses of the face To cure
rheumatism, consequently, it should only be
necessary to detect and remove such causes
Of constant Infection.
And as matter of fact thousands of
cases have been cured by this means But
also it has happened repeatedly, that rheu-
matism has persisted even after the removal
of diseased teeth tonsils, and that it oc-
ours in persons seemingly quite free from
any focus of Infection
In the latter case it has been assumed that
some focus must after all be present. though
Undecided. In the former the common as
SUMPTION is that the teeth or tonsils have
G.
sumptions out, to all appearance, is the fact
that the most rigid dieting in the way of
excluding the acid-forming foodstuffs that
used to be thought the sole excitants of
rheumatism, may bring not the least i'm
provement
Now comes DR.. Turnbull with the sugges-
tlon that, in these puzzling and most re-
sistant cases, diet may none the less be the
real cause of trouble. AS he sees if rheu-
matlsm often is the sign of a poisoning. not
by disease germs, but by some food or foods
ordinarily harmless but for special reason
harmful to the rheumatic patient eating
them.
In other words this Boston medical man
cIaSslnes rheumatism being at times like
asthma, hay fever, and eczema, an end-resuIt
or what is professionally known as ananhv
laMs And he would attack it, in all cases
Where focal infection cannot reasonably be
blamed, by forbidding the eating of foods
shown by skin tests to be productive of un-
favorable reactions.
70 support his position he cites instances
or cures effected by this means | have
space for only one, the case of a woman of
slXty-three who, when DR.. Turnbul first saw
her, was badly crippled by rheumatism of
long standing. Skin tests indicated that she
was unpleasantly affected by quite a variety
or common foods and she was instructed to
make it rule to avoid these
mere is tue result, IN Or. Turn bulls own
words:
Within four weeks pain decreased in all
the joints; swelling subsidized within six
weeks; IN eight weeks time, all swelling and
tenderness had disappeared, the patient be-
ing able to walk without discomfort
But, observe:
Alter four months freedom from ar
thrills, she oyerstepped her dietary restric-
uons by INDUCING in turkey, potato and
squash, all foods to which she gave positive
cutaneous reaction. Within five hours she ex-
perienced pain in all the formerly affected
joints.
Walking became difficult and there was
generally bodily aching. This condition was
relieved in fOrty-eight hours when the sensi-
tizing proteins had been eliminated from the
system"
1t is not to be inferred that hereby the
riddle of rheumatism has been completely
solved. But certainly it seems a valid in
ference that Dr. TurnbuIl's findings consti-
tute a real forward step in the treatment of
this most painful disease.
(CODVrioht 1024)