Kenneth G. Haig

Kenneth George Haig (February 20, 1879 – 1958) M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. was a British physician and writer.

Kenneth G. Haig
BornFebruary 20, 1879
Windsor, Berkshire
Died1958
Gloucestershire
OccupationPhysician, writer

Biography
Health Through Diet, published in 1913

Haig was born at Windsor, Berkshire on February 20, 1879. His father was dietitian and physician Alexander Haig. He married Hester Boyd on October 12, 1909.[1] He was a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps during 1914–1920.

Similar to his father, Haig was a proponent of the uric-acid free diet.[2] He wrote about the subject in his book Health Through Diet, which received advice and assistance from his father. Haig argued that excess uric acid was a major cause of disease. For example, he attributed anemia, Bright's disease, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, pneumonia and rheumatism to excess uric acid.[3] Haig stated that the uric-acid free diet greatly improved his health and he had eighteen years of experience on the diet.[3]

The book includes a list of forbidden foods. The uric-acid free diet explained by Haig does not permit foods that are high in purines. On this diet all meat, fish, fowl, egg yolks, beans, lentils, peas, oatmeal, mushrooms, wheat meal, cocoa, coffee and tea are forbidden.[4][5] The diet allows cheese, milk, cereal foods, rice and some vegetables.[5] Haig wrote that beans, lentils and peas contain large quantities of purines and are poisonous because they produce uric acid. A reviewer in the Journal of the American Medical Association disputed this as "common people have been consuming such substances for ages without showing any ill effects."[6]

A review in The British Medical Journal commented that Haig's uric-acid free diet would be valuable for certain patients but the diet is not "desirable or suitable for general adoption, or that its neglect is accountable for all the diseases he enumerates."[3] A negative review in The Journal of Hygiene stated that the diet is "so singularly unattractive that apart from faddists few persons are likely to be converted to its use, even if that were desirable."[7] In contrast, it was positively reviewed in the Nature journal for "approach[ing] the subject with such wholehearted enthusiasm that he equals, if not excels, that of his father, whose work he continues and extends."[2]

Selected publications

References
  1. Howard, Joseph Jackson. (1893). Visitation of England and Wales. London. p. 7
  2. "(1) Health Through Diet: A Practical Guide to the Uric-Acid-Free Diet (2) The Elements of Heating and Ventilation (3) Chloride of Lime in Sanitation". Nature. 92: 93–94. 1913.
  3. "Reviewed Work: Health Through Diet by Kenneth G. Haig". The British Medical Journal. 2 (2744): 243. 1913.
  4. "New Books". Health Culture. 19 (5): 283.
  5. "Health Through Diet". The Medical Times. 42: 20. 1914.
  6. "Health Through Diet". Journal of the American Medical Association. 63 (8): 699–700. 1914.
  7. "Publications Received". The Journal of Hygiene. 13 (4): 493–507. 1914.
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