RT Journal
A1 McNeill WH
T1 THe origins of human disease
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1989
FD November 17
VO 262
IS 19
SP 2752
OP 2753
DO 10.1001/jama.1989.03430190136050
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1989.03430190136050
AB "Origins," as used in the title of this book, has two distinct meanings. It may refer to the time, place, and social circumstances under which various kinds of diseases arise among human communities, but it may also mean the circumstances under which diseases become likely to affect individuals. McKeown addresses both of these themes in this posthumous work.Part I, "Disease History" establishes the proposition that human society has passed through three stages—hunting and gathering, agriculture, and industry—and that each stage has its corresponding array of characteristic diseases. Hunters and gatherers suffered mainly from lack of food. Infectious diseases became the predominant causes of sickness and death in the agricultural age. Noncommunicable diseases have taken over pride of place in the age of industry.Throughout this typology, McKeown emphasizes nutrition as the main, ruling factor in human encounters with disease. But his claim that hunger was the main cause of