Ernest Harry Tipper M.R.C.S was an English

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

and

alternative cancer treatment Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative ...

advocate.

Biography

Tipper served for many years in the West African Medical Service. He authored ''The Cradle of the World and Cancer'', in 1927. The book was based on his twenty years of medical practice in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

.Horton, James C. (2000). ''Inner Hygiene: Constipation and the Pursuit of Health in Modern Society''. Oxford University Press. p. 202. 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. Tipper came to the conclusion that constipation and excessive meat-eating were the causes of cancer. According to Tipper the Béné tribe, who live in the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical ...

amongst whom he practised for twenty years, are almost free from cancer and live on a

semi-vegetarian Flexitarianism or Flexitarism is a semi-vegetarian diet in which people do not eat meat one or more days a week. A semi-vegetarian diet (SVD), also called a flexitarian, is one that is centered on plant foods with the occasional inclusion of m ...

diet. They live on

bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

s, fruits, seeds, monkey nuts, yams,

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

, cayenne peppers,

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...

and occasionally palm wine. Tipper reported that they use 4 oz. of red palm oil daily. 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. Tipper recommended his readers to abandon meat-eating and dairy, limit flour intake from bread or pastry and substitute butter with palm butter. Tipper's ideas did not receive much notice in medical literature and his book remains obscure. There was a positive review in the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origi ...

''. Tipper's research is quoted by Sir

William Arbuthnot Lane Sir William Arbuthnot Lane, 1st Baronet, CB, FRCS (4 July 1856 – 16 January 1943) was a British surgeon and physician. He mastered orthopaedic, abdominal, and ear, nose and throat surgery, while designing new surgical instruments tow ...

in his book ''The Prevention of the Diseases Peculiar to Civilization'', in 1929.Lane, William Arbuthnot. (1929)
''The Prevention of the Diseases Peculiar to Civilization''
London: Faber & Faber. pp. 54-56

Selected publications

*''The Cradle of the World and Cancer: A Disease of Civilisation'' (1927)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tipper, Ernest H. 20th-century English medical doctors Alternative cancer treatment advocates British cancer researchers Diet food advocates English medical writers English surgeons Year of birth missing Year of death missing 20th-century surgeons

Biography

Selected publications

See also

References