British Food Journal Volume 67 Issue 8 1965

In this century of enormous growth in medical knowledge and skill, and the wide public interest in medical conditions, we have seen a spate of special clubs and societies whose main object is to help sufferers from some of the intractible diseases and addictions which still beset man—the Hemophilics, Alcoholics, Diabetics, Poliomyelitis victims, Multiple or Disseminated Sclerosis sufferers. The interest taken in these activities may sometimes be morbid, but in the main these societies have helped those afflicted and occasionally have contributed something to medical knowledge. For instance, from the association of hemophilics for their mutual help, it was learned that this condition has a seasonal incidence. In more recent years, other groups have been formed whose aim is prevention rather than help to those affected. The anti‐smoking clinics springing up in many areas are an example. They seek to check the rising incidence of lung cancer by helping people to give up smoking cigarettes. The latest in this field would seem to be the anti‐coronary clubs, established in the U.S.A., where the rising mortality among relatively young males is causing as much concern as in this country.