Fabulous fibre

SIR – You report (January 11) that a diet rich in fibre “can cut the risk of early death by up to a third”.

More than 50 years ago, the Irish surgeon Denis Burkitt, who spent many years working in Uganda, reported significantly reduced incidences of bowel cancer, benign bowel disease, heart disease and diabetes among patients who followed the traditional African diet, which is high in fibre.

At an extremely impressive presentation that I attended in the Seventies, he recommended a daily bowl of All-bran as an easy way of achieving a reasonably high-fibre intake. Dr James Mccrone

Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand