[4] Barker stated that cancer is a disease of civilization and rarely occurs amongst primitive tribes or uncivilised nations due to their lack of intestinal stasis.

[4] Barker recommended a high-fibre diet of raw fruit, salads and wholemeal bread, cheese and eggs, with plenty of exercise.

A review in the Journal of Cancer Research suggested that the "publication of such a book does a great deal of harm because it misleads those who have no real knowledge and encourages charlatanry, of which there is already too much.

"[12] A review in the Nature journal commented that "In our opinion the book will do much more harm than good, as it can only have a deleterious action and make people concern themselves with morbid symptoms in their abdomens.

[5] George Soper suggested that the book is overloaded with long quotations from Sir William Arbuthnot Lane and concluded that Barker "cannot be said to have advanced the subject of cancer control in any way".

[13] I have endeavoured to show by an overwhelming mass of facts that cancer is caused by chronic poisoning and vitamine starvation, that it is largely due to dietetic mistakes, and especially to the consumption of concentrated, manipulated, de-vitaminised and de-mineralised foodstuffs, that it is a disease of civilisation and over-civilisation.