Hubert Carey Trowell

Hubert "Hugh" Carey Trowell (8 August 1904 – 23 July 1989) OBE, FRCP was a British physician known for his research on dietary fiber and protein–energy malnutrition.

Biography Trowell was educated at Reigate Grammar School and studied medicine at St Thomas' Hospital. In 1929, he joined the Colonial Medical Service in Kenya.

With his colleague Denis P. Burkitt, Trowell was influential in promoting dietary fiber. He developed the fiber hypothesis in a series of books and papers with Burkitt in the 1970s and 80s. Their research showed that diets low in fiber increase the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity and large bowel conditions such as colorectal cancer, appendicitis and diverticulosis.

After his retirement from medicine, he became an ordained minister in the Anglican ministry.

Selected publications Kwashiorkor (with R. F. A. Dean and J. N. P. Davies, 1954) Non-Infective Disease in Africa (1960) Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases in the Tropics (with J. R. Billinghurst, 1968) The Unfinished Debate on Euthanasia (1973) Refined Carbohydrate Foods and Disease: Some Implications of Dietary Fibre (with Denis P. Burkitt, 1975) Dietary Fibre and Colonic Diseases (1976) Dietary Fibre in Human Nutrition: A Bibliography (1979) Western Diseases: Their Emergence and Prevention (with Denis P. Burkitt, 1981) Dietary Fibre, Fibre-Depleted Foods and Disease (1985)