Kenneth G. Haig

Kenneth George Haig (20 February 1879 – 1958) was an English physician and writer, best known for promoting the uric-acid free diet.

Biography

Kenneth George Haig was born at Windsor, Berkshire, on 20 February 1879. His father was dietitian and physician Alexander Haig. He married Hester Boyd on 12 October 1909. He was a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps from 1914 to 1920.

As was his father, Haig was a proponent of the uric-acid free diet. He wrote about the subject in his book Health Through Diet, which received advice and assistance from his father. Haig argued that excess uric acid was a major cause of disease. For example, he attributed anemia, Bright's disease, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, pneumonia and rheumatism to excess uric acid. Haig stated that the uric-acid free diet greatly improved his health and he had eighteen years of experience on the diet. The diet allows cheese, milk, cereal foods, rice and some vegetables.

A review in The British Medical Journal commented that Haig's uric-acid free diet would be valuable for certain patients but the diet is not "desirable or suitable for general adoption, or that its neglect is accountable for all the diseases he enumerates." In contrast, it was positively reviewed in the Nature journal for "approach[ing] the subject with such wholehearted enthusiasm that he equals, if not excels, that of his father, whose work he continues and extends."