John,
Sorry for the possible confusion. I more than completely agree with you that there is a recent rise in the consumption of refined grains in the Northern European group. I had in my mind the findings of the oldest AS fused spines in the early agricultural South American civilisations some 6000 years ago and the rise of agriculture that generally started some 8000 years ago. It would be interesting to investigate if there is a rise in AS (and arthritis and gout)in the Northern European group based on archeological finds in more recent times. The few articles I found seem to point in that direction. It should also be interesting if there is a rise in sufferers in recent Dx's but I'm afraid that the problems in diagnosis of AS are so big that no reasonable figure could be gotten out of that.
Gerard
"That we become twice as old now as a century ago is the work of plumbers, not doctors" -Midas Dekkers-
