About Dr. Weston A. Price
In the early 1930s, a Cleveland dentist named Weston A. Price (1870-1948) began a series of unique investigations. For over ten years, he traveled to isolated parts of the globe to study the health of populations untouched by western civilization. His goal was to discover the factors responsible for good dental health. His studies revealed that dental caries and deformed dental arches resulting in crowded, crooked teeth are the result of nutritional deficiencies, not inherited genetic defects.
The groups Price studied included sequestered villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, indigenous peoples of North and South America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines and New Zealand Maori. Wherever he went, Dr. Price found that beautiful straight teeth, freedom from decay, good physiques, resistance to disease and fine characters were typical of native groups on their traditional diets, rich in essential nutrients.
When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated peoples he found that, in comparison to the American diet of his day, they provided at least four times the water-soluble vitamins, calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins, from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish, organ meats, eggs and animal fats–the very cholesterol-rich foods now shunned by the American public as unhealthful. These healthy traditional peoples knew instinctively what scientists of Dr. Price’s day had recently discovered–that these fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins A and D, were vital to health because they acted as catalysts to mineral absorption and protein utilization. Without them, we cannot absorb minerals, no matter how abundant they may be in our food.
Price’s legacy has been taken on by the Weston A. Price Foundation, which bears his name, and the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. Both of these organizations, along with many in the growing natural health and holistic dentistry movement, continue to cite Price as the forefather of their alternative approach. Price’s motivation was quite simply the unselfish desire for all peoples to obtain their natural birthright of good health; and the principle that guided him throughout his career–a principle most people have difficulty comprehending, even today–was that only a good diet, one that supplied the body with an abundance of nutrients, can confer good health, epitomized by broad facial development during the growing years and freedom from dental decay throughout life.
“I am deeply interested not only in your health individually but in the efficiency and welfare of your families. It is particularly important in these times of industrial and financial stress, that children shall not suffer defects which may mark and handicap them for their entire life.” – Dr. Weston A. Price 1934 Read more….
About Dr. Pottenger
Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., MD, dedicated his professional life to understanding the role of nutrition in the prevention of chronic illnesses and physical degeneration. Boldly challenging contemporary dogma, Dr. Pottenger’s studies consistently demonstrated the direct relationship between a healthy diet and vital living.Today, the world faces a nutritional crisis. This is evidenced by:
• the proliferation of unhealthy and over-processed foods
• chemicals in the food chain
• the epidemics of obesity and diabetes
• the popularization of fad diets
As these problems continue to worsen, it is clear that Dr. Pottenger’s findings and message are more valid today than ever before. In order to reverse these trends, and to improve our quality of life, we all must come to understand, as Dr. Pottenger did, that good nutrition is key to optimum health.
In modern times there remain questions as to what defines a “healthy diet.” Through celebrity endorsers and glitzy media campaigns, we are regularly introduced to trendy eating plans with catchy names – all promising miraculous results. However, most of these fad diets eventually fail and fade away; they neglect a basic understanding that was proven by decades of Dr. Pottenger’s research – and corroborated by the studies of Dr. Weston A. Price. Namely: tradition NOT trends are the keys to a healthy diet and good life.
In 1940 he began what became known as the Pottenger Cat Study, the work that brought him fame. There’s no money these days in making famous a man who proves the value of raw foods; in the last forty years or so, Pottenger’s fame in the conventional medical and nutritional establishment has faded as surely as the stocks of processed food companies have risen. Yet he remains an icon to those who understand his work and its importance, particularly in relationship to the work of Weston Price.
Dr. Pottenger’s work leaves us with clear indications that there is no better food for human beings than raw milk from grass-fed animals. The clear and present danger is that “experts” such as the health fetish article authors wield unjustified influence with physicians and public health authorities—influence based in large part on false representations. Understanding the truth about Pottenger’s work and the value of raw milk is an important step in regaining our health.
“One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedence of chemical therapy over nutrition.” Dr Royal Lee
“It’s a substitution of artificial therapy over natural, of poisons over food, in which we are feeding people poison in trying to correct the reactions of starvation.” Dr Royal Lee 1951
“The American people have been humbugged into digging their graves with their own teeth!” – Dr. Royal Lee “The definition of the practice of medicine comes down to the prescribing of poisons, (drugs are defined as poisons) to suppress the symptoms brought about by nutritional deficiencies.” Dr Royal Lee
“Candy, all white sugar or its products, and white flour including its products such as macaroni, spaghetti, crackers, etc., should be absolutely barred from the diet of the child. All these are energy-producing foods that contain no building materials for the body. The consequences of their toleration are susceptibility to infections, enlarged tonsils, carious teeth, unruly dispositions, stunted growth, rickets, maldevelopment and very often permanent damage to many organs of the body (especially the endocrine glands) that depend upon the vitamin supply for their normal function and development.” – Dr. Royal Lee 1933
