Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

Title: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

Author: Weston A. Price

Number of Pages: 509

Original Published Date: 1939

Favorite Sentence(s): “We have, however, in the first place, the need for a strength of character and will power such that as will make us use the things our bodies require rather than only the foods we like.”

SUMMARY:

Dr. Weston A. Price was a dentist who believed diseased teeth was an indication of ill health within the body and not simply a result of poor oral hygiene. Following the death of his only child from an infected root canal, Price and his wife Florence set out to study more than a dozen isolated areas and tribal nations where the modern diet had not yet been adopted and where toothache and oral disease was virtually unknown.

Dr. Price’s theory was that the modern diet was causing our health to worsen and that our teeth were a reflection of modern man’s deterioration. His theory of the effects from our nutrient-poor food also extended to facial deformity, mouth breathing, physical deformities, the ability to fight off diseases such as tuberculosis, and most interestingly, an increase in crime and a “lowering of the American average level of general ability” (page 14).

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration is Dr. Price’s thesis and evidence that the rise of degenerative disease that was plaguing modern man, but had not yet touched the isolated areas, was all a consequence of the differences in diet and by changing our diet we could cure ourselves of most chronic diseases.

Science and modern medicine have found the cure to many of our acute diet issues, with examples such as beriberi (vitamin B1 deficiency) and scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) (cures that were already known to tribal people), but instead of degenerative diseases decreasing as knowledge has increased, chronic diseases in our modern-day society have only surged exponentially. 

When the book was first published in 1939 $3.5 billion was spent annually on medical care in the U.S. and, after adjusting for inflation, that number would be $79 billion today. But we don’t spend $79 billion, we spend $4.5 trillion with 75% of that cost expended on mostly preventable chronic diseases. Our health trends have only gotten worse and are only expected to continue to worsen. An Empirical Study of Chronic Diseases in the United States: A Visual Analytics Approach to Public Health – PMC (nih.gov)

Humans are an interesting species because we haven’t yet come to a consensus on what our “ideal” diet is for maintaining our health. We know what to feed a koala, a lizard, or a lion to keep them healthy and strong, but the jury is still out on humans. As omnivores, we’re able to eat a variety of foods which is ideal when food is scarce, but when calories are plentiful, the diet that is best for our overall well-being and long life hasn’t yet been agreed upon.

One can find evidence to support veganism, the carnivore diet, low carb vs. high carb, or any number of other diet varieties but what is “best” may be dependent on the individual or perhaps, it’s what all those diets tend to dissuade us from eating; sugar, white flour, and ultra-processed food. 

The peoples that Dr. Price visited had varying diets, but what they all didn’t consume was uniform. The diet of the isolated Swiss largely consisted of a “slice of whole rye bread and a piece of summer-made cheese (about the size of the bread) and fresh cow or goat milk” and a piece of meat eaten about once a week. While the Eskimos survived and thrived on fish and sea products with a long period of absence from plant foods, dairy products and eggs. How is it that diets so different can both be so healthy? Dr. Price’s observations of the varying diets amongst the different tribes showed that meat, dairy, vegetables, fruits, and some whole grains, (or the lack of some of these foods) were all healthy whether eaten a little, a lot, or not at all, depending on what was available to the local communities. One of the more surprising things was that fruits and vegetables weren’t highly consumed by many of the different areas, with some tribes eating almost none because it was a near impossibility. But what all the isolated people had in common was the lack of simple sugar and white flour in their diet (page 25-26).

According to Dr. Price, when modern man’s foods (jams, white flour, canned food for example) were introduced to the tribes the health of the people would decline, their teeth would form cavities and rot, and their offspring would have physical and facial deformities different from their parents that could cause mouth-breathing, narrow faces, and clubbed feet. The anecdotal evidence for these changes were captured in Dr. Price’s photographs.

The photographs throughout the book provide the best evidence for Dr. Price’s theories. He had hundreds of smiles of healthy people with beautiful smiles and compared them against the people who lived in the same area but had adopted the modern man’s foods. Neither group was taught much, if any, about oral hygiene care. Dr. Price stated that tooth decay also showed up when someone left the village for a year or two, but when they returned to their native diet the decay would resolve itself. The amount of young people that had dentures because they ate the modern diet, whether living among the native people or not, was shocking. I assume we’ve since learned how to take care our teeth where even if eating an unhealthy diet, it may not cause nearly as much harm as it did eighty-plus years ago. Thankfully.

After Dr. Price returned home, he began treating some ill patients by replacing their nutrient-poor foods with whole foods. In one case, a young boy was on the verge of death and stricken with many broken bones from his constant convulsions. The patient’s diet consisted mostly of white flour and skimmed milk which lacked calcium and phosphorous, minerals that Dr. Price believed were absolutely essential. The boy’s body was essentially stealing the minerals from his bones and causing his poor health. After an examination, Dr. Price put the patient on a new diet by substituting whole wheat and whole milk and adding in some high-vitamin butter. Within a matter of weeks, the patient’s convulsions disappeared and his health was restored.

WHAT SOCIETY COULD DO TO IMPROVE OUR HEALTH:

Diet and nutrition is a sensitive topic for many of us and has become highly debated on how much impact we have to improve our health and how we should go about making healthy changes. Although I can’t state that any of Dr. Price’s theories have been proven in medical trials, the takeaways I got from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration was to eat unprocessed foods and to avoid white flour, sugar (sugar in fruit being the exception), and ultra-processed food. The foods we eat, as long as they follow those guidelines, may get us 90% of the way towards a healthier life. Further below I’ve listed which foods Dr. Price recommends we eat and those to avoid for optimal nutrition.

There are a few changes or processes that society could implement which may also improve everyone’s overall health. Improving our soil, which is the first step in increasing the amount of nutrition in the food, is one idea. We could also clean up our oceans in hopes that the marine life would return to its original splendor and supply. Another would be to stop allowing so many man-made chemicals into our processed food supply since processed food makes up 70% of the average American diet. I don’t foresee processed food ever disappearing from our tables, but we could remove some of the franken-chemicals until they’ve been proven safe to consume long-term.

The government could resurrect its encouragement of its citizens to plant “Victory” gardens as they did during WWII. At that time, Victory gardens were necessary to help supplement the food supply and a way to boost morale. Perhaps we could revive Victory gardens, but this time it would be a victory over poor health. Even something as simple as offering free or inexpensive seeds, potting soil, or pots could make a difference.

Government land that’s not being used could offer its space for a community garden or planned communities could do the same. More schools could create gardens for teaching young people the “how” of planting a successful garden. Even making a little progress towards getting us back to understanding nutrition and how nutritious food can make us not only healthier, but also feel better would be a start. In the end, we have the most responsibility for our health and the first step begins with what we put into our mouths.

INTERESTNG TIDBITS & QUOTES FROM THE BOOK:

During a visit with the natives of North America, Dr. Price asked one of the natives why they didn’t get scurvy. The man stated that was a white man’s disease because “the Indians know how to prevent it and the white man does not”. When asked why he didn’t tell the white man how to cure it “his reply was that the white man knew too much to ask the Indian anything”. His interesting and witty answer clearly showed the hubris and arrogance that plagued some men at that time when interacting with “uncivilized” societies. It’s sad to think about all the cures, remedies, and knowledge that may have been lost when isolated people became linked with other parts of society. “It is a pity that so much of their wisdom has been lost through lack of appreciation by the whites who early made contact with them” (page 69).

Regarding the isolated Swiss: “One immediately wonders if there is not something in the life-giving vitamins and minerals of the food that builds not only great physical structures within which their souls reside, but builds minds and hearts capable of a higher type of manhood in which the material values of life are made secondary to individual character” (page 25-26).

Dr. Price spoke highly and very fondly of every tribe or isolated people that he visited, but he seemed to give the most praise to the Australian aborigines. The Aborigines were known for their phenomenal skills at tracking that “every leaf that is turned over or grain of sand on bare rocks has meaning for them”. They were never known for theft and were trustworthy, even to people outside their group, and their religion encouraged conquering the temptations of life and that “life consists in serving others as one would wish to be served”. It was also stated that their eyesight was so good that they could see stars in the sky that other races couldn’t without a telescope (page 150-151).

“The happiness of the people in their homes and community life is everywhere very striking. A mining prospector who had spent two decades studying the mineral deposits of Uganda was quoted to me as stating that if he could have the heaven of his choice in which to spend all eternity it would be to live in Uganda as the natives of Uganda had lived before modern civilization came to it” (page 144-145).

Dr. Price tells a story about an engineer who had gone deep into the Rocky Mountains to prospect for metals and radium. When him and his partner ran into an issue and had to abandon their plan, they marched toward the Liard River in hope that some other expedition would pick them up. Along the way, the prospector lost his sight and had “so violent a pain in his eyes that he feared he would go insane. He had xeropthalmia, due to lack of vitamin A.” After a near-violent attack with a grizzly bear “he sat down on a stone and wept in despair of ever seeing his family again. As he sat there holding his throbbing head, he heard a voice and looked up. It was an old Indian who had been tracking the grizzly bear. He recognized the prospector’s plight and while neither could understand the language of the other, the Indian after making an examination of his eyes, took him by the hand and led him to a stream that was coursing its way down the mountain.” As the prospector waited, the Indian caught a fish and “told the prospector to eat the flesh of the head and tissues back of the eyes, including the eyes, with the result that in a few hours his pain had largely subsided. In one day his sight was rapidly returning, and in two days his eyes were nearly normal. He told me with profound emotion and gratitude that that Indian had certainly saved his life” (page 251).

“It is a matter of profound significance that the most primitive races were originally able to avoid the physical degeneration so general in many communities today. It is also a matter of importance that the primitives recognized not only these dangers but were conscious of and practiced adequate means for preventing them. They had sufficient character to achieve the ends which they deemed essential. Weakness in character may constitute the greatest barrier in the reorganization and conservation of our modern civilization” (page 294).

NUTRITION AND PHYSICAL DEGENERATION’S DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Below is not an exhaustive list. For all of Dr. Price’s recommendations, I recommend one read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

1. Avoid sugar or keep to absolute minimum.
2. Avoid white and ordinary whole wheat bread and use brown rice in place of white rice.
3. Only fresh fruits, vegetables, and dark greens raised in fertile soil without use of insecticides. Ordinary fruits should be peeled because of possible pesticide residues and veggies thoroughly washed.
4. Steam or lightly cook all veggies when not eaten raw.
5. Sprouted beans, alfalfa, and other seeds contain desirable nutrients and can be sprouted in every kitchen.
6. Avoid stale fats and foods cooked in reused fats like chips, fries, etc. Stale fats sources include bread, pastries, crackers, cereals.

Foods to eat according to Dr. Price:

1. Whole Dairy and grass-fed butter.
2. Rye bread and wheat.
3. Fish and oats and oat cakes.
4. Eggs.
5. Fruits and vegetables.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

Throughout the book, Dr. Price lists the main food sources for all the groups that he met with but he never provides a general summary of what he recommends. However, in a letter he sent to his grand-nephew that is included in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration he gives specific guidelines of foods he recommends and those to avoid. Whole grains, non-skimmed milk and dairy products, grass-fed butter, seafood, eggs, cooked vegetables (he specifically lists lentils, cauliflower, brussels sprouts). He also adds that “fruits are desirable as an adjunct, but most of them are very low in minerals.” Dr. Price tells us to avoid starches and sugars and to fill our calorie intake with his recommended foods for optimal health (page 494).

After reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, I’ve been seriously working on reducing my sugar intake and avoiding white flour whenever possible. During weekdays I’m very good at making sure I’ve consumed some cooked vegetables (usually in a homemade vegetable soup) and prepare homemade rye bread regularly and slap on some grassfed butter (yes, it’s a little pricier but it honestly tastes better). I also still make my veggie smoothie and try and fill my daily calories with nutritious food and leave only a few for junk. My goal is to keep pushing the nutrient-poor foods out of my diet and exchange them with whole foods that nourish the body.  

There are many other observations and theories in the book that I didn’t touch on in this essay where Dr. Price demonstrated the knowledge and experience that isolated people possessed which had been lost by modern man. He believed that most of us had lost the sixth sense to choose food that we needed to obtain the necessary nutrients. “It is possible that man has lost through disuse some of the normal faculty for consciously recognizing body requirements.” However, with information and education we can begin the process of improving our individual health one bite at a time.