Weston A. Price on Nutrition

Larry A. Law

Dr. Weston Price was a nutrition researcher. He and his wife traveled around the world during the 1930s like Indiana Jones, visiting 14 countries and 5 continents, investigating and documenting with photographs the indigenous populations. He proved his theory that if people ate their native ethnic diet in an unprocessed form, they would have excellent mental, physical, and dental health. If they ate highly-processed foods (modern, western civilization foods), their health would deteriorate dramatically. He published his landmark book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration in 1939. The Price-Pottenger.org continues his legacy.

Travels and Research

Dr. Price traveled to hundreds of cities in those 14 countries and visited some of the most remote areas in the world. He observed perfect dental arches, minimal tooth decay, high immunity to tuberculosis and overall excellent health in those groups of people who ate their indigenous foods. He found that when these people were introduced to modernized foods, such as white flour, white sugar, refined vegetable oils, and canned goods, signs of degeneration quickly became evident. Dental caries (cavities), deformed jaw structures, crooked teeth, arthritis, and low immunity to disease (tuberculosis) became rampant amongst them. 

His investigations led him to visit the Swiss living in remote mountain valleys of Switzerland, the Gaelics in the Outer and Inner Hebrides (Scotland), the Eskimos of Alaska, the Indians (in far North, West, and Central Canada, Western US and Florida, Sierras of Peru and in the Amazon Basin), the Melanesians and Polynesians on eight archipelagos of the Southern Pacific, tribes in eastern and central Africa, the Aborigines of Australia, the Malay tribes on islands north of Australia, and the Maori of New Zealand. 

A dentist by training, Price's primary quest was to find the cause of tooth decay. But after it became readily apparent that tooth decay was controlled by nutrition (not brushing or anything external), he began to see that facial and dental arch changes as well as mental health (cognitive efficiency and acuity) were also a result of lost nutrition in their altered food. These changes were apparent within the first generation of changing to a western diet. His many photographs showed ample proof of the change in quality of life. 

​He stated, "In my studies of growing children in other countries as well as in this country, in every instance where they were eating foods that were found to be high in minerals and vitamins, there was no tooth decay and in every instance where modern foods high in calories and low in minerals were used, rampant tood decay was prevalent." In addition, he shared "There is a marked tendency in modern civilization to substitute synthetic products for Nature's foods. This has been particularly true of vitamins." 

Letter to his Nieces and Nephews (1934)

"We have a sense of hunger which expresses itself as appetite and we eat until this is satisfied, but this only applies to that part of our food which produces power and heat. We have almost no sense of hunger for the minerals and other chemicals and vitamins that are needed for building and repairing old tissues. Modern civilization is making a tragic mistake in getting away from the natural foods that are low in energy (calories) and high in minerals...

​Most people need from 2000 to 3000 calories a day...our problem is to get enough of the minerals and vitamins without exceeding our limit in calories. Cereals, milk (raw), and sea foods are the foods that Nature has provided us with in natural form, which will satisfy our hunger and will at the same time take care of our body's requirements. Modern civilization has modified this by providing us with menus that tend to be too high in calories and too low in mineral content...

There is a misapprehension regarding the value of fruits as food. Of course, fruits are desirable as an adjunct, but most of them are very low in minerals...Among the poorest foods we could feed children [or adults] would be white bread and jam or pancakes with maple syrup...

​The basic foods should be the entire grains such as whole wheat, rye or oats. Whole wheat and rye breads, wheat and oat cereals, oat-cake, dairy products, including milk and cheese, which should be used liberally, and marine foods. All marine or sea foods, both fresh and salt water, are high in minerals and constitute one of the very best food you could eat. Canned fish such as sardines, tuna, or salmon are all excellent...The protein requirement can be provided each day in one egg or a piece of meat equivalent to the bulk of one egg a day. The meals can be amply modified and varied with vegetables, raw and cooked, the best of the cooked vegetables being lentils used as a soup. The cooked vegetables are better since raw vegetables are usually too bulky to allow very much mineral to be obtained from them. Some of the best of the cooked vegetables are cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus tips, and celery. Lettuce is the best of the raw vegetables.

Cut down on starches and sugars. Sweet things satisfy the hunger and provide calories and thus not only displace foods higher in minerals, but reduce the total amount of food eaten by satisfying the appetite. Reduce all white flour products and pastries to a minimum. One of the best sources of minerals is provided in cheese. Use freshly cracked wheat for cereal, muffins, or bread. Much of the value of the wheat germ is lost by oxidation if the product is not fresh.

There are only a few foods that would give you your fat-soluble vitamins. These are the fish products, including all fresh water and salt water foods, milk (raw), cheese and butter...
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I hope I have not seemed to be lecturing to you. I love you all dearly and am deeply concerned for your best welfare. Lovingly, Uncle Weston"

Observations

I have often wondered how ancient civilizations handled tooth decay, toothaches, and other dental problems without having dentists or equipment to perform surgery or tooth extraction. I was so surprised to learn from Dr. Price that real nutrition prevented those things from happening. There wasn't much of a need for dentists, jails, and asylums back in the days when people did not eat highly-processed food. It wasn't that they always ate well, but what they ate was real and not devoid of actual nutrients. Whole, real food made up the difference. 

He documented problems with mouth-breathers (versus nose-breathers). Almost a century after his observations, modern research is documenting the problems with breathing through your mouth:

1) The nose is designed to defend us against germs and contaminants in the air and as such represents our first shield against illness. 

2) The nose enhances oxygen absorption increasing oxygen levels in the blood by 10%.

3) Mouth breathing dries out the mouth and reduces its natural cleansing system—saliva—from flowing and cleaning the teeth and gums.

4) Nose breathing improves the quality of sleep by preventing a dry throat and disrupted rest.

5) It calms the nervous system, particularly balancing the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems with slower, deeper breaths through the nose.

6) It boosts brain health by better maintaining carbon dioxide levels in the the blood.
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7) It improves facial appearance. Mouth-breathers tend to develop narrower faces with receding chins or jaws.

Reasons to Quit Flossing 

See this great article on reasons to quit flossing your teeth and start orally irrigating your teeth. It is all in line with Dr. Price's findings that the most important dental preventive care consists of real food nutrition and rinsing out your mouth. Both Angie and I use a hand-held water pick and swear by it—just amazing how it removes food particles that escape brushing while leaving the mouth feeling ultra clean.