How Health is Affected by Nutrition & Food: The Groundbreaking Work of Weston Price
“Thy food shall be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.” – Hippocrates
On this web page, we will be taking a closer look at the research of Weston Price D.D.S., and the discoveries that he made about how disease and nutrition are related. We will also be discussing nutritional analysis of various diets. As you start to understand more about how disease is caused, you will see that a strong factor is the modern diet that is full of foods that have been stripped of nutrition.
How Our Modernized Way of Living Has Gone Astray
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“[Dr. Romig] stated that in his thirty-six years of contact with these people he had never seen a case of malignant disease among the truly primitive Eskimos and Indians, although it frequently occurs when they become modernized.” Nutrition and Physical Degeneration 6th Edition“I have referred to the fact that one of the leading Indian scholars of the western coast informed me that the primitive Indian language did not have words for ‘rheumatism’ or ‘arthritis’ in any of their various forms. He said these disease were unknown to the primitive Indians. At the point of contact with modern civilization where the only apparent important change has been the displacement of the native foods with the foods of modern commerce, I found arthritis and tuberculosis were common. In a group of twenty homes at Telegraph Creek and its vicinity I found ten bedridden cripples. Many of these cases were so hopelessly advanced that nothing could be done.” Price, W. A. |
Do Modern Scientists Really Know The Cause Of Many Diseases?
If you want to learn more about any disease out there, you will likely find one standard answer:
“Scientist do not understand the cause of __________ (fill in any disease name). There is probably not one cause, but many different factors. Family history is a risk factor, Scientists believe that genetics may play a role in getting __________ (fill in any disease name). ___________ (fill in any disease name) has no known cure, and the secrets to preventing it are not yet known.”
- We are told that nutrition and food are not a factor in the development of many diseases
- We are told that genetics play a strong factor in disease
- We are told there is no cure for disease
None of these above statements are true.
The real truth is that disease is not caused by genetics… in fact disease can usually be cured by nutrition. Disease may be passed from one generation to the next through a process known as intercepted heredity, which means that a nutritional deficiency is present in the mother & father… and that deficiency is then passed along to the child. Inherited nutritional deficiencies, if continued through the child’s growing years, may create illness and disease.
The Truth: Nutrition Can Help Prevent and Cure Both Degenerative and Infectious Diseases
Infectious Diseases: Are Usually Curable With Nutrition
There are certain illnesses that are referred to as infectious diseases, meaning that a supposed presence of a pathogenic agent (such as parasites, fungi, bacteria, viruses, etc) causes a person’s functions to be impaired. A few examples of diseases which are labeled as infectious include: the flu, colds, respiratory infections, tooth decay, Hepatitis B, Syphilis, Meningitis, Tetanus, Pertusis, Measles, Malaria, Polio, Tuberculosis, and AIDs.
Degenerative Diseases: Are Usually Preventable with Nutrition
Degenerative diseases are not thought to be caused by pathogens, instead they are said to occur as the body ages and breaks down. A few examples of diseases with are labeled as degenerative include: Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, Parkinson’s Disease, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Diabetes, Atherosclerosis, Cancer, Heart Disease, Lou Gehrig’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Nutrition is the root cause of physical weakness and degeneration, which means that both types of diseases are usually preventable or curable with improved dietary habits.
Healthy People in the Loetschental Valley, Switzerland
In this section, we are going to look at evidence that shows how disease is primarily caused by nutritional deficiency in Western cultures.
Like the majority of the popular, Weston A. Price, DDS (1870 – 1948), has suffered from the results of physical degeneration. Price’s son, Donald, passed away from complications that arose from an infected root canal, which Dr. Price put in. Dr. Price’s research carefully studied people’s teeth to learn more about physical degeneration. He found that what is true for the teeth, is typically true for the rest of the body.
Image can be seen here:
In the Loetschental Valley, Dr. Price writes, “They have neither physician nor dentist because they have so little need for them; they have neither policeman nor jail, because they have no need for them.” Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
“While the cows spend the warm summer on the verdant knolls and wooded slopes near the glaciers and fields of perpetual snow, they have a period of high and rich productivity of milk… This cheese contains the natural butter fat and minerals of the splendid milk and is a virtual storehouse of life for the coming winter.” Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Image can be seen here:
“[Reverend John Siegen] told me that they recognize the presence of Divinity in the life-giving qualities of the butter made in June when cows have arrived for pasturage near the glaciers. He gathers the people together to thank the kind Father for evidence of his Being in the life-giving qualities of butter and cheese when the cows eat the grass near the snow line.” Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
These isolated Swiss children, were remarkably healthy. “The sturdiness of the child life permits children to play and frolic bareheaded and barefooted even in water running down from the glacier in the late evening’s chilly breezes, in weather that made us wear our overcoats and gloves and button our collars.”
Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Image can be seen here:
In the pictures above you can see the well-developed faces, as well as the lack of tooth decay. These are both factors that indicate the health of these children.
The Isolated, Indigenous Swiss: A Nutrition & Health Analysis
The people’s nutrition in the Loetschental Valley
Homemade, carefully processed sourdough Rye Bread, served with Summer Cheese (the cheese slice about the same size as the bread slice). Eaten along with fresh milk from cows or goats. Meat is consumed one time each week.
Tooth Decay Immunity
In a study of 4,280 teeth of the children of these high valleys, only 3.4% were found to have been affected by tooth decay. In the Loetschental Valley 0.3% of all teeth where affected with tooth decay.
Keep in mind that in the US, the average rate of teeth with tooth decay, for 12-19 year olds ranges between 6.25% to 11.61%. These data points in the US are possibly based on less stringent indicators than the ones that were used by Dr. Price. Based on these numbers, the Loetschental Valley children where approximately 20 times more immune to tooth decay than modern children.
Nutrient Analysis of an Average Diet for Indigenous People in the Swiss Alps
| Calories | Food | Fat-Soluble Activators | Calcium (grams) | Phosphorus (grams) |
Iron (grams) |
| 800 | Rye Bread | Low | 0.07 | 0.46 | 0.00 |
| 400 | Milk | High | 0.68 | 0.53 | 0.00 |
| 400 | Cheese | Very High | 0.84 | 0.62 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Butter | Very High | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Barely | Low | 0.00 | 0.03 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Vegetables | Low | 0.06 | 0.08 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Meat | Medium | 0.00 | 0.12 | 0.00 |
| 2000 | Very High | 1.76 | 3.04 | 0.01 |
Price, W. A., (Some figures have been rounded up for simplicity)
The Modernized Swiss: Cultures That Have Strayed From Their Native Foods
In the 1930’s, modern parts of Switzerland experienced Dental Caries, was a major problem for school children, with a majority of the popular being affected (between 85-100 percent of the population). The local health director recognized that there was a problem, and they tried sun-tanning the children in hopes that it would help to prevent tooth decay, but the tanning did not work.
Image can be seen here:
“In the modernized districts of Switzerland tooth decay is rampant. The girl, upper left, is sixteen and the one to the right is younger. They use white bread and sweets liberally. The two children below have very badly formed dental arches with crowding of the teeth. this deformity is not due to heredity.” Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Modernized Definition: People eating products of commerce, including convenience foods, pre-packaged foods, store bought food, and anything else that has been altered from it’s original form. This eating style is similar to how we live in suburbs and cities today.
Modernized Swiss Nutrition & Health Analysis
The Nutrition of Modernized Swiss
“white-flour products, marmalades, jams, canned vegetables, confections, and fruits–all of which are transported to the district. Only a limited supply of vegetables is grown locally.” Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Interesting Note
“We studied some children here whose parents retained their primitive methods of food selection, and without exception those who were immune to dental caries were eating a distinctly different food from those with high susceptibility to dental caries.” Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Immunity to Tooth Decay
In of the 2,065 teeth 25.5% where attacked, many teeth had abscessed. Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Note on Immunity to Tooth Decay
Currently in the United States, 20-39 year old adults experience nearly the exact same 25.25% of all teeth having been affected by tooth decay. There is merely a longer time delay in our culture for severe tooth decay to happen.
Nutrient Analysis of an Average Diet for Modernized Swiss
| Calories | Food | Fat-Soluble Activators | Calcium | Phosphorus | Iron |
| 1000 | White Bread | Low | 0.11 | 0.35 | 0.00 |
| 400 | Jam, Honey, Sugar, Syrup | Low | 0.05 | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| 100 | Chocolate and Coffee | Low | 0.02 | 0.07 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Milk | High | 0.17 | 0.13 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Canned Vegetables | Low | 0.08 | 0.08 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Meat | Medium | 0.01 | 0.11 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Vegetable Fat | Low | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Butter (dairy) | High | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 2000 | Low | 0.44 | 0.82 | 0.026 |
Price, W. A., (Some figures have been rounded up for simplicity)
Compare these figures to the Isolated Swiss
| Swiss | Calories | Fat-Soluble Activators | Calcium | Phosphorus | Iron |
| Isolated | 2000 | Very High | 1.76 | 3.04 | 0.01 |
| Modernized | 2000 | Low | 0.44 | 0.82 | 0.026 |
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Native/Isolated Diets Compared
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10x or more | 4x | 3.7x | -2x or 1x |
As you can see in this chart, several times more fat-soluble activators and nutrients are provided in the Native diets, compared with their displacing/Modernized diets.
The nutrient deficiencies that are seen in modern diets are directly related with the physical degeneration and tooth decay that is so prevalent in Westernized cultures.
The Healthy People of the Outer Hebrides, Islands off the Coast of Scotland
“Stories have long been told of the superb health of the people living in the Islands of the Outer Hebrides.” – Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Image can be seen here:
Health and Nutrition Analysis for Isolated Gaelics
Nutrition of Isolated Gaelics
“The basic foods of these islanders are fish and oat products with a little barley. Oat grain is the one cereal which develops fairly readily, and it provides the porridge and oat cakes which in many homes are eaten in some form regularly with each meal. The fishing about the Outer Hebrides is specially favorable, and small sea foods, including lobsters, crabs, oysters and clams, are abundant. An important and highly relished article of diet has been baked cod’s head stuffed with chopped cod’s liver and oatmeal.”
Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
“Their nutrition is provided by their oat products and fish, and by a very limited amount of vegetable foods. Lobsters and flat fish are a very important part of their foods. Fruits are practically unknown. Yet the physiques of these people are remarkably fine.”
Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Immunity to Tooth Decay
Isle of Lewis, only 1.3 teeth out of every hundred examined that had even been attacked by dental caries. (1.3%)
Isle of Harris, 1.0%
Isle of Skye, Those living on primitive foods had only 0.7 carious teeth per hundred. (0.7%)
Nutrient Analysis of an Average Diet for Indigenous People in the Outer Hebrides
| Calories | Food | Fat-Soluble Activators | Calcium | Phosphorus | Iron |
| 500 500 |
Oatmeal Oatcake |
Low | 0.17 | 0.99 | 0.01 |
| 100 | Barley | Low | 0.00 | 0.31 | 0.00 |
| 800 | Fish with Livers | Very High | 1.54 | 1.62 | 0.06 |
| 100 | Eggs | Medium | 0.05 | 0.12 | 0.00 |
| 2000 | Very High | 1.76 | 3.04 | 0.07 |
Modernized Gaelic’s in the Outer Hebrides Compared with Isolated Gaelic’s
“One of the sad stories of the Isle of Lewis has to do with the recent rapid progress of the white plague. The younger generation of the modernized part of the Isle of Lewis is not showing the same resistance to tuberculosis as their ancestors.”
Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Image can be seen here:
“[The brother on the left had] excellent teeth and [on the right] rampant caries. These boys were brothers eating at the same table. The older boy, with excellent teeth, was still enjoying primitive food of oatmeal and oatcake and sea foods with some limited dairy products. The younger boy, seen to the left, had extensive tooth decay. Many teeth were missing including two in the front. He insisted on having white bread, jam, highly sweetened coffee and also sweet chocolates. His father told me with deep concern how difficult it was for this boy to get up in the morning and go to work.” – Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Image can be seen here:
Above: Normal Development
“An examination of the growing boys and girls disclosed the fact that only one tooth out of every hundred examined had ever been attacked by tooth decay. The general physical development of these children was excellent, as may be seen in the upper half of [this figure]. Note their broad faces.”
Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Below: Checked Development
“This is in striking contrast with the children of the hamlet of Tarbert which is the only shipping port on the Isle of Harris.. These Tarbert children had an incidence of 32.4 carious teeth out of every hundred teeth examined. The distance between these two points is not over ten miles.. [They have] access to modern foods, since it supports a white bread bakery store with modern jams, marmalades, and other kinds of canned foods.”
Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Health and Nutrition Analysis for Modernized Gaelics
Nutrition of Modernized Gaelics
“In Stornoway, one could purchase angel food cake, white bread, as snow white as that to be found in any community in the world, many other white-flour products; also, canned marmalades, canned vegetables, sweetened fruit juices, jams, confections of every type filled the store windows and counters.”
Price, W. A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6th Ed.,
Immunity to Tooth Decay
Isle of Lewis, In a count of one hundred individuals appearing to be between the ages of twenty and forty, twenty-five were already wearing artificial teeth.
Isle of Harris, 32.4%
Isle of Skye, 16.3% or twenty-three times as many teeth as the isolated Gaelics had been attacked with dental caries.
Nutrient Analysis of an Average Diet for Modernized Gaelics
| Calories | Food | Fat-Soluble Activators | Calcium | Phosphorus | Iron |
| 1000 | White Bread | Low | 0.11 | 0.35 | 0.04 |
| 400 | Jam, Sugar, Syrup | Low | 0.05 | 0.08 | 0.02 |
| 100 | Chocolate and Coffee | Low | 0.01 | 0.07 | 0.00 |
| 300 | Fish Without Livers | High | 0.57 | 0.60 | 0.02 |
| 100 | Canned Vegetables | Low | 0.06 | 0.08 | 0.00 |
| 100 | Eggs | Medium | 0.04 | 0.12 | 0.00 |
| 2000 | Low | 0.84 | 1.30 | 0.07 |
Price, W. A.
Diet Comparison Primitive vs. Modern Gaelics
| Gaelics | Calories | Fat-Soluble Activators | Calcium | Phosphorus | Iron |
| Isolated | 2000 | Very High | 1.76 | 3.04 | 0.07 |
| Modern | 2000 | Low | 0.84 | 1.30 | 0.07 |
| The Differences | 10x or more | 2.1x | 2.3x | 1.0x |
This data shows why isolated primitive people in the Islands off the Coast of Scotland and in the Swiss Alps were able to largely avoid problems such as tooth decay. Remember, that there are specific reasons why the modernized people in those areas experienced tooth decay: The isolated diets were substantially higher in the amount of water soluble vitamins, and specifically, ten times or more the amount of fat-soluble vitamins.
Genetics and viruses do not cause disease, so stop believing that lie. Disease occurs we have been eating a diet that is lacking in the nutrition that is needed to maintain the bodies physical structure, resulting in a weakened body which is starved of essential nutrients.
The Diet of Modern Citizens of the United States
| Calcium | Phosphorus | Fat-Soluble Vitamin A | Fat-Soluble Vitamins D, E, K | |
| Daily averages of the previously listed Indigenous Diets | 1.97 grams | 4.30 grams | High – Very High | High – Very High |
| Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) for Pregnancy | 1.0 gram | 0.70 grams | 2541 IU | 15mg for Vitamin E |
| Percentage of | 65.1% | 27.4% | 56.2% | 69.4% for Vitamin E |
| Percentage of | 55.4% | 13.0% | 60.9% | 64.4% for Vitamin E |
The above graph shows how it is common for a woman to be nutrient deficient, starving for essential nutrients prior to pregnancy.
The deficiency on the chart can be viewed in two ways. Firstly, the large percentage of women who fall below the standards set by the RDA, these standards are similar to the pregnancy DRI standards. Next, in comparison, how those DRI nutrient standards are extremely low relative to healthy Indigenous peoples.
This data represents evidence of our modern catastrophe in nutrition. The average female and male adult, is likely only getting half of the minerals, such as phosphorus and calcium which are needed for health, and probably only 10 – 25% of the fat-soluble vitamins (A,D, E, K) which are needed for a healthy body. These nutrient levels are even more critical at the time of conception, as well as during pregnancy and lactation.
United States: Immunity to Tooth Decay
Immunity to Tooth Decay United States interpretation of
| Age Group | Average Number of Decayed Missing or Filled Teeth Per Person | Percent of Decayed Missing or Filled Teeth Per 100 teeth, est. | Percent of Age Group Affected by Tooth Decay |
| 2-5 | 1.01 | 5.05% | 27.9% |
| 6-11 | 0.42 | 1.75% | 49.0% |
| 12-15 | 1.75 | 6.25% | 49.6% |
| 16-19 | 3.25 | 11.6% | 67.9% |
| 20-39 | 7.07 | 25.25% | 86.7% |
| 40-59 | 12.85 | 45.89% | 95.1% |
| 60+ | 17.46 | 62.36% | 93.1% |
The above data excludes the third molars (wisdom teeth), which means, US adults have a larger amount of missing teeth than what is listed in the presented figures, because it is common for wisdom teeth to be removed in many adults. For ages 2-5 I assumed 20 total teeth, for ages 6-11 I made my averages assuming 24 total teeth, and for ages 12 and older the assumption is 28 total teeth.
It is very likely that the data collection standards for determining whether a tooth was infected by decay varied widely. In my understanding, the highest chance of tooth decay happens between the ages of 12-17, which is a period of rapid growth. Nevertheless, by the time an adult reaches the age of their 20’s and 30’s, the odds are that they will have 7 decayed teeth. By the age of 60, this number increases to 17 teeth.