Pioneers of Nutrition: Francis Pottenger, Jr., MD

In a prior article I introduced you to Weston Price, the dentist who traveled the world studying the nutritional qualities of native traditional diets that produced very healthy humans with no dental problems (cavities and crooked or crowded teeth) and not plagued by the degenerative diseases of modern man – cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. He contrasted the native diets with the Western diet based on processed foods and the accelerating increase of cavities and crooked or crowded teeth he observed in his patients along with the rise of other degenerative diseases. He found the native diets vastly superior to the Western diet in terms of nutritional quality. They contained ten times the amount of fat soluble vitamins A, D and K and four times the amount of water soluble vitamins and important minerals than the Western diet. He concluded that the Western diet and its sub-standard nutritional qualities was a major cause behind the increase in disease (a cavity is one of the most basic forms of disease) he was observing.

Now I’d like to introduce you to another pioneer of nutrition – Francis Pottenger, Jr., MD. He is famous for his exploration of cats – over 900 cats were studied from 1932-1942. Dr. Pottenger’s interest was in preventing chronic illness, thus his research looked for its causes and focused on the role of nutrition in maintaining good health. His findings were remarkably similar to those of Dr. Price.

Like many discoveries, the basis for his research came about by chance. Here’s the “not so nice” part of the story. He was developing a formula to support adrenal gland function and as was practice of the time was using cats for the study. Part of the study was to remove their adrenal glands and then provide them the formula to see if it was effective. He noticed that most of his animals were not very healthy and many would not survive the operation thus impacting his ability to complete his study. He was feeding them what all the experts of the time said was a healthy diet for cats – raw milk, cod liver oil, and cooked meat. Then a funny thing happened. His supply of the cooked meat was cut off and he had to switch to raw meat. Then he observed something remarkable. The cats eating the raw meat were healthier and survived the operations.

With his scientific curiosity peaked he began to refine his studies looking at the meat and the milk he provided the cats. He investigated raw meat, cooked meat, raw milk, pasteurized milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, raw milk from cows fed grains, and raw milk from cows fed grass.

What he found was that only diets containing raw milk and raw meat produced optimal health, with the raw milk from grass fed cows superior to that of grain fed cows. Cats on this diet had healthy bone structure and density, no crowded teeth, shiny fur, no parasites, and no disease. In addition, they had no problems reproducing and were well behaved. They lived happy lives.

In contrast, cooking the meat or any milk other than the raw milk resulted in physical degeneration and reproductive difficulties which increased with each generation. By the time of the third generation, kittens of these cats died within six months and they were unable to reproduce. Even worse, these cats had miserable lives – parasites, skin diseases, allergies, weak bones, and behavioral issues. They died out completely by the fourth generation.

Now here’s the link to the work of Weston Price – they found the same results – poor nutrition leading to facial structural issues and the onset of degenerative diseases! Interesting enough is that many of the traditional diets studied by Price included raw milk and raw animal product.

What does this all mean? There is a definite link between the nutritional quality of the food we consume and our health. As we continue to consume processed foods our health continues to deteriorate. Another side note - do you know anyone who has had trouble or is having trouble reproducing? If you study the fertility rates now being experienced in the Western world you will learn that many fine people struggle to reproduce. And a little “food for thought” - what generation of processed food are we now on? And what health issues are we observing becoming more prevalent in today’s children?

If you’d like to learn more about the cat study the book to read is Pottenger’s Cats: A Study in Nutrition by Francis Pottenger, Jr. MD. I’d also direct you to the official website of the Price Pottenger Foundation – www.ppnf.org – a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public regarding nutrition. And, if you’d like to learn more about healthy diets and nutrition, there are many wonderful resources available.

Bernard Rosen, PhD is a Nutrition Consultant and Educator. He works with individuals, groups, and at corporations to create individualized nutrition and wellness programs. His office is in Thiensville. To learn more or to schedule an appointment, e-mail at bernie@brwellness.com, call (262) 389-9907 or go to www.brwellness.com.