Diet and Disease by J. R. LEADSWORTH, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 11, 1907

Diet and Disease

By J. R. LEADSWORTH, M. D.

J. R. LEADSWORTH, M. D.

“Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Perhaps there is no way in which the truthfulness of the preceding scripture is so abundantly illustrated as in the matter of eating and drinking. Since the experience of our first parents in Eden, men have been willing to rely upon the sense of taste rather than upon the voice of Inspiration or science as to whether a thing was good or bad. That God knew best what was for man’s physical and spiritual good in providing the original bill of fare, we can not gainsay. When deliverance was sent to Israel in Egypt, it was deemed wise to provide a fleshless diet in order that they might be a healthy, happy people. In that new earth state where “the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick,” it is written that “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain;” but the majority of people hope, rather, that they shall be able to get rid of the carnivorous appetite suddenly.

Too many people rely upon individual experience. After partaking of a juicy beef steak, they imagine a feeling of satisfaction that is not experienced in partaking of some of the natural flavored grains and fruits. Their gustatory sense tells them that it is good for food, and they are willing to believe it. Besides, they have been told that some people require flesh; that other food does not furnish sufficient strength. In fact, they are told that theirs is a case that seems to require a more concentrated diet.

That one can not rely wholly upon the sense of taste is well recognized by all food experts. In “Farmers’ Bulletin 74,” Department of Agriculture, we read: “In our actual practise of eating, we are apt to be influenced too much by taste, that is, by the dictates of the palate; we are prone to let natural instinct be overruled by acquired appetite, and we neglect the teachings of experience. We need to observe our diet and its effects more carefully, and regulate appetite by reason. In doing this we may be greatly aided by the knowledge of what our food contains, and how it serves its purpose in nutrition.”

Gautier, a French author of national reputation, says, on the same subject: “The appetite is not a good guide for us; we excite or appease it at will: it is for many people a function arising from their habits. In particular, in the case of meats, the more one eats, the more the stomach secretes digestive acid juices; and the more it secretes, the more one is induced to eat to weaken its impressions and to neutralize the stomachic acidity.”

That meat is not the most concentrated diet is also well known by those with even a limited experience in food values. While a few years ago, it was thought that, in order to strengthen invalids, it was necessary to feed them on the broth from the strong ox, it has become well recognized that such an article is a starvation diet. The stomach specialist is not slow to recognize that for weak digestion the malt or dextrinized grains are far superior to any production in the flesh line.

If it is true that a fleshless diet does not contain sufficient nourishment for mankind, then it can be truthfully said that a great majority of the population of the world are underfed. Seven eighths of all the people in the world do not eat meat. If it be true that some people require a more concentrated diet, it certainly is true of only a marked minority of mankind.

But if the wisdom of the Creator in the original plan needs confirmation, it is abundantly furnished by science in the chemical laboratory, and by use of the microscope. It is well known that the intestinal canal furnishes an excellent breeding place for several varieties of germs, the most constant of which is the bacilli coli. Recent experiments by Dr. Palier show that cultures of these bacilli taken from the bowel discharges of a non-flesh-eating animal have, practically, no effect when injected into another animal. But where these germs are cultivated on flesh food, after being taken from the first animal, or instead are taken from the bowel excretions of a carnivorous animal, their innocent nature is at once reversed. Instead of being inactive and inert, they become virulent, and set up many inflammatory conditions in the intestinal canal.

Dr. Senn recently noted, in extensive travels among the black people of Africa, that they were practically free from appendicitis. In accordance with these facts, Dr. Palier attributes the freedom of these people from appendicitis to their vegetable diet. He also adds that a diet of milk and vegetables should be protective against appendicitis and affections of the bile passages, all of which have been attributed to the colon bacillus. When it is known that in every fifteen grains of the bowel excretion there are said to exist about a billion germs, it would seem worth while to adopt a dietetic régime that would keep them as innocent as possible.

Los Angeles, Cal.