The Weston A Price Foundation: Food Fundamentalists
Q: What do you think of the Weston A Price Foundation?
A: They are half right, and because of this, they are doubly dangerous about the half they get wrong.
Their value is in their critique of factory farming, and their understanding that an industrial food chain will eventually make us sick.
The danger is their insistence, based on long-debunked research, that eating large amounts of meat and dairy products is good for you.
On this point, they are fundamentalists, not truth-seekers. They attack scientists who present research that contradicts their dogma - even to the point of smearing them and harassing them at public lectures. They post long and ignorant and deceitful diatribes on amazon.com's reviews of books by authors who promote a healthful, plant-based diet.
The best book on the science of nutrition is T. Colin Campbell's The China Study (2005). I know Dr. Campbell personally, and can vouch for the fact that he is one of the most brilliant, humble, honest and fierce seekers of truth in the world of science.
He is not funded by big business, and has no interest in defending his positions against evidence. In fact, his PhD was on improving protein yield from cattle! It took a lot of courage to examine the evidence and come to the conclusion that animal protein - from meat and dairy - is a powerful human carcinogen in quantities greater than 10% of the diet.
Yet Dr. Campbell is hounded on a regular basis by Weston A Price devotees who behave more like missionaries than scientists. They try to sabotage his public lectures with audience plants who ask the same questions over and over, and never seem to actually listen to the answers.
I'm not interested in putting my health in the hands of folks who have so little confidence in their messsage that they cannot bear to examine evidence to the contrary.
There is so much wrong with the current system of food production and distribution - check out Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma for an eye-opening view of the industrial food "Grid" that most of us depend on - that all critics, including the Weston A Price Foundation, have some "ring of truth" to their messages.
The way we grow and process and distribute our food is indeed severely in need to mending, for our health and the future of the planet. The Weston A Price is right to point out that it's broke. But let's replace it with something that supports human health, the environment, and the just distribution of resources.
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2 Comments »
October 17, 2007
marc :
Excuse my ignorance, I am fairly new in studying nutrition in general. However from my understanding (from short descriptions I have read) is that Dr. Price’s book has observations and analyses of his studies in a time before the chronic diseases we have today. And the diet of these primitive people he analyzed mainly consumed saturated fats, primarily from animal meat and by-products.
Is my assumption correct? If so, why would we adapt to a different diet then what they ate?
February 7, 2008
Jay :
According to what you believe Dr. Price had to say about nutrition, it is clear that you haven't read any of his research for yourself.
Dr. Price observed that Traditional diets, high in grass-fed meat, wild-fish and grass-fed dairy–high in Omega-3 fatty acids–promoted robust health in people eating in this fashion.
In addition to this, most Traditional diets incorporated a high degree of naturally fermented foods that promoted healthy intestinal flora and a rich source of digestive enzymes.
Dr. Price supports this assertions with empirical evidence that Traditional diets, high in raw animal fats and proteins from grass fed sources, supported the excellent health of Native Americans, Inuit tribes, remote villages in Switzerland and so on.
The groups of people in Dr. Price's studies were virtually free from dental cavities, and did not suffer from the diseases we observe today (cancer, heart disease)
He did not, however, claim that "eating meat and dairy" from industrial farmed animals was good for you…as you imply. What you state sounds like he would condone having burgers and cheese curds from the Kwik-i-Mart.
Not the case!
His research indicated that homogenized, pasteurized and commercially raised (grain/corn fed) animal proteins were not only inferior to grass-fed sources, but caused disease processes in our bodies.
Eating grass fed (often wild) meat sources can actually encourage increased lean body mass and balanced cholesterol levels, being high in Omega-3 and low in Omega-6 (inflammatory) fatty acids.
So, if you want to do Dr. Price's research a fair report, then report his findings accurately. And if his "followers" attack scientific food findings, that may or may not be a bad thing–depending on what they are reporting.
Food Science, after all, has considered corn syrup a viable nutrient and for years, M.D.'s have recommended margarine to their patient to reduce their risk of heart disease.
–Jay
P.S. the link you have from the China Study goes to a spammy-looking Adsense page.