Book Review: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

First Things First

Crooked teeth are caused by lack of nutrition, not by heredity.
Nutrition changes the bone structure of your face.

Nutrition changes the bone structure of your face!
Crooked teeth are caused by lack of nutrition, not by heredity!

Figure 17 from the book: typical teeth and dental arches of people eating their traditional diet

Figure 18 from the book: typical teeth and dental arches of people eating processed food

Okay, with that properly emphasized, onto the rest of the review. . .

Summary

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration is a powerful read. The book’s title indicates its status as a study of human nutrition, but it ultimately proves to be an indictment of civilization itself. Chapter by chapter, author Weston A. Price’s studies demonstrate the ability of nutrition to quickly and radically affect the health of a person and a people. For any group who came into contact with “the white man’s foods”, the radical effects were immediate and terrible. Published in 1939, Price’s studies were on groups around the world who were either a) still eating their traditional diets, or b) recently introduced to processed foods such as white flour, sweetened goods, and refined vegetable oils. The results, documented in striking photographic detail, were catastrophic for those unlucky enough to come into contact with civilization and its modernized foods.

Price, a dentist, collected statistics on tooth decay among those eating traditional and modernized diets. Consistently, tooth decay skyrocketed upon adoption of a modernized diet. Price visited many populations on several continents and documented this phenomenon. The dental problems he documented were terrible. Many of these non-civilized populations had never had need for dentists before, so none were available to treat the suffering patients (in the Fiji islands, Price notes that “toothache is the only cause of suicide”). The most vivid takeaways are from the photographs included in the book. Chapter after chapter, country after country, population after population, the following is consistently documented with photo evidence:

• Traditional diets: Good, full sets of straight teeth. Virtually no deformed dental arches. Virtually no tooth decay.
• First generation of processed food diets: Crooked teeth abound. A large percentage of young people have deformed dental arches. Rampant tooth decay.

A large percentage of the “modernized” kids developed crowded dental arches. This happened amongst a dozen different populations in the first generation growing up with processed foods. This was not hereditary; their parents had complete dental arches. The children grew up without proper nutrition so their jaws did not fully form. This difference in dental arch formation was even shown in pairs of siblings where the older was born during time of traditional diet (full set of straight teeth) and the younger was born during modernized diet (incomplete dental arch, crooked teeth).

Figure 24: Typical teeth and dental arches of Florida Seminoles still eating their traditional diet

Figure 26: Typical teeth and dental arches of Florida Seminoles after adopting processed food diet

Again, just let that sink in: consistently, within a single generation, populations which had never had dental problems nor crooked teeth suddenly began suffering horribly from dental decay and young people grew up with messed-up teeth. This had never happened before. This only happened to populations when they replaced their traditional whole-foods diet with a "modernized" processed food diet (white flour, sugary products, vegetable oils, etc).

Price knew that the deformed dental arches were not merely a problem of vanity, nor were they problems local to the teeth. They were indicators of incomplete physical development stemming from nutrition, and they were symptoms of a body's diseased state. When populations began to see crooked teeth, they also saw a whole host of health problems on an unprecedented scale: tuberculosis, arthritis, club foot, cleft palate, pinched nostrils, breathing problems, underbites, overbites, gall bladder problems, stomach problems, appendicitis, narrow hip development (making childbirth more difficult), and reproductive issues.

Throughout this work, Price conveys the idea that everything is connected. He realizes that the modernized diet dental problems have the same root cause as the physical problems. Likewise, he connects mental, emotional, and moral issues to physical ones (and therefore to nutrition). Despite not including a completely rigorous study of the mental-emotional-moral relationship in this book, Price’s logic in that connection is well-supported by his persuasive holistic perspective and by several gripping anecdotes.

It is hard to overstate the devastating impact modernized foods had on non-civilized populations. Price often lauded these traditional peoples for their trustworthiness, their contentment, and their mental acuity. A common theme was that on their traditional diets, these peoples had strong bodies, happy dispositions, and good communities with extremely low crime rates (all in contrast with most “civilized” societies). Then the non-civilized groups adopted processed food diets and new diseases took root, leading to death rates often eclipsing birth rates, and these impressive populations were devastated. For instance, of the Australian Aboriginese, Price observes, “They are dying out with great rapidity wherever they have changed their native nutrition to that of the modern white civilization.”

Who Should Read This?

If you need a kick in the butt to motivate yourself to eat better, this is a terrific book. If you are interested in being any kind of health professional, this book provides a useful context of nutrition's primary importance. If you are curious whether seemingly small changes can make huge differences, this is a great read. Come to learn about the mind-boggling impact of nutrition, stay for:

• Price's rejection of the 1930s idea that physical degeneration is caused by race-mixing
• Anecdotes from traditionally-living cultures all over the world
• Price's thoughts on using fluorides to treat tooth decay
• Details of the various traditional diets that kept populations healthy
• Fascinating anecdotes showing the body's ability to adapt
• A view of World War II seen through the lens of soil fertility
• A look at the emphasis traditional societies put on preparation for childbirth, even before conception
• Price's profound respect for non-civilized populations living in their traditional manners
• A persistent yet understated criticism of modern civilization
• An interesting study of chickens' discerning dietary intelligence
• The introduction of the mysterious Activator X (remained unidentified for over 60 years post-publication)
• A case study of a dental arch operation which added years to a teen's intelligence and maturity levels
• X-rays of damaged teeth and bones before and after nutrition fixes applied
• A sad theme of the suffering that modernization imposed on many non-civilized peoples
• Many insights, approximately 80 years old, that are still relevant and under-appreciated

My Thoughts

This book blew me away. I already knew, on some level, that nutrition was very, very important to good health. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration showed me I had no idea of the magnitude to which that was true.

Upon reading this book, I am surprised that Weston A. Price is not a commonly-known name amongst dentists, doctors, and other medical professionals. Nearly 80 years ago, he pinpointed nutrition as the primary driver of chronic disease in a convincing, thorough, and riveting manner. His compelling evidence and holistic perspective could provide useful context to every person’s approach to health, doctor and patient alike.
This book challenges me in many ways. The success that so many varying traditional diets had in leading to good health challenges nutritional beliefs I hold. The contrast between the lives of civilized and non-civilized peoples challenges my thoughts about the value and values of civilized society itself. This is especially true when considering the means by which civilization seemed to encroach on and destroy some of these great traditional populations. Finally, it challenged me personally. I read this during one of the happiest times of my entire life: my honeymoon. Already filled with joy, reflection, and thoughts of the future, I read about the traditional societies and how seriously they took the task of family-building. The book encourages me to think deeply about my responsibilities to my wife and to any children we may one day decide to have.

Finally, It Bears Repeating

Figure 98 from the book: I bet you can tell whether their communities were eating traditional or modern processed foods.

Nutrition changes how your face forms.

Nutrition changes how your face forms! Imagine what it does to the rest of your body.