A Nutrition Authority Discusses Mrs. E. G. White

Modern Scientific Era

Until modern times these processes had little importance in human nutrition, because man could not work on a large scale to produce thousands of tons of alcohol and sugar. He lacked the equipment for large scale processing. Furthermore, he had no means of assembling the ingredients for making sugar or alcohol on a vast scale, even if the natural foods could have been grown in large amounts. Two hundred years ago a bill to restrict the growth of London was debated in Parliament because of the difficulty of transporting sufficient food to the people by means of horses and carts. In past ages the amounts of alcohol and sugar that were produced were small enough to make these products luxuries. NADEGW 2.4

About 150 years ago the sciences of chemistry, physics, and physiology started to advance rapidly. These sciences finally made it possible to produce and distribute the vast array of foods that flood the American markets today. At the same time they made it easy to produce and sell huge amounts of highly processed materials such as sugar and alcohol that appeal to the taste of man but may lead him downward in well-being. Today, increased means of communication such as the television and a growth in the knowledge of the psychology of selling make it possible to sell man ever-increasing amounts of these deteriorated products. NADEGW 2.5

With the development of the natural sciences came a better understanding of human nutrition. The chemist gradually, in the course of the past 150 years, came to appreciate that natural foodstuffs were composed of numerous essentials such as minerals, amino acids, protein, and unsaturated fatty acids. However, this growth of scientific knowledge has not insured man against malnutrition and ill health, because such knowledge is very incomplete. Hence even today human nutrition must rest upon experience and the teaching of the past. NADEGW 2.6

As the basic knowledge of nutrition advanced, men set up standards that purported to show what every person should consume if he desires to be healthy and well fed. The first of such standards was set up by a chemist named Prout, more than a century ago. The most recent of these was formulated by various health agencies—scientific and governmental—in different countries. NADEGW 2.7

Even today, such standards are merely rough guides and are very incomplete because we know so little about human nutrition. Ingesting foods to provide all of the nutrients of these standards will not insure freedom from malnutrition today, any more than it would a hundred years ago. NADEGW 3.1

In some respects such standards have had a very bad influence, because the teachers of nutrition make their pupils think that there can be no malnutrition in a nation whose people consume foods that provide the levels of vitamins or compounds suggested in these standards. Such teaching gives free rein to those who sell alcohol, soft drinks, sugar, and refined products to increase their business, because they can constantly assert that the people are fed adequately. NADEGW 3.2

Nutritional scientists who worship at the shrine of so-called standards have been equally inconsistent from the beginning. A century ago the disease pellagra was common in America and some of the corn-eating areas of Europe. About this time the disease was eliminated from France by decreasing the amount of corn consumed and having the people eat more milk, eggs, and meat. The French chemist, Roussel, knew how to prevent pellagra as early as 1840, but more than seventy years were to pass before Americans made use of this knowledge. The nutritional standards of the pellagra era would have made man think he was adequately fed. The truth was the opposite. NADEGW 3.3

Today the same condition exists, in principle, in America. The exponents of the standards assert that Americans are the best fed in the world. At the same time thousands of Americans are dying from the diseases of heart and arteries. There is growing and impressive evidence that these diseases are the reflection of bad diet, but they occur in those who abide by the so-called adequate nutritional standards, which fact forces us to admit that the whole science is still too primitive to provide wholly adequate guidance, even though much is known. NADEGW 3.4

Health has been a matter of little individual concern to most people in our nation during its whole history. Among the 170 million people in America today there are probably not more than 10 million who are willing to devote substantial thought and self-discipline to maintain healthy bodies. Only after they have lost their health are most people willing to give any attention to the care of their bodies. NADEGW 3.5

While the selection and preparation of food plays a key role in the maintenance of health, few people select food on the basis of its nutritive value. Most select it on the basis of its taste, the way the product is packaged, the pressure of advertising, or the ease of preparation. Hence, the large food processors orient their research programs toward packaging, taste, and convenience rather than toward nutritive value. NADEGW 3.6

A sound nutrition program takes account of more than just the purchase of food. A healthy body, a satisfactory program of living, and a tranquil mind are all part of the essentials for sound nutrition, since the glands that insure digestion and assimilation of food cannot function when under the influence of a disturbed mind. NADEGW 3.7

I have given this brief summary to provide the setting for my comments on the teachings of Ellen G. White, particularly in terms of the usefulness of her teaching today for the population of America. Whatever may be the reader’s religion, he can gain much in the midst of this confused world in which we live, by a study of the writings of Mrs. White. Also, every thoughtful modern nutritionist must be impressed by the soundness of Mrs. White’s teachings in spite of the fact that she began to write nearly a century ago. NADEGW 3.8

Only a small fraction of people seem to grasp the importance of the concept of “balanced living” or the “wholeness” of life. This is expressed very well in the small compilation of writings by Mrs. White that are included in From City to Country Living. In this age, when problems of crime and juvenile delinquency are ever increasing, her writings have special interest to the sociologist. But to the modern nutritionist they also have special appeal because vast numbers of people have now moved to the edge of cities. They have facilities for producing much of their own vegetables and fruits with a minimum of poisonous spray residues. They have the space to grind their own wheat and make their own bread. They can even raise their own potatoes and squash. Mrs. White understood the value of such foods for better nutrition, and the value of the experiences of gardening as human recreation. NADEGW 3.9

When one reads such works by Mrs. White as Ministry of Healing or Counsels on Diet and Foods he is impressed by the correctness of her teachings in the light of modern nutritional science. One can only speculate how much better health the average American might enjoy, even though he knew almost nothing of modern science, if he but followed the teachings of Mrs. White. NADEGW 4.1

To understand better the remarkable nature of her teachings, we should study them in the setting of the intellectual climate that prevailed during the earlier years of her life. This climate provided her with the problems that needed answers. Some of the problems press for solution even more today, because of the greater complexity of living and the very great increase in the world populations. NADEGW 4.2