The Story of our Health Message

On Sundry Items of Diet

Regarding “salt, sugar, and milk,” she said: “We know that a free use of these things is positively injurious to health, and in many cases we think that if they were not used at all, a much better state of health would be enjoyed. But at present our burden is not upon these things. The people are so far behind that we see it is all they can bear to have us draw the line upon their injurious indulgences and stimulating narcotics.”—Ibid. SHM 197.6

The list of injurious articles against which they did continue to bear “positive testimony,” in The Health Reformer, and in their health lectures, includes “tobacco, spirituous liquors, snuff, tea, coffee, flesh meats, butter, spices, rich cakes, mince pies, a large amount of salt, and all exciting substances used as articles of food.”—Ibid. SHM 198.1

Some who have chosen to criticize Seventh-day Adventists feel that they have found an occasion for reproach because of the inclusion of butter in this list. They assert that this is indicative of an extreme position taken by the denominational leaders. Because of such perplexity in the minds of some, a few facts should be considered in this connection. SHM 198.2

Sylvester Graham, who was the leading physiologist and dietitian of that time, testifies that “nearly all who have written or spoken on the subject of human ailment with reference to health have been entirely agreed in considering this favorite article as decidedly objectionable, and some have spoken of it in the severest terms of condemnation.”—Lectures on the Science of Human Life, 506. New York: Fowler and Wells. SHM 198.3