Greetings! In today’s class, we shall learn about some of the ways that people poison themselves.
Loads Of Poisons
Indigestion–One very common way of adding to the body’s load of poisons is to practice some of the twenty-seven habits which cause indigestion. This has already been covered and nothing more needs to be said here.
Constipation–The poisons from constipation are more deadly than from indigestion. It is said that constipation can treble the load of the kidneys. The physiology of this has already been explained.
Salt–The body uses salt; a little necessary, but too much is not good. Many people use too much salt. Be conservative. If you find yourself wanting more than other people do, cut it down. People who perspire much will need more salt than those who do not.
White Sugar–White sugar is an irritant. One of the results of the free use of sugar is an exhausted pancreas-diabetes.
Eggs–Eggs are quick to putrefy in the digestive tract. They have a large amount of cholesterol, which is said to be one cause of degeneration of the arteries.
Excess of Acid-Forming Foods–It is important that persons suffering from any of these degenerative disease increase their alkaline foods to 90 percent and decrease the acid-forming ones to 10 percent.
Excess of Protein–Excess of proteins, especially animal can raise the blood pressure and injure the kidneys.
In Good Health, of December, 1937, cites the work of Newburgh of the University of Michigan as follows:
“Newburgh and other investigators have shown that meat proteins are far more harmful to the kidneys than milk and vegetable proteins. Rats fed on meat proteins showed symptoms of nephritis within two weeks, or even in less time.”
Following is a summary of the report:
Dr. L. H. Newburgh, a professor in the Medical Department of the University of Michigan, reported May, 1922, at a meeting of the American Medical Association in St. Louis his experiment on feeding meat to animals.
Summarizing the results, it appears that of twenty-four animals fed on bread containing about one-half its weight of lean meat, fourteen, or 58.3 percent, developed in less than eight and a half months, disease of the blood vessels or arteriosclerosis. Of the animals fed on bread containing about one-third its weight of lean meat, out of eleven animals that lived more than six months, eight showed typical arteriosclerosis and in seven the changes in the arteries “were advanced and extensive.” Not one of the animals kept in the laboratory under the same conditions as the experimental animals, without meat, showed any evidence of disease of the arteries, although two-thirds of them lived more than six months.
“Dr. Fox, of Philadelphia, has examined all of the animals that have died in the Philadelphia Zoological Garden. His conclusions are of interest in this connection. He pointed out that the carnivora had chronic vascular and renal lesions, and that they were practically the only ones that had such lesions. I wrote to Dr. Fox, asking him whether I was justified in assuming that definite relation existed between the carnivorous diet and these chronic lesions of the arteries and kidneys. In his reply, he stated that this certainly was true, and that the meat-eating animals showed a high incidence of chronic disease of the arteries and the kidneys as compared with all the other animals on which he had performed necropsies.”
Hindhede’s notable experiment in Denmark during the World War, which has been retold until it is familiar to all, demonstrated on a nation-wide scale that a low protein diet safeguards from Bright’s disease and improve the health remarkably.The records of thousands of individuals have shown that the blood pressure of those who eat no meat averages to be lower than in those who do eat it.
It has been shown that a meal heavy in meat protein greatly increases the work of the heart for many hours. One published statement follows:
“After a meal of meat the increase in heart rate regularly amounts to a 25 to 50 percent rise above the fasting level, and persists, in experimental subjects, from 15 to 20 hours, to reach a total of many thousand extra heart beats. Moore points out that a protein meal thus throws an extra burden of work on the heart which is comparable in extent to the heart’s total performance during three or four hours. Obviously, he concludes, a high protein diet is incompatible with cardiac rest.”
Some authors claim that the cholesterol in meats and animal fats is more injurious than the excess protein; that in excess it causes
atherosclerosis which makes up 95 percent of the lesions called arteriosclerosis. Vegetable oils contain no cholesterol, and 
should take the place of animal fats in the diet. There is much difference of opinion concerning cholesterol which is found in the blood and all body cells and in large amounts in eggs and animal fats. Some say it may be a waste product of metabolism; some hold that it is a necessary part of every cell and therefore necessary in the diet. However, those who hold that it is necessary in the cells warn us that an excess of it is dangerous in that it is the chief agent in producing damage to the arteries,—arteriosclerosis. Others content that it is not a cause of such injury. Yet, an excess of it fed to rabbits is said to produce notable injury to arteries in one month. It is advised that we remove most of the cholesterol from the diet as we grow older. Manifestly it would be to our advantage to exclude from the beginning that derived from animals.
The amount of cholesterol consumed in the ordinary American diet is one third of the amount which produces notable arterial damage in rabbits in one month, given in proportion to their weight. After reading the variety of opinions on the subject, the wise course is to avoid those foods which have this substance.
Let’s Recap:
1. What are one of the 27 habits that cause indigestion?
2. Why do people who perspire much often need more salt than others?
3. What disease can an exhausted pancreas produce?
4. What are eggs quick to do in the digestive tract?
5. What is the disease of the blood vessels called?
6. What greatly increases the work of the heart?
7. What can take the place of animal fats in the diet?
Grab a friend and share the wealth, from what you’ve learned in the School of Health! In next week’s class we shall learn more about loads of poison. Until then, God bless!
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