1/n - I am constantly on the hunt for fresh science to add to my @zotero as well as Meatrition.com's databases.
This weekend I received a powerpoint from @LDLSkeptic that had a source I didn't know of - a book from 1892 that talked about cutting out carbs for obesity.
2/n
Dr Diamond had a great slide and I realized I was missing this source in my All History Database on my website.
Most of these books are available for free on archive sites. Just google the title!
3/n:
The entire book is free:
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.…
They have both scans of it as well as a text-only view of each page.
4/n
Let's review three interesting segments of the text I found interesting.
454 pages is a lot! So first of all I used words from the first image to find where it was in the text. Afterwards, I checked the table of contents to look for chapters on meat eating and obesity.
5/n
First Up - "Starch foods cause Corpulence"
Dr Densmore had discovered Banting's pamplet from 1863 and found it useful in his own practice
"An obese person may be given a diet of flesh with water with or without the addition of starchless vegetables"
meatrition.com/history/ditche…
6/n
Dr Densmore even realizes that:
"If this patient who has been reduced, and who has again developed obesity, is persuaded to again adopt the #exclusivefleshdiet, again the reduction is sure to take place; and in the course of our practice this process has been repeated"
7/n
You may remember this recent tweet from an MD saying physicians shouldn't serve as primary lifestyle coaches. They only have time to write prescriptions.
Well, Densmore identified this trend of Dunning-Kruger even 130 years ago.
8/n
"A good quality of beef or mutton, roasted or broiled, to the average stomach will be found quite easy of digestion. All persons who are at all corpulent, having more adipose tissue or fat than is natural, will find this diet of special value."
1892
meatrition.com/history/ration…
9/n
You've heard of the Salisbury Steak right?
That's the same guy. He tried eating only one type of a food at a time with 6 other men he hired, even trying a diet of only beans. It failed. The best thing he found that worked was lean red beef.
meatrition.com/history/salisb…
10/n
#Vegetarianism was a big deal even in the 19th century. A religious revolution had started many anti-meat cults in the USA. Densmore gained a reputation for an "anticerealist" and "anti-vegetarian quackery"
meatrition.com/authors/Emmet-…
11/n
Densmore 1892:
"In these days of #vegetarianism and theosophy a physician is often met with objection on the part of patients to a diet of flesh — that it is wrong to slaughter animals, and therefore wrong to use their flesh as food."
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.…
12/n
Densmore, an experienced physician had noticed that those who tried a strict vegan diet failed.
"There are a few isolated cases where individuals have lived upon bread and fruit to the exclusion of animal products, but such cases are rare, and usually end in disaster."
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