Back in the 1930’s Dr. Weston Price, a Clevland Dentist traveled throughout the world in search of the diets and health of Indigenous tribes. His extensive worldwide travels took him to investigate over 14 indigenous tribes, seeking their diets and health.

The world became his laboratory, and the lives of these tribes became his test ground. What he found was healthy, energetic bodies, disease-free people, beautiful-faces, straight near-perfectly aligned teeth, and and no tooth decay.

Dr. Price was looking for the many different people’s diets, eating habits, variety of foods, energy, physical findings, and the traits of passing their diets and customs on to future generations. What he found was astounding and very surprising. He wanted to compare these diets, health, and traits with the people living in the United States.

His travels took him to the Arctic circle, where he studied Eskimos and the Indians of North America, villages in northern Switzerland, Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian aborigines, South American tribes, and even people in New Zealand.

In every country that he visited, Dr. Price found very healthy people, free of dental decay and disease, with straight teeth, boundless energy, and to his surprise great diets which kept them free of disease, heart problems, diabetes, and cancer.

The people that Dr. Price studied were isolated tribes that acquired and produced their own food. Since they had no way of reaching out to other tribes or countries around the world, each tribe became his research lab for isolated living.

He found that the native isolated diets, compared with the standard American diet, provided more than four times the water-soluble vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, calcium, and other minerals. They also ate ten times more of the fat-soluble vitamins. These fat-soluble vitamins came from such food as bird eggs, fish, blubber, fish eggs, shellfish, animal organs and meats, animal fats, and many green-type vegetables and fruits. The following is a very important part. There were no preservatives, refined foods, processed foods, colorings, sugar, boiled omega 6 oils, and sugar substitutes.

Many of their foods were cholesterol-type foods that many physicians today say people should not be eating. A very interesting story is that Dr. William Kelley, a Texas orthodontist who had pancreatic cancer, was treated with chemotherapy and radiation, then when that failed, he was given 4 months to live. He states that organ meats and pancreatic enzymes were a great part of his diet. Dr. Kelley was very adamant about cancer patients eating organ meats. After he cured his pancreatic cancer, he went on to treat over 10,000 more cancer patients, with a 75 to 85 percent rate of cancer patients living over five years.

Dr. Price also found one fat-soluble nutrient that he later discovered was vitamin K2. It was in the diets of these tribes. The K2 vitamins were found in fish liver, butter, organ meats, and shellfish. He found that all tribes were eating and getting vitamin K2.

Dr. Price also found that continued generations of these people exhibited the same breathing airway passages, dental bites, facial structures, and plenty of room to accommodate the dental arches. This was in sharp contrast to the continued generations of today, with narrowed faces, crowded teeth, susceptibility to upper respiratory diseases such as asthma, hay fever, histamine-related airway changes, plus autoimmune diseases, all from the modern generation of people’s diets.

Dr. Price found that the modern people of today were eating a diet void of these dietary nutrients that were vital in stabilizing the growth and formation of facial features, teeth, bones, and soft tissue. The modern diets were missing the water soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, enzymes, and minerals that the indigenous people ate on a daily basis.

He made an incredible finding in that good nutrition by most tribes during pregnancy and with infants was recognized and practiced by most of these people. Primitive tribes understood and practiced good nutrition. Some of the important practices that these people exhibited are below. One. In 14 tribes that Dr. Price studied, he found that their diets provided almost complete immunity to tooth decay and resistance to disease. Two. Most diets were high in protein, soluble fats, vitamins, and minerals. Soluble fats were mostly from animal fats. Omega-3 fats came from raw or slightly cooked grains and seeds. In comparison, most modern oils on the grocery shelf are nutritionally deficient in all good fats and minerals. 99 percent of all oils on the grocery shelf are boiled to 360 degrees so they won’t become rancid before they are sold. Please don’t confuse these store shelf oils with the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated cold raw oils that have very good nutrition, or some saturated oils such as butter, coconut oil, or palm oil. Three. Even the most primitive diets contained at least four times the water-soluble vitamins and minerals and ten times the fat-soluble fats and minerals than modern diets contain today. These are vitamins A, D, K2, plus a high content of good intestinal bacteria from Lacto fermented vegetables, fruits, dairy products, organ meats, bones, and fats. Four.

Most tribes ate a high percentage of animal foods raw. Raw animal foods still contain many enzymes that are destroyed during cooking. As a side note, while I was in Hong Kong, one British official ate his meat raw. Maybe he had read about Dr. Price’s findings. That is in very sharp contrast to the diets that we have in the U.S. today. Five. All tribes had a diet that consumed animal food, such as fish and shellfish, land and waterfowl, land and sea mammals, eggs, milk, milk products, reptiles, and insects. There was nothing left of the animals when the tribes got through consuming the meat, organs, bones, and fats. Six. Their traditional diets contained a high content of food enzymes, beneficial bacteria from Lacto fermentation of vegetables, fruits, beverages, dairy products, meats, and fats. Seven, Surprisingly, the balance of their fat calories came from saturated and monounsaturated oils. Only about four percent of calories came from polyunsaturated oils, found in animal fats, fish, vegetables, nuts, legumes, and grains. Eight. Most tribes made gelatin-rich bone broths from animal parts, cartilage, and bones. This is a forgotten trait today in America. Nine. Good diets were taught to young children and pregnant women. This was very important because this passed the diet information on to the next generation.

There is much more information that can be obtained on the internet about Weston Price and the Weston Price Foundation. He was a remarkable smart man that provided invaluable information about nutrition, nutritional principles, traditional diets rich in nutrients, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, minerals, water, and fat-soluble fats, plus many other health factors. It would help for you to look up more information about his remarkable findings.

May 15, 2021

~ the Author ~
Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. graduated from the University Of Washington School Of Dentistry in 1957. After two years of service in the Air Force, he started a private practice in East Wenatchee, Washington. For the past 45 years his practice has included Orthodontics and TM Dysfunction treatment specializing in temporomandibular pain treatment, headache, head and neck pain control, functional jaw orthopedics, and straight wire orthodontics. Associated with mercury elimination, oral surgery, crowns and bridges is TMJ treatment, diet control, parasite elimination, intestinal cleansing and healing (wellness).

Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. has taught advanced courses for dentists on TM Dysfunction treatment, orthodontics and related pain control for more than 30 years. In 1972 he was the first dentist in Washington to use straight wire orthodontics and the first dentist to correct vertical deficiencies in children by placing vertical dimension-primary molar buildups and/or vertical (erupting) appliances. Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. was involved with the first group of dentists to recognize lateral tongue splinting in young infants and integrate functional and fixed techniques to correct vertical dimension deficiencies and condylar placement. He is the originator of vertical dimension-primary molar build ups, which help to correct deep bites and Otitus media in children. He invented the Loudon-Chateau Anterior Repositioning Appliance, the functional muscle malocclusion concept, the twelve commandments of occlusion and the vertical overbite domino rule. Merle E. Loudon, B.S., D.D.S. has written numerous articles in several American and foreign dental journals and has lectured in over 50 cities and 7 foreign countries on functional jaw orthopedics, fixed wire orthodontics, Otitus media treatment and TM Dysfunction treatment. He has been instrumental in setting up criteria for teaching in the International Association For Orthodontics, including the certified instructor program.

Dr. Loudon is a member of The American Dental Association, Diplomat and Senior Instructor in the International Association for Orthodontics, and is a Diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management. He also is a member of the American Orthodontic Society.