Checking through my father's old library of books, I found a 1965 book, Let's Get Well, by Adelle Davis, one of the nation's top recognized nutritional experts and authors (masters degree) at the time. The book has a chapter on heart disease, and points out that "the first case of heart disease as it is known today was reported in 1912, the second in 1919, and since then it has developed into a major killer. Stress, though often blamed, has been universal throughout the ages. The obvious changes have been the ever-increasing consumption of refined foods and hydrogenated fats. The populations of the world living today on unrefined foods do not have heart disease. This insane process can be halted or the tragic path which has become a form of national suicide can continue. The choice lies with each individual."
This book is extremely well referenced, and I was able to look-up through these references the man who first categorized heart disease:
http://en.wikipedia....ames_B._Herrick
I've said many times, heart disease is a self-inflicted condition. Apparently, back in 1965, this was still understood.
I'm sure heart disease in humans occurred starting with the domestication of grains, but it was rare until processed oils also entered our food supple, just over 100 years ago.
I looked up the author of that book, Adelle Davis -- a fascinating person, to be sure:
http://en.wikipedia....ki/Adelle_Davis
I was surprised to learn she only lived 70 years. Then I saw on her website an example recipe she had in one of her books:
This recipe is a health disaster! And oddly, it doesn't even hold true with what Davis believed to be a healthy diet: avoid unprocessed foods. For example, vegetable oil is definitely processed, but in her favor, at the time, faulty research showed that vegetable oils were the healthiest of all oils (merely because they lowered cholesterol, which we now know has no correlation to heart disease). So, even with the best intentions, Davis unknowingly sabotaged her health with a bad diet, because...-5 Cups Old- Fashioned Oatmeal
-1 Cup of each: Cut Almonds, Un-Refined Sesame Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Shredded Coconut, Soy Flour, Powdered Milk, Wheat Germ
-Combine all DRY Ingredients
-Combine 1 Cup honey and 1 cup vegetable oil in separate dish
o whole grains are unhealthy
o honey is loaded with fructose
o vegetable oils are highly inflammatory
o powdered milk rather than whole milk??
If this is an example of the her dietary choices, she was doomed to die before her time.
Yet, here's something she said about the proliferation of processed and industrial foods during a health conference: "This is what's happening to us, to America, because there is a $125 billion food industry who cares nothing about health."
On this note, Davis was and continues to be correct.
Edited by DukeNukem, 07 November 2009 - 07:40 PM.