Page 4 - Summer2010

Letters

diseases, or is another dietary factor is to remove the outer, inedible hull of eliminate phytic acid from the diet,
or factors responsible? Most of the the rice, not the bran. I had my own only to keep it to acceptable levels. . .
world now eats refined grains and mini-Weston Price adventure in 1980, In practical terms, this means properly
refined sugars, from which a large por- when I traveled throughout nine Asian preparing phytate-rich foods to reduce
tion of the minerals, vitamins and oils countries observing the growing and at least a portion of the phytate content,
have been removed—not very good processing of rice. In most places, rice and restricting their consumption to two
for bone health. Also, in many places was grown and milled with machines to or three servings per day.” In my opin-
where grains supply the major source produce white rice. However, I went to ion, the article has not convincingly es-
of calories, the diet may be lacking in several remote locations where rice was tablished just what are “acceptable lev-
other important nutrients that aid in the still hand-pounded and eaten as brown els.” Several of the traditional cultures
utilization of minerals. rice, such as villages in Sumatra and the studied by Dr. Price consumed grain as
2. Mellanby’s experiments with mountainous areas of the Philippines. a major component of the diet without
dogs show that “High levels of phytic While the purpose of pounding is to suffering tooth problems. Consider the
acid in the context of a diet low in cal- remove the outer hull, in the process Peruvian Indians. In commenting on
cium and vitamin D resulted in rickets of pounding and winnowing a small their worn-down teeth, Dr. Price states,
and a severe lack of bone formation.” amount of the bran and germ are lost “Much of the food is eaten cold and dry,
Dogs are primarily carnivores, so it is leaving the rice about 90-95 percent as parched corn and beans.” Did this
not surprising that they may be poorly whole. Since that time, I have always apparently non-fermented, non-sprouted
adapted to dealing with phytic acid. added about 5 percent white rice to my phytic acid feast of corn and beans cause
Still, as with humans, a diet with too brown rice to replicate the way rice has tooth decay? In a group of 25 of these In-
much phytic acid and low in vitamin D been eaten by humans for thousands of dians he found, “not one tooth had been
can result in bone disease. The culprit years. I don’t know whether this practice attacked by dental caries.” And, this
may not be phytic acid, but rather an has any health consequences, but I find achievement of dental health occurred
unbalanced diet, or in the case of the dog the rice somehow tastes better and is in a location “where dairy products have
experiments, a diet that is not species- easier to chew. not been and are not at present a large
appropriate. 5. “Other experiments have shown part of the nutritional program,” which
3. “In general, humans do not pro- that while whole grains contain more “differs radically from the present and
duce enough phytase to safely consume minerals, in the end equal or lower past groups of people who live in high
large quantities of high-phytate foods on amounts of minerals are absorbed com- valleys of Switzerland and Tibet where
a regular basis.” Where is the reference pared to polished rice and white flour.” milk is plentiful.”
for this claim? The following sentence Yet the article also says, “Several studies 7. “Through observation I have
references an article about malabsorp- show that subjects given high levels of witnessed the powerful anti-nutritional
tion of minerals by vegetarians, but this whole wheat at first excrete more cal- effects of a diet high in phytate-rich
is not relevant for those on the animal- cium than they take in, but after several grains on my family members, with
inclusive WAPF diet. weeks on this diet, they reach a balance many health problems as a result, includ-
4. “The traditional method for and do not excrete excess calcium.” ing tooth decay, nutrient deficiencies,
preparing brown rice is to pound it in This suggests that we may not need to lack of appetite and digestive problems.”
a mortar and pestle in order to remove worry about phytic acid in whole grains Personal observations based on small
the bran. The pounding process results at all, and we can safely enjoy the health numbers of people may have some
in milled rice, which contains a reduced benefits of the high vitamin and mineral value, but generally they are not good
amount of the bran and germ.” This is content found therein. science. Let me give a counter example.
inaccurate. The purpose of pounding 6. “It is not necessary to completely Before adopting the WAPF diet that I
4 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2010