Is There a Relationship Between Cavities and Cellulite?

As strange as it sounds, medical researchers of the day considered dental cavities to be the first indication that the “diseases of civilization” would soon be prevalent in a society.  Dentists tell us that to avoid cavities we need to brush our teeth for two full minutes twice a day, floss regularly, and get a professional cleaning every six months.  But nearly all of the archaeological evidence of Paleolithic remains show that our ancestors rarely developed cavities, in spite of their lack of oral hygiene measures. 

Paleolithic humans weren’t the only ones with a resistance to dental decay.  In the early 1900’s, a dentist named Weston Price heard about contemporary societies where cavities were virtually nonexistent.  A pioneer of dental research (he served as the chairman of the Research Section of the American Dental Association from 1913 to 1923), Price set out to locate these societies and to figure out how they managed to avoid the cavities that were increasingly prevalent among his patients.

Price traveled the world for nearly a decade and ultimately found fourteen different societies who epitomized oral health.  The further he traveled from civilization, the less cavities he encountered.  What he didn’t expect, but soon discovered, is that these societies were equally resistant to all of the “diseases of civilization.”  Although the societies he studied were geographically diverse, Price found that they shared one common attribute: they all consumed astronomical rates of nutrients in their daily diet. 

At the time of Dr. Price’s research, the formal study of nutrition was in its infancy, the presence of basic vitamins in food having been discovered just a few years earlier.  For this reason, Price is often referred to as “the Charles Darwin of nutrition.”  His seminal book, entitled Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, was published in 1939 and considered “a profoundly significant book” by contemporary scholars.  Unfortunately, much of the research surrounding the “disease of civilization” phenomenon was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II and then largely forgotten.  Yet the implications of Price’s work are staggering, extending far beyond our humble cellulite investigation.  So to read up on the “disease of civilization” theory for yourself, ANALYST recommends the following books.

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For an unadulterated account of the first hand evidence, read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price.  Dr. Price distilled his years of research into this surprisingly readable work.  The many pictures of his smiling subjects add a personal element to his scientific studies.

*Be warned, this book has been known to single-handedly alter lifelong eating habits, career plans, and even your degree of political activism.

If you are thinking, “this disease of civilization thing can’t possibly be true or else all the experts would be talking about it,” then read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.  Taubes received a degree in applied physics from Harvard and another one in aerospace engineering from Stanford before studying journalism at Columbia and settling into his career as a science writer.  His books deal with scientific controversies and all three won the prestigious Science-in-Society award from the National Association of Science Writers.  Taubes is the only journalist to have achieved this honor.  This guy knows how to write science and if you make it through this book, you’ll never count another calorie again.  Guaranteed. 

If you think the “disease of civilization” theory makes perfect sense and you just want  to start cooking like a native, so to speak, read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon Morell.  Morell read Dr. Price’s book in the early 1970′s and her life was never the same.  In 1999, she co-founded The Weston A. Price Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense food to the American diet through education, research, and activism.  Nourishing Traditions translates Dr. Price’s research into cookbook form.  More than a cookbook, it’s a rich encyclopedia of traditional foods and cooking techniques from around the globe.

Finally, if you are pregnant, thinking of becoming pregnant, or have small children at home, don’t wait!  Read Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck right away.  In addition to their normal nutrient-dense diets, the societies that Weston Price studied followed special nutritional practices for mother and baby (and even for fathers-to-be, prior to conception).  Once a society abandoned their traditional foods, physical degeneration was usually evident within one generation.  Fortunately, the process is often just as easily reversed by returning to the innate wisdom of traditional diets, especially during the key formative years.