by Ruth F. Rosevear, L.D.
Ruth F. Rosevear, LD, is a member of the PPNF Advisory Board. She is a Cornell graduate and retired research chemist. Ruth is a nutritional consultant, teacher and writer. In 1948, Dr. Price personally sent Mrs. Rosevear his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. The book helped her immensely to overcome her personal health problems and those of her family. Her discovery of Dr. Price's work had a profound influence in her career. As a result of this "new" information, she added a second college education and, since 1956, has continued to teach people of all ages how to eat for better health. She has changed many lives through her demonstrations of what happens to young rats raised on good and poor diets ("Goodie" and "Junkie").
I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. I was watching TV's Primetime Live on October 21, 1993. Five families appeared. Each family had a child born without eyes.
Without eyes? One father attended the birth of his child. When a nurse pried open the eyelids of the newborn girl, because she needed to put drops in the eyes, she gasped. Quickly, she bundled the child out of sight. But the father wanted to know why he felt a sudden fear. The nurse returned to report that there were no eyes in his child's eye sockets.
Three of the parents voiced a possible reason why this could have happened. One thought the cause was exposure to insecticides. Another surmised it was radiation from high tension wires. The third thought the cause was genetic.
I waited. Of course, I fully expected that the interviewer would speak of the pigs born without eyes. I had seen the picture of such a pig on page 338, in Dr. Weston A. Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Price told of the experiments of Professor Fred Hale, of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at College Station, Texas, which were published in the Texas State Journal of Medicine (33:228, 1937). The following are excerpts from Dr. Price's book. The photos to which he refers have not been reprinted in the Journal; however, they are found in his book.
"One of the most important contributions in this field has been made by Professor Fred Hale, of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, at College Station, Texas. He has shown that many physical deformities are readily produced by curtailing the amount of vitamin A in the ration of pigs. He produced 59 pigs that were born blind, every pig in each of six litters -- where the mothers were deprived of vitamin A for several months before mating and for 30 days thereafter. In pigs, the eyeballs are formed in the first 30 days. He found, as have several others, that depriving pigs of vitamin A for a sufficient period produced severe nerve involvements including paralysis and spasms, so that the animals could not rise to their feet. He reported that one of these vitamin A deficient pigs that had previously farrowed a litter of ten pigs, all born without eyeballs, was given a single dose of cod liver oil two weeks before mating. She farrowed fourteen pigs which showed various combinations of eye defects, some had no eyes, some had one eye, and some had one large eye and one small eye, but all were blind.
"In figure 117 I am able, through Professor Hale's kindness, to show an eyeless pig and a normal eye of a pig (at the left) and (at the right) a pair of incomplete eyes from a pig born in the litter just mentioned. This one dose of vitamin A made possible the partial formation of optic nerves and eyeballs. A typical eyeless pig is shown in Fig.118 (lower). Note its deformed ears. among the many physical injuries which develop in the pigs born to sows fed on a diet deficient in vitamin A are serious defects of the snout, dental arches, eyes and feet. This pig was born without eyeballs. It also had club feet and two tumors. In Fig.118 (upper right) is shown a pig with cleft palate, and in Fig.119 (upper right) one with a double hare lip. The very important results of Professor Hale's investigations has been the lack of vitamin A in their mother's diet. The problem clearly was not heredity. Two who had been deprived of vitamin A before mating and for thirty days thereafter, produced the following lesions: All had complete absence of eyeballs; some lacked development of the opening of the external ear; others had cleft palate, harelip, displaced kidneys, displaced ovaries, or displaced testes.
"It is of interest that in October, 1935, Professor Hale reports that the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station was informed that a litter of fourteen pigs had been born blind in June, 1935, on a farm at Ralls, Texas. Of these, six pigs were raised and brought to the Station for further study. The farmer owning the pigs stated that no green feed was available on his farm from March, 1934, until May, 1935, a station under which, by restricting vitamin A before and immediately after gestation, fifty-nine pigs were produced without eyeballs.
"Professor Hale reports that in April, 1935, a litter of seven pigs were born blind at McGlean, Texas, which was suffering from drought conditions, similar to those at Ralls. The litter and dam were purchased by the Experimental Station. Matings were made between blind pigs. These were fed rations containing ample vitamin A, and normal pigs with normal eyeballs were produced. Even the mating of a blind son with his mother who had produced him when on a deficient diet, produced only normal pigs when both had ample vitamin A. He states, 'If an hereditary factor had been the cause of this congenital blindness, these matings would have produced some blind pigs, even if vitamin A were present in the ration.' "
On TV, there was not a word about the Hale experiments.
A word about vitamin A. As you know, beta-carotene converts into vitamin A in the human body. But wait. There's a difference in the way we use these two. By eating animal vitamin A, found in liver and other organ meats (but not in hamburger, steaks, chops, etc., from muscle meat), you use 70 percent of vitamin A and 50 percent of beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is most plentiful in green and yellow vegetables and fruits.
But beware of too much vitamin A, especially during pregnancy. It's best to get both forms in foods.
You can see why I had to write this to fill in what was missing in the TV program.
(References on request.)
PPNF exists primarily to make sure that this kind of information is preserved and accessible throughout time. This is a prime example of the way in which historical documentation can help prevent and explain current health problems. Dr Weston A. Price's book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, is available through PPNF.
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