Arnold Ehret facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Arnold Ehret
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Freiburg, Germany, c. 1914/15
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| Born | 29 July 1866 |
| Died | 10 October 1922 (aged 56) Los Angeles, California, US
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Naturopathy, Vitalism |
Arnold Ehret (born July 29, 1866 – died October 10, 1922) was a teacher from Germany. He became known for his ideas about natural health and a special eating plan. This plan was called the Mucusless Diet Healing System. Ehret wrote many books and articles. These were about eating, cleaning the body, eating only fruit, not eating, and staying healthy.
Ehret had some very different ideas from regular doctors. For example, he thought that white blood cells, which doctors say help fight sickness, were actually waste from eating certain foods. He believed these "mucus-forming" foods poisoned the blood. Medical experts say his ideas about diet and sickness are not based on science and can even be dangerous.
Contents
Life
Arnold Ehret was born in 1866 in a town called St. Georgen. This town is in the Black Forest area of southern Germany.
When he was young, Ehret loved physics, chemistry, and art. In 1887, at age 21, he finished college as a Professor of Drawing. He then taught at a technical school in Frankfurt for 15 years. Ehret had to leave the army after nine months because of a heart problem.
In the 1890s, Ehret's health got worse. He became very interested in naturopathy, which is a type of natural medicine. He visited a special health center that used water treatments. He started to try fasting and eating mostly fruit. He even opened his own health center in Switzerland. There, he used his special diet to help people. In 1914, he moved to the United States. He opened an office in Los Angeles to share his ideas.
When he was 31, doctors told him he had a serious kidney problem. Ehret said his mucusless diet cured him.
Sadly, on October 9, 1922, Ehret fell while walking and hit his head. He died the next day.
Ehret also created a product called Innerclean Intestinal Laxative. This product was later investigated. In the 1930s, it was found to be a fraud.
Ehret's Health Ideas
Sickness
Ehret believed that most human sickness came from eating foods that create "pus and mucus." He said that "slime-free" foods were the secret to good health. He also thought that fasting (eating less or not at all) was nature's best way to clean the body. He felt it removed bad stuff from eating too much or the wrong foods.
Fasting
In 1907, Ehret visited a nature colony in Switzerland. He worked with the owner of a health center there. Ehret then opened his own health centers in Switzerland. Around 1909, he gave many public talks and did long fasts. German and Swiss officials watched these fasts. He claimed he fasted for 105 days in total in 1909. In 1910, he wrote about his 49-day fast for a German magazine. This made many people interested in his ideas.
For 65 years, a couple named Fred and Lucille Hirsch helped publish Ehret's books. The torch symbol on his books became the logo for the Ehret Health Club. In 1979, a company in New York took over publishing Ehret's works.
Vitality
Ehret believed that the best fuel for humans was "grape sugar." This is the simple sugar found in fruits and vegetables. He thought this was much better than protein-rich foods. He said that alkaline foods, which were also "mucusless," were the natural diet for humans.
Ehret had a strange idea that the human body was like an "air-gas engine." He thought it didn't need food for energy. He also believed that the body was not made to use "mucus-forming" foods. He even had a formula: Vitality = Power − Obstruction. He said the lungs pumped blood, and the heart was just a valve. He also thought white blood cells were just a result of eating mucus-forming foods.
Food and Metabolism
Ehret believed that new body tissue was built mostly from simple sugars in fruits. He did not think it came from protein and fat-rich foods. He suggested eating nuts and seeds only a little bit when changing to a fruit diet. He said high-protein and fatty foods were "unnatural." He even wrote that "no animals eat fats" and that "all fats are acid forming."
Ehret specifically said not to eat meat, eggs, milk, fats, cereals, beans, potatoes, and rice. However, he did say some of these could be used for a short time when changing diets.
Religious Ideas
Ehret grew up as a Roman Catholic. He believed in God. But he disagreed with the Church's rules about food. He even wrote a letter to the Pope about it. After that, he left the Church, but he still believed in God.
Criticisms
Today, experts in science, medicine, and nutrition do not agree with any of Ehret's claims. His ideas go against what we know about biology and chemistry. There is no scientific proof for his theories.
In 1935, a health writer named Carl Malmberg said that mucusless diets were not scientific. In 1963, a US Congress report called Ehret a "quack." It said his followers believed his diet could lead to "immaculate conception," which is a very strange and false claim.
In 1978, Ehret's mucusless diet was called a "fad diet." This means its claims were not proven by science. Doctors like Terrence T. Kuske have said that Ehret's fruit-only diet does not have enough protein or many important vitamins. Dr. Kuske also said there is no proof that long fasts help much.
Nutritionist Kurt Butler and physician Lynn Rayner wrote about Ehret's ideas. They said:
- "Like other extreme diets, the mucusless diet system promotes a dangerous idea. It says that the more you suffer during starvation, the more you need to starve to 'cleanse the system.' This makes people stick to the system even when they are clearly unhealthy."
Ehret had many other beliefs that are not scientific, such as:
- White blood cells are just old mucus in the blood that cause sickness.
- The lungs pump blood through the body, and the heart is only a valve.
- Mental illness happens because of gas pressure on the brain from decaying mucus.
- Fasting can cure mental illness.
- Eating rice causes leprosy.
- Dandruff is dried mucus.
- A body free of mucus never sweats.
- Gonorrhoea is caused by eating mucus foods.
- The white skin color is unnatural. He thought it was from mucus-filled white blood cells clogging the body.
Innerclean Product
Ehret's Innerclean Intestinal Laxative was sold by mail. It came with a leaflet that promoted Ehret's diet system. The product claimed to clean the intestines. It said it would remove old waste and fatty stuff. However, tests showed the product was made from chopped herbs like Senna, a plant fiber called agar, and even sand.
In 1926, a medical journal warned that such a mixture could harm the intestines. In 1931, many boxes of Innerclean were seized in New York. This was because the product had false health claims. The court allowed the product to be sold only if the misleading claims were removed from the packaging.
Later Interest
In 1950, a Swiss author wrote about Ehret's ideas in a book about health and fasting.
In the 1960s, Ehret's writings became popular with young people in places like San Francisco and California. In the 1970s, another health writer, Paul Bragg, rewrote some of Ehret's books. Ehret's ideas were also included in a book about natural medicine in 1973.
