Plant Protein Producers

By Dr. Royal Lee

Summary: Mushrooms and yeasts take center stage in this article. The high protein content of mushrooms (button mushrooms contain over ten amino acids) as well as their wealth of enzymes and fat-metabolizing compounds (betaine, choline, lecithin) make them an historically prized edible. Yeasts, of course, are responsible for the fermentation processes used to make bread, cheese, and the like, but they are also “superior food sources of valuable nutrients,” says Dr. Lee. “The Oriental food pattern differs from ours because…most of the protein they eat is from plants. They accomplish this largely by the use of molds and yeasts, which produce foods high in quality vegetable proteins.”  From Let’s Live magazine, 1958.

Some Interrelations Between Vitamins and Hormones

By Dr. Royal Lee

Summary: Dr. Lee, citing the great British doctor and nutrition pioneer Sir Robert McCarrison, explains the critical connection between nutrition and the endocrine system. “McCarrison back in 1921 told us how the endocrine glands were the first structures to atrophy or degenerate following vitamin and mineral deficiencies. [For instance,] the adrenal glands…stopped functioning and soon became atrophied.” McCarrison noted that while the adrenals were usually the first endocrine gland to falter as a result of nutrient deficiency, in time others followed, including the thyroid and the pituitary. As Lee often pointed out, none of this would have been discovered had diets high in nutrient-deficient processed foods not initiated such problems in the human race. 1950.