When he first heard of this odd new concept of autoimmune reactions in the body, the father of modern immunology, Nobel Laureate Paul Ehrlich, was so aghast that he dismissed the theory out of hand, calling it Horror Autotoxicus.
Almost a half century would pass before Dr. Royal Lee and colleagues discovered the phenomenon anew along with early pioneers in endocrinology and organotherapy—a biological fact that seemed stranger than fiction…until understood.
Autoimmune diseases have been found in virtually every organ system in the body.1 Yet to this day, they remain a virtual mystery to modern medicine—despite the fact that as early as the late 1940s, Dr. Royal Lee recognized, wrote about, published, and taught doctors from multiple branches of the healing arts that the autoimmune reaction is an inevitable process in late stage progression of every degenerating condition. Before the autoimmune lexicon entered medical vocabulary, Lee’s 60-year head start recognizing this process gave him ample opportunity to understand its intrinsic nutritional component and adjunctive approaches to avert, staunch, and reverse this devastating yet natural response of the body.
In the aggregate, autoimmune conditions are the largest class of disease, the leading cause of disability, and the number one cause of death.2 Make no mistake, regardless of what you’ve been formally taught, you treat autoimmune conditions every day in your practice. More than 150 diseases have been reclassified as autoimmune or autoimmune-related over the last decade with more added every year.3
Eventually, researchers must rediscover the truth of what Dr. Royal Lee taught over five decades ago: “Left unhealed over time, any degenerative process in any organ can, will, and does deteriorate into an autoimmune process.”
BUT—the NIH still states, “the causes of autoimmune disease remain unknown.”4 NIH estimates annual direct health care costs of treating (known) autoimmune conditions at over $100 billion. These staggering costs are directed almost entirely to immunosuppression drugs. At best, this ultimate example of symptomatic disease care temporarily suppresses the autoantibody assault against the host’s tissues—never mind the potentially debilitating side effects of immunosuppression.
Those who are dedicated to the Lee Philosophy of health prefer to examine and develop the approach of Dr. Royal Lee, et al., and the 60-year head start he gave to those who took the time to research and apply the guiding principles of his far-sighted work. These principles have stood the test of time, and though unattributed to Lee, research has slowly but surely confirmed practically every basis and aspect of his theories and approaches. In doctor’s seminars teaching his body of work, audiences have been heard to literally gasp as Lee’s prescient words echo through time.
Hear Dr. Lee’s groundbreaking autoimmune disease theory for yourself in a digitally restored September 1957 recording: Dr. Royal Lee on Protomorphogens. Dr. Lee makes clear that autoimmune disease is less of a primary disease and more of a progression of the disease process. Autoimmune reactions are an inevitable down-stream phase in any degenerative process that chronically persists. It can only reverse and resolve through restoring the health of the tissues involved. And the protomorphogens are clinical tools in that restorative process.
1Johns Hopkins Medical Inst. Autoimmune Research Center http://autoimmune.pathology.jhmi.edu/faqs.cfm
2US Dept. of Health, www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/autoimmune-diseases.cfm#b
3 American Autoimmune Related Dis Assoc. www.aarda.org/research-report
4 National Institutes of Health www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/autoimmune/Pages/default.aspx
Mark Anderson is an author, researcher, gentleman farmer, and owner of Standard Process West, Inc. He has been educating health professionals from all branches of the healing arts in the science and skills of therapeutic nutrition for almost 50 years. His foundation is the compiled works of Dr. Royal Lee, and his lectures are steeped in current peer-reviewed scientific studies and principles. He is also the heart and soul of Back to School for Doctors, the largest whole food nutrition conference in the US, held every year in Denver for over 3 decades.
For five decades now, Mark Anderson has been with Standard Process, training health professionals from all branches of the healing arts in the science of nutritional therapeutics. Along with the legendary holistic pioneer Bernard Jensen, Mark co-authored the critically acclaimed Empty Harvest: Understanding the Link Between Our Food, Our Immunity, and Our Planet.
Mark compiled, edited, and published three volumes from the works of Dr. Royal Lee, the “father of nutritional therapeutics.” He also developed and created the Selene River Press Historical Archives, a one-of-a-kind vast online resource for doctors, health seekers, and researchers. Free to all, the Historical Archives preserves the immense body of work produced by nutritional pioneers of the 20th century. The collection documents the origins of holistic thinking, a philosophy that is now bearing fruit. As Mark knows better than most, so-called “new discoveries” heralded by today’s scientific press as fundamental breakthroughs in health and healing can be traced back to discoveries made decades ago—and reported in the corpus of the Historical Archives. Mark believes that unless you want to be the ninth person to be the first to discover something, you better know your history. After all, what we often call “progress” is nothing more than the rediscovery of a truth encountered—but rejected—long ago. And too bad—credit is almost never afforded retroactively.
Products by Mark R. Anderson
Applied Clinical Nutrition (ACN)
Back to School for Doctors Series
Back to School for Doctors Series
