Preface
Back in February of 2019 I came across a weird book and seminar called Dead Doctors Don’t Lie, in which a veterinarian and/or farmer and/or naturopathic clinician—I’m not clear on what the author’s credentials are, or if he has any at all—tries to make a case for how many diseases are caused by nutrient deficiencies and that we are supposedly acutely aware of this fact if we are discussing farm animals, but we are reluctant to acknowledge it in humans. It must be reiterated that most of his observations or knowledge he claims to have is in veterinary nutrition for animals.
I don’t know whether Joel D. Wallach (author) is a reliable source, as I haven’t spent much time researching him or his work. In fact, it seems a lot of people dislike him. But there are some things that are true:
- Mild nutrient deficiencies can cause diseases in different individuals and these diseases and symptoms can be corrected with nutrient supplementation. This is absolutely true.
- Medical Doctors receive practically no training in nutrition (about 20 hours for all of medical school)
- Many doctors are arrogant and dismiss nutrition as a factor. They don’t even want to acknowledge the existence of it. And therefore doctors become an unreliable source as to whether nutrition can actually help with disease.
- In this current climate of doctors failing to consider nutrition nor test for it, we have to turn to outsiders for possible insight. Especially in desperate situations.
So what did I hear?
One of the things said in Dead Doctor’s Don’t Lie—the audio seminar version I was listening to, actually—was that he believes copper deficiency contributes to aneurysms in animals.
This observation was meaningful for me in two ways:
First, I diagnosed my own copper deficiency and verified it via lab test. I have been taking copper bisglycinate to correct this. I have not taken a follow up test yet.
Second, I have a friend who has an aneurysm in their brain. Since one can test for copper deficiency for about $30 out of pocket, it would seem reasonable for anyone who has an aneurysm to check their copper status based on this notion. It might yield some interesting results.
Before you dive off the deep end, I recommend the book Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet instead. The author has a PhD in Nutritional Sciences. You can trust everything in that book and it all pertains to humans. Then, if you truly want, you can explore the wacky world of wild claims about nutrition as it pertains to animals. But take everything there with a massive grain of salt.