Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner,

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

(22 August 1867 – 24 January 1939) was a

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physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and a pioneer

nutritionist A nutritionist is a person who advises others on matters of food and nutrition and their impacts on health. Some people specialize in particular areas, such as sports nutrition, public health, or animal nutrition, among other disciplines. In many c ...

credited for popularizing

muesli Muesli ( ) is a cold breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats, which is set to soak overnight and eaten the next morning. Most often, additional ingredients such as grains, nuts, seeds, and fresh or dried fruits, are added, ...

and

raw food Raw foodism, also known as rawism or a raw food diet, is the dietary practice of eating only or mostly food that is uncooked and unprocessed. Depending on the philosophy, or type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include ...

vegetarianism.

Biography

Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner was born on 22 August 1867 in

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

, Switzerland, to Heinrich Bircher and Berta Krüsi. He attended the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

to study medicine, and later opened his own general clinic. During the first year the clinic was open, Bircher-Benner developed jaundice, and he claimed he recovered by eating raw apples. From this observation, he experimented with the health effects raw foods have on the body, and from this he promoted muesli; a dish based on raw oats, fruits and nuts. Bircher-Benner expanded on his nutritional research and opened a sanatorium called "Vital Force" in 1897. He believed raw fruits and vegetables held the most nutritional value, cooked and commercially processed foods held even less, and meat held the least nutritional value. Eventually, Bircher-Benner gave up meat entirely and became a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

. Other scientists of the time did not respond well to what Bircher-Benner referred to as his "new food science," but was sufficiently popular with the general public that he expanded his sanatorium practice. His nutritional habits and eating patterns steadily grew in popularity until he died on 24 January 1939 in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Nutrition

At his

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

, a balanced

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

of raw

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, ...

s and

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

was used as a means to heal

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...

s, contrary to the beliefs commonly held at the end of the 19th century. Bircher-Benner believed raw foods were more nutritious because they contain direct energy from the sun. He encouraged people of good health to eat approximately 50% raw foods on a daily basis, and for those with poor health to eat 100% raw foods. Bircher-Benner's sisters, Alice Bircher and Berta Brupbacher-Bircher, created many recipes using raw foods to help a diet of raw foods seem more appealing. Because of this help from his sisters, his sanatorium gained enormous popularity and he expanded the size of his clinic. Bircher-Benner postulated eating fruit, vegetables and nuts instead of meat. He also advocated a spartan physical regime. At his Zürich

off Bircher-Benner-Platz, the patients had to follow a somewhat

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

daily schedule including early bedtime (21:00), physical training and active gardening work. Each meal began with a small dish of muesli, developed by Bircher-Benner, followed by mostly raw vegetables and a dessert. Patients were not allowed to consume alcohol, coffee, chocolate or tobacco while they were being treated. Bircher-Benner also recommended his patients to sun bathe, take cold showers and use a medicinal bath developed by American physician

John Harvey Kellogg John Harvey Kellogg (February 26, 1852 – December 14, 1943) was an American medical doctor, nutritionist, inventor, health activist, eugenicist, and businessman. He was the director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan. The ...

. His theory of life was based on harmony between people and nature, a key component of a German lifestyle reform movement, and the reason he named his clinic "Vital Force."

Criticism

Bircher-Benner held

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

ideas about nutrition, including

vitalism Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...

. He believed that all people including babies should eat only raw food.Gratzer, Walter. (2005). ''Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 197-198. Bircher-Benner developed the idea that cooking deprived foods of their nutritional content and destroyed their "vital substance". He believed that cooked foods leave decay in the digestive tract, that may cause

autointoxication Colon cleansing, also known as colon therapy, or colon hydrotherapy, or a colonic, or colonic irrigation encompasses a number of alternative medical therapies claimed to remove unspecified toxins from the colon and intestinal tract by remov ...

. Bircher-Benner's work was not recognized by other scientists until the discovery of vitamins in fruits and vegetables in the 1930s. and because his ideas about nutrition were not supported by the science of his day, he was dismissed as a

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by the medical profession.Fitzgerald, Matt. (2015). ''Diet Cults: The Surprising Fallacy at the Core of Nutrition Fads and a Guide to Healthy Eating for the Rest of US''. Pegasus. p. 43. "There was, of course, no evidence that the life force that Bircher-Benner deemed all-important actually existed. His peers in the mainstream medical establishment dismissed the life-force concept as unscientific and branded Bircher-Benner a quack." A contemporaneous academic review of Bircher-Benner's cookbook ''Health-Giving Dishes'' claims that the work contains "a mixture of physiological half-truths and fantasies" and concludes that the number of people capable of eating solely raw fruits and vegetables as Bircher-Benner encouraged is limited because only few humans can live as herbivores.

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

, a well-known novelist, visited the sanatorium and described it as a "health jail." Despite disapproval from others, Bircher-Benner's ideas caught the public's eye and his sanatorium stayed in business until some time after his passing.

Legacy

Shortly after his death, a second sanatorium was opened and named "People's Sanatorium for a Lifestyle Based on Nature," and was run according to Bircher-Benner's ideas. In 1939, the Vital Force clinic was renamed the "Bircher-Benner Clinic" in his memory. In the late 20th century, after closure of the sanatorium, it was briefly a student

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

. It has since been purchased by

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, and is named the Zürich Development Center. It is used for executive training, and also houses an extensive private art collection. Several brands of factory-made cereals based on Bircher-Benner's original recipe for wholegrain-fruit-and-nut muesli are widely marketed as popular breakfast and snack foods in Europe and North America. https://www.alpenusa.com/ Alpen brand Swiss Muesli official USA web site

Selected publications

''Food Science For All''
(translated by Arnold Eiloart, 1928) *''Fruit Dishes and Raw Vegetables: Sunlight (Vitamine) Food'' (1930) *''Health-Giving Dishes'' (1934)
''The Essential Nature and Organisation of Food Energy''
(translated by D. E. Hecht and E. F. Meyer, 1939) *''The Prevention of Incurable Disease'' (translated by E. F. Meyer, 1959)

References

External links

Zurich Development Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bircher-Benner, Maximilian 1867 births 1939 deaths Alternative detoxification promoters People from Aarau Pseudoscientific diet advocates Raw foodists Swiss nutritionists 20th-century Swiss physicians Vegetarianism activists Vitalists 21st-century Swiss physicians