Joel D Wallach | Scientist, Innovator, and Entrepreneur

The Wallach Revolution

The Citizens Committee for Better Medicine is proud to present “The Wallach Revolution – (An Unauthorized Biography of a Medical Genius)”. The book is now available and chronicles the challenges, successes, and unique perspective of Dr. Joel D Wallach, a true pioneer in the field of science-based, clinically verified medical nutrition. (No portion of the content on this site may be exhibited, used or reproduced by any means without express written permission of the publisher.) Click HERE to get your copy of this brand new book!

Chapter 2 Page 7

A Nutrition Science Leviathan

Always fascinated by the role of nutrition in animal health, Wallach repeatedly observed pachyderms consuming clay from termite nests and limestone along road beds, calcium deposits, and other trace minerals. He speculated that those eating habits were purposeful attempts by the animals to obtain adequate mineral intake, including trace minerals. He made record of the fact that the healthier and larger animals he observed in Africa were the ones that had ready access to mineral deposits, while those more prone to chronic disease and early deaths appeared in regions where minerals were deficient in the soils and plants. That observation would remain with him going forward and would cause him later to observe that human populations likewise enjoyed the greatest longevity in regions where mineral deposits were rich and humans included minerals and trace minerals in their daily diets. That observation led Wallach to conclude that pica and cribbing, whereby animals engaged in binge eating, were really a manifestation of the animal’s hunger for particular sources of minerals. He correlated those animal conditions with people and, in time, likewise observed that inadequate mineral intake by people led them to crave fattening foods.

In late 1966, three years after the start of his enormously popular Wild Kingdom program, Marlin Perkins asked Wallach to leave Africa, return to St. Louis, and join him as a post-doctoral fellow in comparative pathology and medicine at the newly created and NIH funded Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at the St. Louis Zoo. Perkins had grown to admire Wallach who, in many respects, emulated his own creative energies and traits and, like Perkins, was a man who could be counted on to accomplish difficult tasks expertly and without complaint.

Had it been another person asking, Wallach would have had little difficulty declining the offer, and, at first, Wallach even drafted a letter politely declining Perkins’ offer. Upon reflection, however, Wallach could not break the bonds of loyalty that are so much a part of him. Wallach would always be grateful for Perkins’ decision to give him a chance to learn under his tutelage at the St. Louis Zoo. Wallach returned to St. Louis and took up his new post. In doing so, he left behind work that he truly loved and would recall fondly for decades thereafter.

A Nutrition Science Leviathan

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