International Society for Food and Vital Substance Research

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The International Society for Food and Vital Substance Research e. V. (IVG), briefly called Vitalstoffgesellschaft by its members , was a prominent, politically active organization in the areas of nutrition , health and the environment . It was founded in 1954 as a registered association with its seat in Hanover by the chemist Hans Adalbert Schweigart and later renamed the International Society for Research into Civilization Diseases and Vital Substances (IVG).

President and Members

The president of the society was Schweigart. In 1958, the IVG had 1,000 individual members, 4,000 members affiliated through academic organizations and 100,000 “extraordinary memberships”. IVG was able to win 17 Nobel Prize winners as honorary members. At the same time, numerous ex and old Nazis were among the members. The contemporary historian Detlef Briesen describes society as a “bizarre alliance that united natural medicine , health food store owners , nutritionists, chemists, biologists and physicists in the fight for healthy food and the environment.” IVG had “ the elite long before the term“ environmental protection ”became a career those "gathered" who were equally interested in the environment, health and nutrition. "

Scientific Advisory Board

The IVG had an international scientific advisory board which in 1965 comprised around 400 members worldwide. The members of the scientific advisory board included Werner Kollath (from 1956), Linus Pauling (from 1958), Karl Kötschau , Helmut Kluck , Werner Zabel , Sigwald Bommer , Helmut Mommsen , Dagmar Liechti-von Brasch , Helmut Anemüller , Max Otto Bruker , Erich Fechner and Johann Georg Schnitzer (from 1966). The council met annually in so-called "conventions". The “conventions” took place near the German borders from 1959 so that parts of the program could be carried out in a neighboring city abroad. The meetings dealt with topics in the fields of “nutrition”, “ vital substances ” and “ diseases of civilization ” in lectures and discussions . Finally, the council passed resolutions and recommendations on nutritional and environmental aspects in German, English and French. During the “Convention”, the former National Socialists Walther Boesler , Wilhelm Heupke , Hans Adalbert Schweigart, Ernst Günther Schenck and Herbert Warning, organized in the “Working Group on Soldiers Nutrition ”, were able to uncritically present their own experiences with the food industry in the Third Reich .

Research institutions

When the association was founded, the "Institute for Biochemistry of Vital Substances and Nutrition" was created in Hanover. From 1957, the institute included the “Neuland experimental station”, which was set up on the site and in the buildings of the former “herb garden” of the Dachau concentration camp . Research has been carried out in Dachau and, since 1965, in Hanover in order to gain knowledge for the fight against the diseases of civilization.

Viewpoints

At the first “International Vital Substances and Nutrition Convention”, which was held in Freudenstadt in 1955 , IVG rejected “chemical preservation” and the “use of radioactive substances” to preserve food. Furthermore, the "feeding of antibiotic substances" to increase production in animal breeding and the use of "artificial colors" in food. At the same time, they spoke out in favor of "a ban on almost all chemicals used in the treatment of grain and flour" and called for the provision of "natural and, of course, hygienic drinking water". Whole grain products , milk, fruit, vegetables, oilseeds and butter were described as “first-order basic food ” because of their “ whole value ” in order to prevent “civilization diseases”. In 1956, IVG demanded a restriction on the consumption of fats and oils and the preference for unsaturated "natural oils" from cold pressing . "Fresh food" has a high health value, since it can contain "properties that are still unknown in addition to its content of known vital substances".

Honors

In the founding year 1954, the veterinarian Carl Arthur Scheunert and the chemist Georg Lockemann were made honorary members, in 1962 the Nobel laureate in chemistry Linus Pauling. In 1956 IVG introduced the office of honorary president , which until 1965 was held by the doctor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Schweitzer . He was succeeded by Linus Pauling, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963. In memory of the Swiss nutrition reformer and pioneer of whole foods , Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner , who died in 1939 , the society donated a “Bircher Benner Medal”, which should be awarded every year to “important dieters in the world”. It was first given to IVG member Werner Kollath in 1957 - in recognition of his research “on the wholesome value of food”.

Association organs

In 1956/57, the IVG published the organ of the association Vital substances: Nutrition and vital substance research, trace elements . From 1958 onwards it was followed by the journal Vitalstoffe, civilization diseases: life, health, nutrition, environment , followed in 1971 by Protectio vitae: environmental research . The advertisements placed in IVG magazines mainly related to health food products .

Cooperations

In France, there was the Association medicale internationale pour l'étude des conditions de vié et de sante (AMICVS) as a partner company . From 1960 IVG worked closely with the World Association for the Protection of Life (WSL). Various IVG members were also members of the WSL.

Decline

After Schweigart's death in August 1972, the company quickly disintegrated. For the IVG Congress in September 1972 Schweigart planned a lecture on the ecological effects of the increase in CO 2 up to the year 2200. The last edition of Protectio vitae was also published in 1972.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jörg Melzer: Whole Foods Nutrition: Dietetics, Naturopathy, National Socialism, Social Claims , Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2003; P. 305. ISBN 3-515-08278-6 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Jörg Melzer, p. 307.
  3. ^ A b c Detlef Briesen: The healthy life: Nutrition and health since the 18th century , Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010; Pp. 201-202. ISBN 978-3593391540 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Jörg Melzer, p. 310.
  5. ^ Entry on Werner Kollath in the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium .
  6. ↑ a b Jörg Melzer, p. 408.
  7. ↑ Reproduction of "Erich Fechner: Economic interests and the right to freedom of expression in favor of the common good (especially in matters of public health) " on Johann Georg Schnitzer's website
  8. ↑ Dr. Johann Georg Schnitzer (short biography)
  9. ↑ Ulrich Linse . Ralph Bircher in the 1959s and 1960s: from the “damage to civilization” to the environmental crisis - perspectives of an alternative “life science” from a conservative spirit. In: Eberhard Wolff (ed.). Living power. Max Bircher-Benner and his sanatorium in a historical context. here + now, Baden 2010, pp. 166–187.
  10. ↑ Jörg Melzer, p. 319.
  11. ↑ Jörg Melzer, pp. 307-309.
  12. ↑ Jörg Melzer, p. 314.
  13. ↑ Entry for vital substances: nutritional u. Vital substance research, trace elements in the catalog of the DNB
  14. ^ Entry for vital substances, diseases of civilization: life, health, nutrition, environment in the catalog of the DNB
  15. ^ Entry for Protectio vitae: Environmental research in the catalog of the DNB
  16. ^ Program of the 18th International Convention on Diseases of Civilization, Nutrition and Living Conditions, 18. – 23. September 1972 in Berlin