Introduction to Cod Liver Oil (1 of 8)

This month at Pasture Living, we will be doing a series about "In-Depth on Cod Liver Oil." This was one of the first health food, along with coconut oil, that my family consume daily since we started our journey of healthy living. The health community regards cod liver oil as the number one superfood and I will share with you why that is so. Hopefully by the end of this series, your eyes will be opened to this amazing elixir that has kept the ancient generations healthy and strong. Afterwards you may just be convinced why you MUST, and not just SHOULD, take cod liver oil. I promise it will be the best investment to you and your family's health and something you do not want to miss out.

Image by Andre Raharja

Introduction to Cod Liver Oil

Dr. Weston Price was the pioneer in bringing back the lost art of eating traditional food (whole and natural) that kept primitive populations healthy with beautiful facial structure and superb physiques. He was the author of the book "Nutrition and Physical Regeneration," "an epic study demonstrating the importance of whole food nutrition, and the degeneration and destruction that comes from a diet of processed foods. For nearly 10 years, Weston Price and his wife traveled around the world in search of the secret to health. Instead of looking at people afflicted with disease symptoms, this highly-respected dentist and dental researcher chose to focus on healthy individuals, and challenged himself to understand how they achieved such amazing health. Dr. Price traveled to hundreds of cities in a total of 14 different countries in his search to find healthy people. He investigated some of the most remote areas in the world. He observed perfect dental arches, minimal tooth decay, high immunity to tuberculosis and overall excellent health in those groups of people who ate their indigenous foods. He found when these people were introduced to modernized foods, such as white flour, white sugar, refined vegetable oils and canned goods, signs of degeneration quickly became quite evident. Dental caries, deformed jaw structures, crooked teeth, arthritis and a low immunity to tuberculosis became rampant amongst them." (source)

He noted that all their diets contained sources of good quality animal fat, which were vital for the full expression of our genetic potential and optimum health, including fish eggs, organ meats, butter from pasture-fed cows, and cod liver oil.

You can read the online version of this book here.

Cod Liver Oil History and Facts (source)

The history of cod liver oil goes way back to the Roman times and Viking era. 

"During the first half of the century, cod liver oil was the focus of a worldwide health initiative. Parents were urged to give cod liver oil to their children by doctors, by government officials, by teachers and principals in schools, and even by their ministers in churches. A large portion of adults in America born before the Second World War received cod liver oil as children and this practice contributed to a high level of health, intelligence and physical development in those lucky enough to receive it. In Europe in many countries, children received a daily ration of cod liver oil, especially during the war years. In the UK, for example, the government issued cod liver oil to all growing children until the early 1950s. The cod liver oil used during this period was obviously not toxic, but contributed to the good health of a whole generation of people. Surely the answer is to provide the current generation with the benefits of the same kind of cod liver oil." 

Do you know?

"In the Roman times, long before refrigeration, fish guts were placed in a barrel with sea water and allowed to ferment?"

"This fermented fish oil was undoubtedly the civilized world’s first health elixir, reserved for the soldiers and nobility. It is said that the soldiers refused to march without their daily ration of liquidum."

"During the nineteenth century, it was used to treat tuberculosis, malnutrition, and other poverty-related diseases. Between the wars, cod-liver oil became a major business in Hull and was used both for livestock and humans. During World War II, the British Ministry of Food, concerned about the effect of a tightened food supply on health, provided free cod-liver oil for pregnant and breast-feeding women, children under five, and adults over forty. School nurses forcefully administered spoonfuls of the vile-tasting liquid, while adults were often given it with orange juice. All this oil came from Iceland, where it contributed to a secondary Icelandic trade that remained and prospered after the war. The British government, believing that the oil had produced the healthiest children England had ever seen, despite bombings and rationing, continued the program until 1971. It was finally discontinued because people refused to take the oil. Icelanders, however, still take it, as do many Americans."

"Young children who have grown weak from diarrhoea in summer, and who seem unable to assimilate the food given them, can often be saved by rubbing cod liver oil into their skin."

Giving cod liver oil to hens will heal their wounds, make them non-aggressive and content, make their feathers shiny. (source)

Next, we will learn why cod liver oil is so good for us.