Blake Ferguson Donaldson (6 May 1892 – 19 February, 1966) was an American

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 ...

hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and early advocate of a meat-only diet, which later became known as the carnivore diet.

Career

Donaldson was a physician at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn in 1913. Donaldson was a

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

in the medical Northeastern Department of the Red Cross Hospital sent to France during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In May 1917, he was assigned to duty at

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park ...

. Donaldson was resident physician at

New York Post-Graduate Medical School NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, with the other being the Long Island School of ...

. In 1921, Donaldson examined a large number of children from the East Side of New York and found that

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

is not a great factor in the causation of heart disease. In 1925, Donaldson was Clinical Instructor in Medicine at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School. He was former chief medical officer at the City Hospital of New York. Donaldson was a specialist in internal medicine and his office was located at 121 East 60th Street, New York.

''Strong Medicine''

Donaldson authored ''Strong Medicine'' which was published by Doubleday in 1962. The book advocated fresh fat meat, water and exercise to treat

allergies Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

gallstone A gallstone is a calculus (medicine), stone formed within the gallbladder from precipitated bile components. The term cholelithiasis may refer to the presence of gallstones or to any disease caused by gallstones, and choledocholithiasis refers to ...

s and

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

. The book described "the big bad seven" foods: milk, cream, ice cream, eggs, cheese, chocolate and flour which should be eliminated from the diet. Surgeon Charles G. Heyd wrote a supportive preface for the book. The diet that Donaldson put his patients on consisted of three fatty steaks a day, three cups of coffee and six glasses of water. Donaldson's ''Strong Medicine'' was criticized by physician

Morris Fishbein Morris Fishbein Doctor of Medicine, M.D. (July 22, 1889 – September 27, 1976) was an American physician and editor of the ''Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') from 1924 to 1950. Ira Rutkow's ''Seeking the Cure: A Hist ...

who commented that the "book is hardly scientific, so presumably what the physician was taught in his youth he has forgotten in his later years." Donaldson's extreme dietary views were classified by Fredrick J. Stare as "

food faddism A fad diet is a diet that becomes popular for a short time, similar to fads in fashion, without being a standard dietary recommendation, and often making unreasonable claims for fast weight loss or health improvements. There is no single defin ...

". Stare cited Donaldson as an example of a physician with no training or real understanding of modern nutrition. Stare included Donaldson's ''Strong Medicine'' in a list of books on nutritional

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...

, which "ought not to be on anyone's shelves".

Personal life

Donaldson was the son of postmaster William W. Donaldson and Helen Scott Donaldson.Donaldson, Blake, Clinton and Wallace
Maggieblanck.com. Retrieved April 14, 2021. He married Harriott Cate. They had a son Blake Donaldson, he died age 55 in 1977. Donaldson died from a heart attack at his home in

Hauppauge, New York Hauppauge ( ) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Administrative divisions of New York#Town, towns of Islip, New York, Islip and Smithtown, New York, Smithtown in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. The popu ...

. He was 73.''Physician Dies''. ''

Anniston Star ''The Anniston Star'' is the daily newspaper serving Anniston, Alabama, and the surrounding six-county region. Average Sunday circulation in September 2004 was 26,747. However, by 2020 it was approximately half of this. The newspaper is locally ow ...

'' (February 21, 1966). p. 9

Selected publications

''Syphilis in Children of School Age With Heart Disease''
(''New York State Journal of Medicine'', 1921)
''Strong Medicine''
(Doubleday, 1962)

Quotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Blake F. 1892 births 1966 deaths 20th-century American physicians American expatriates in France American food writers American hunters Anti-obesity activists High-fat diet advocates Low-carbohydrate diet advocates People from Hauppauge, New York Pseudoscientific diet advocates