Rasmus Larssen Alsaker (1883 – June 14, 1960) was a Norwegian 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 ...

and

alternative health Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

writer.

History

Alsaker was born in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

.Anonymous. (1923)
''Some Quasi-Medical Institutions''
Prepared and Issued by the Propaganda Department of the Journal of the American Medical Association. pp. 5-8 He obtained his M.D. from

Bennett Medical College Bennett may refer to: People *Bennett (name), including a list of people with the surname and given name Places Canada * Bennett, Alberta *Bennett, British Columbia *Bennett Lake, in the British Columbia and Yukon Territory **Bennett Range **Benne ...

of Chicago in 1910.Cramp, Arthur J. (1936)
''Nostrums and Quackery and Pseudo-Medicine''
Press of American Medical Association. pp. 52-53 He received his licenses to practice medicine in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

(1910) and in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

(1915). He was Health Director at the Sun-Diet Health Foundation in East Aurora, New York; he was

William Howard Hay William Howard Hay (December 14, 1866 – 1940) was an American physician and director of The East Aurora Sun and Diet Sanatorium. He is principally known for the ' Hay diet', a food-combining dietary system. Career Hay graduated from the New ...

's successor in the position. Alsaker wrote a series of books teaching the "Alsaker Way" for health. Alsaker believed that his dietary method could cure practically all diseases. Medical experts warned that Alsaker was misleading the public to self-diagnose and self-treat diseases of the heart. A review noted that his views were near

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, ...

and consist of "5 per cent banalities of elementary science and 95 per cent pseudo-scientific buncombe." Alsaker was the medical director for Bernarr Macfadden's Health Service Bureau and was an editor of the ''Health Culture'' magazine. Abbott, Robert Tucker.(1975). ''American Malacologists: A National Register of Professional and Amateur Malacologists and Private Shell Collectors''. American Malacologists. p. 511 He also edited ''The Key to Health'' magazine. Alsaker retired and moved to Florida in 1956. He was an amateur malacologist and collected volutidae shells. He died on June 14, 1960, at

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

Selected publications

''Conquering Consumption''
(1917)
''Curing Constipation and Appendicitis''
(1917) *''Dieting, Diabetes and Bright's Disease'' (1917)
''Getting Rid of Rheumatism''
(1917)
''How to Live on 3 Meals a Day''
(1917)
''Curing Diseases of Heart and Arteries''
(1918)
''Maintaining Health''
(1920)
''Eating for Health and Efficiency''
(1921) *''Outwitting Old Age'' (1926)
''The New York Times''. *''Adventures in Cooking'' (1927)
''The Master Key to Health''
(1932) *''Health Via Food'' (

, edited and revised by Rasmus Alsaker, 1934) *''Eat Well--Live Long!'' (1939) *''Your Heart and Arteries: How to Avoid Sudden Death'' (1939) *''Victory Over Arthritis'' (1956)
''Conquering Colds and Sinus Infections''
(1967)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alsaker, Rasmus Larssen 1883 births 1960 deaths 20th-century American physicians American health and wellness writers Norwegian emigrants to the United States People associated with physical culture Pseudoscientific diet advocates