One of my friends sees a naturopathic doctor who claims that naturopathic philosophy is based exclusively on vegetarian-based diets.

This association is so ingrained in the belief systems of some individuals that to even suggest appropriate consumption of animal products might actually enhance some individuals health places me somewhere between 'public enemy number I' and the devil in the eyes of several of my critics. I have even had some individuals within my own profession suggest that I had abandoned the core of naturopathic medicine by advocating good quality meat for individuals of certain blood types.

Often a good question to ask is, 'what does the evidence show?' Naturopathic medicine developed from the water cure movement of Europe. Theodor Hahn is credited as being the first of the pioneers of this water cure movement to integrate vegetarian dietetic principles. He was convinced that a meat-free diet would prolong life. In fact he was so convinced of the value of a vegetarian diet that he spent a great deal of his professional life writing books and pamphlets on the subject and was the editor of a magazine called 'The Vegetarian'. He died of colon cancer at the age of 59.