11 Facts About Maximilian Bircher-Benner

Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner was born on 22 August 1867 in Aarau, Switzerland, to Heinrich Bircher and Berta Krusi.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner attended the University of Zurich to study medicine, and later opened his own general clinic.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner expanded on his nutritional research and opened a sanatorium called "Vital Force" in 1897.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner believed raw fruits and vegetables held the most nutritional value, cooked and commercially processed foods held even less, and meat held the least nutritional value.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner believed raw foods were more nutritious because they contain direct energy from the sun.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner postulated eating fruit, vegetables and nuts instead of meat.

Each meal began with a small dish of muesli, developed by Maximilian Bircher-Benner, followed by mostly raw vegetables and a dessert.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner recommended his patients to sunbathe, take cold showers and use a medicinal bath developed by American physician John Harvey Kellogg.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner believed that all people including babies should eat only raw food.

Maximilian Bircher-Benner developed the idea that cooking deprived foods of their nutritional content and destroyed their "vital substance".

Maximilian Bircher-Benner's work was not recognized by other scientists until the discovery of vitamins in fruits and vegetables in the 1930s.