Author: Michael McEvoy

The basic concepts of Metabolic Typing® are not new. They have existed for thousands of years. The ancient Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Caras stated that “one man’s food is another man’s poison.” Ancient Ayurvedic medicine in India recognized that the 3 dosha types (vata, pitta, kapha) have a tremendous influence upon the nutritional requirements of individuals. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recognizes the dualism of Yin and Yang and their influence over the human body.

The modern day system of nutrition called Metabolic Typing® is the result of a number of observations that various 20th century clinicians had made. Weston Price’s anthropological research opened the flood gates for a deeper investigation into modern day nutriton and biochemical research.

Melvin Page, DDS, a dentist practicing throughout the 20th century made some important discoveries regarding how the nutrients calcium and phosphorous had certain effects within the autonomic nervous system. The early 20th century physician Frances M Pottenger, MD, also contributed to some of the early research into the autonomic nervous system and how various nutrients affected it.

For 77 years during his clinical practice, the Romanian born physician Emanuel Revici, MD layed out an astounding body of work, which revolved largely around chemistry, and the dualistic balance of lipids in the body,  which is inexorably tied to the permeability of cell membranes, referred to as anabolism and catabolism. Much of Dr. Revici’s work of biological dualism carries the similarity of the yin and yang concepts of Chinese Medicine, from a western-based scientific window.

The widely published and accredited biochemist Roger Williams, PhD had discovered Vitamin B-5 and named folic acid. In 1956, he wrote an important book “Biochemical Individuality: The Basis For the Genotrophic Concept”. The book elucidated the need for addressing individual concerns in human biochemistry and nutrition.

William Donald Kelley, DDS, another dentist was probably the first to definitively systematize the basic metabolic distinctions in 3 categories. Kelley was the first to use the term “Metabolic Types”. As he began researching the work of Pottenger and Page with the autonomic nervous system and its influence upon human metabolism, he found classified individuals as either:

  • Sympathetic “Vegetarian Types”
  • Parasympathetic “Carnivore Types”
  • Mixed or “Balanced Types”

The irony of how Kelley reportedly discovered the three different types was through accident, rather than intensive research. Kelley had developed pancreatic cancer which had metastisized. He was given a very short death sentence of several weeks to live. Changing his diet to that of a strict vegetarian kept him alive beyond the date of death sentence, and in fact 40 years beyond it. But reportedly it was years later that he incidentally discovered the existence of the Carnivore Type, through the healing of his wife. Kelley researched the effects that certain nutrients have in the body, based upon the influence they induce within the 2 branches of the autonomic nervous system. One example is that calcium induces a “sympathetic”, activating response, whereas potassium and magnesium tended to induce parasympathetic nervous system activation.

The implication is that certain individuals are more “sympathetic dominant” and others “parasympathetic dominant”. Eating certain foods and nutrients relative to your own nervous system’s tendencies reduced the excessiveness of your imbalance. This concept can be thought of as an aspect of “biological dualism”.

Kelley is widely acknowledged as the “father of Metabolic Typing”, although more appropriately the “father of the autonomic nervous system of Metabolic Typing”.