Dr. Franks No-Aging Diet, by Benjamin S. Frank, MD with Philip Miele, The Dial Press, New York, 1976


This book is available in a few copies, English and Spanish in the new and used book section of Amazon.com :


http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-4939238-4130015?url=search-alias%3Dhpc&field-keywords=Dr.Franks+No-Aging+Diet&x=12&y=11

It seems to be out of print at this time.


I haven’t done a blog in this series for ages, and I’ve been feeling guilty about it. This is a book that everyone could possibly benefit from, young and old.

Dr. Frank advocates what is called RNA-DNA or nucleic acid therapy.

What is this? Our bodies are made of cells and the cells have nuclei or little brains in each of them. These little brains have copies of the basic programming of the body, which are the chromosomes, which are made up of strands of DNA. The DNA take the basic proteins in foods and turn them into RNA, which in turn take proteins and then actually produce body tissues.

As we age, the DNA and/or the RNA get worn out somehow and start making bad copies—remember the copy of a copy jokes? Well that happens to us on a cellular level and that is one of the components of aging: our tissues are not made as well as they were when we were in our teens or twenties.

So you are thinking, so what, we can’t do anything about this. Well, you’re wrong there, we can.

In the 1970’s wealthy people were treated in Europe with the DNA/RNA taken from fetal cells. This was a very expensive treatment, and was not that well publicized, so I don’t know how effective these treatments were.

However, Dr. Frank advocated treating people with plant or yeast extracts of DNA-RNA in doctor’s clinics, and for regular people to slowly treat themselves with foods high in RNA/DNA, like mushrooms. The only warning was that over treatment could lead to gout or arthritus, for these food are protein heavy.

He gives examples of elderly patients who returned to full functioning after these treatments (similar success was made with chelation therapy, and hopefully I’ll get around to blogging on that also and some other therapies based on foods and supplements that fight ‘free radicals’ in the body).

From page 3 : “One of the most interesting patients is medically typical: a 78 year old licensed pilot who used to be older than he is today, When he was 71 years old, Edward W#. Stitt was bald, arthritic, and suffering from failing eyesight, a painful case of diverticulitis and chronic fatigue. Five years later on a mild winter’s day he tarred the hundred fifty foot roof of his workshop where he upholster antique automobiles in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. ….and looks like a vigorous man in his mid-fifties…To the consternation of flight surgeons who have tested his eyesight for renewal of his pilot’s medical certificate, he reads telephone directories and other fine print without glasses. His arthritis and diverculitis have completely disappeared and there is a thin growth of hair on his once bald head….His treatment consisted of the nucleic acid rich diet, vitamins and nuclei acid extracts [RNA-DNA]….these conditions were not treated specifically or one at a time…the entire body was treated with nutrients fundamental to the body’s basic processes.”

Okay, how do we do this at home? We eat more of certain foods, but we don’t go crazy with only these foods for that can lead to arthritus or gout.

What are the foods and quantities recommended?: (page 26…) “ 1:Four days a week, eat a three or four once can of small sardines. To avoid weight gain, drain off any oil…2:One other day a week, have salmon as a main course…3:On still another day [not for observant Jews!] have shrimp, lobster, squid,clams or oysters as a main course….4:On the remaining day, eat any other kind of fish as a main course….in other words you must have seafood seven times a week. 5:Eat calves liver once a week,6: Once or twice a week have beets, beet juice or borsht.7: Once or twice a week have a side dish of lentils, peas, lima beans or soybeans.8: Each day eat at least one of the following: asparagus, radishes, onions, scallions, mushrooms, spinach cauliflower or celery..9: Each day take one strong multivitamin after any meal…ask for therapeutic strength…10:Each day, drink two glasses of milk, preferably skimmed..11:Each day drink a glass of fruit or vegetable juice.12: Each day, drink at leat four glasses of water, more in the summer.. You can fall off the diet …however, never neglect..items 10, 11, and 12. If you not have these fluids your urine may become acid and cause complications if you are one of the small number of people with high blood uric-acid levels.”

Okay, that is the basis of the diet but the book gives diets for help in specific conditions, and a diet for vegetarians: page 75 : “Each meal must include at least one off the following three combinations: 1: grains with milk products, 2: legumes (eg beans, peas, lentils ) with grains, 3:nuts and seads with legumes… with a therapeutic strength multivitamin capsule, an absolute must.”

Then in chapter 14 he gives you lists of foods for you to combine and make up your own non-aging diet. He recommends foods rich in DNA-RNA such as” fish, meat extracts, nuts, dark meat poultry, spinach, oatmeal, wheat germ, bran, asparagus, mushrooms, radishes, onions” (page 81)

At the end of the book he gives some recipies


. Of course, there are no guarantees in life, and I am not a professional anything, so I am not saying that this will work for you or even recommending the diet.


All I am doing here is giving information that for some reason is not out there anymore, or is ignored by the powers that be in the health field. In this case the diet was invented by an MD, so they can’t just go crying ‘quack’. But what happens? An interesting book does not get re-published. (It may be in some college or university or even medical libraries and an occasional public library. Or in your aunt’s attic or basement.)

So, I’ve done my part, if you are interested, there are about 17 copies available on the American amazon.com website. Really cheap too.


By the way, mushrooms are a great snack.