Gordon Latto (doctor)

Gordon Latto (25 June 1911 – 2 September 1998) was a Scottish doctor and nutritionist who was President of both the International Vegetarian Union and the British Vegetarian Society.

Dr. Latto and his wife, 1938

Quotes

• If we harden our hearts to the suffering of the creatures, we must by an immutable law harden our hearts to our brother and sister, and this can never lead to ideal conditions. The adoption of this vegetarian way of life, if the food is balanced, will lead to a new, better, higher, and more noble rhythm of living.
  • Speech at the 24th International Vegetarian Congress, India, 1977; quoted in The Vegetarians by Rynn Berry (Autumn Press, 1979), pp. 133-134.

• So I read about various aspects of vegetarianism—the scientific aspect, the humane aspect, the ethical aspect, and the economic aspect. The more I studied, the more convinced I became that it was a logical procedure, that it would help humanity, that it would lessen the suffering of the animals, and that it would help this country.
  • Interview in The Vegetarians by Rynn Berry (Autumn Press, 1979), p. 123.

Quotes about Latto

• A vegetarian diet, Latto believes, promotes endurance. … Despite the number of patients he must treat, Dr. Latto still finds time to serve as president of the two vegetarian societies … and to lecture on the salutary benefits of a vegetarian diet all over England and Europe—testimony in itself to the stamina that such a diet provides.
  • Rynn Berry, The Vegetarians (Autumn Press, 1979), p. 122.

• I met Dr. Gordon Latto, who had become so impressed by the efficacy of nature cure methods that he had switched over almost completely from his orthodox practice to natural healing. He said that he could stop the gallstone from forming, but that I must go on a strict vegetarian diet for a year, besides knocking off drink and tobacco (which he said was worse than drink). This was a tough regime; the gallstones could not survive it. I did, however, and at the end of the period I found that I was also cured of smoking, and that the vegetarian diet suited me so well that I have preferred it ever since.
  • Francis Chichester, "Keeping Fit With Sir Francis Chichester", Esquire (June 1968); quoted in The Vegetarians by Rynn Berry (Autumn Press, 1979), p. 122.