Ragnar Berg was a Swedish-born biochemist

Biochemist

Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. Typical biochemists study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. The prefix of "bio" in "biochemist" can be understood as a fusion of "biological chemist."-Role:...

 and nutritionist

Nutritionist

A nutritionist is a person who advises on matters of food and nutrition impacts on health. Different professional terms are used in different countries, employment settings and contexts — some examples include: nutrition scientist, public health nutritionist, dietitian-nutritionist, clinical...

 who worked in Germany.

Life

Ragnar Berg was the son of the Swedish historian and archaeologist Wilhelm Berg (1839-1915).

From 1909 to 1921 Berg headed the homeopathic sanitorium founded by Heinrich Lahmann

Heinrich Lahmann

Johann Heinrich Lahmann was a German physician who was a pioneer of naturopathic medicine. He was a native of Bremen, Germany....

 at Weisser Hirsch near Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, researching vitamins, trace elements and the metabolism

Metabolism

Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...

 of minerals. While writing his Vitamins (1923) he was dismissed from Lahmann's Sanitorium, since its "directors did not value his scientific approach to nutrition". Berg was recruited by Karl Lingner to the Dresden Center for Dental Hygiene (Zentralstelle für Zahnhygiene). Berg demonstrated the dangers of high ash content in foods. After 1933 he became head of the nutrition department in Dresden-Johannstadt.

Works

• (with Martin Vogel) Die Grundlagen einer richtigen Ernährung, Dresden, 1907
• Die nahrungs- und genussmittel, ihre zusammensetzung und ihr einfluss auf die gesundheit, mit besonderer berücksichtigung der aschenbestandteile, Dresden: Holze & Pahl, 1913
• Die Vitamine : kritische Übersicht der Lehre von den Ergänzungsstoffen, Leipzig: Hirzel, 1922.
  • Translated by Cedar
    Cedar Paul
    Cedar Paul, née Gertrude Mary Davenport was a singer, author, translator and journalist.-Biography:Gertrude Davenport came from a musical family: she was the grand-daughter of the composer George Alexander Macfarren and the daughter of the composer Francis William Davenport...
    
     and Eden Paul
    Eden Paul
    Maurice Eden Paul, most commonly known simply as Eden Paul was a socialist physician, writer and translator.-Biography:...
    
    as Vitamins; a critical survey of the theory of accessory food factors. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1923.
• Eiweissbedarf und mineralstoffwechsel bei einfachster ernährung, Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1931