Paul Bragg

Paul Chappuis Bragg (February 6, 1895 – December 7, 1976) was an American alternative health food advocate and fitness enthusiast. Bragg's mentor was Bernarr Macfadden. He wrote on subjects such as Detoxification (alternative medicine), dieting, fasting, longevity, orthopathy and physical culture. Medical experts criticized Bragg as a food faddist and promoter of quackery. Bragg claimed to have been born in 1881 in either Fairfax County, Virginia or Pinkle, Virginia, but genealogical research indicates he was born on February 6, 1895, in Batesville, Indiana, where his father was editor, publisher, and printer of the "Batesville Democratic Herald" newspaper. Bragg grew up in Washington, D.C., with his parents, Robert Elton Bragg (1866–1944), who had procured a U.S. Civil Service position there, and Caroline (Chappuis) Bragg (1859-1934). He had two brothers, James Elton Bragg and John Harrison Bragg. His father was employed by the U.S. Printing Office. However, in the 1972 Edition of the Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar System booklet, at page 12, and in later editions, Bragg claimed both that his father was "a splendid farmer" and that "I am the oldest of 16 children". There is no evidence of a sister named "Louise" that Bragg claimed to have tutored to good health in his "Miracle of Fasting" publications, Paul Bragg and his two brothers did have a half brother named "Rufus Albert Chappuis" (1880–1948), from an earlier marriage of their mother, Caroline. At some point, Bragg enlisted with the Washington, D.C., National Guard for "three Years", as is shown on his 1917 Draft Registration, which he filed with the Indianapolis, Indiana draft board that year. Although Bragg had claimed participation in both the 1908 (London) and 1912 (Stockholm) Olympics as a member of the United States wrestling team, the "Encyclopedia of American Wrestling" (Pub. 1988, Mike Chapman, author) does not show any such person as a member in either year. In 1915 Bragg married Neva Cecelia Parnin (1897-1988) at the Chapel of St. Barnabas in New York City.