What Goes Around Coming Around for Ancient Remedies

by | Jan 12, 2015 | Nutrition, Raw Milk, Regulation | 23 comments

bigstock-Broth-in-cup-55271720.jpg

One by one, it seems, ancient natural remedies and foods, and our most basic systems for creating them, are being recognized for their healing powers.  

 

Last week came the announcement in a prominent science journal that researchers have come up with a possible bacterial antidote to MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant superbugs. The  source? Soil from a field in Maine.

 

Here is how The New York Times described it in a front-page article: “The new research is based on the premise that everything on earth — plants, soil, people, animals — is teeming with microbes that compete fiercely to survive. Trying to keep one another in check, the microbes secrete biological weapons: antibiotics.” 

 

Haven’t I heard something like that on this blog, from Miguel, Dave Milano, and others?

 

Last week also saw another in a series of articles in the mainstream media extolling the benefits of bone broth.A lengthy New York Times article that quoted Sally Fallon of the Weston A. Price Foundation, observed, “Recently, this prehistoric food has improbably become a trend beverage, ranking with green juice and coconut water as the next magic potion in the eternal quest for perfect health.” Stores are selling it for $3.50 a cup and online sources are shipping it frozen to eager buyers. 

 

That all comes on top of news in the last few years that butter and eggs are not only not dangerous, but are very healthy, and that cholesterol isn’t necessarily bad. And the next generation of cancer drugs will stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer. 

 

I’m not sure why we often feel we were the ones to first realize the health-giving properties of a particular ancient food or practice. Maybe it has something to do with our arrogance about “the new.” A physician I know has been taken with evidence pouring out in recent years that insight meditation, developed 2,600 years ago by the Buddha, actually changes the brain in positive ways. When I told him this isn’t really news, he disagreed. “Now we are proving it.” Okay, let him feel that way. 


What’s next on the list of ancient remedies to get its due? Couldn’t be raw milk, could it? Then things will truly have come full circle. 

23 Comments

  1. To show an avatar with your comment, go to Gravatar and attach your picture to your email!
  2. chuck
    chuck on January 12, 2015 at 1:58 am
    Raw milk is next to show it’s health giving ways. When it hits the fan everyone will get it in more ways than one !
    Reply
  3. Dairy Duchess
    Dairy Duchess on January 12, 2015 at 2:06 am
    I was talking to a friend last month, and the subject came up about antibiotics, mostly because of how some people raise their livestock. He had just gotten a side of beef from one of my steers, and had been checking around for the going rate in case I didn’t have any for him (called right before that steer went to the processor). The antibiotic discussion went on to humans, and he said every time that he, or his kids, or even some co-workers went to the doctor for some problem, the first thing the doctor did was write a prescription for antibiotics. He said he was getting tired of that, and didn’t want a prescription to take care of whatever was wrong. And to think, I usually hear that farmers are the ones who get blamed for antibiotic residue/resistance.
    Reply
  4. Dairy Duchess
    Dairy Duchess on January 12, 2015 at 2:12 am
    I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. A few months ago, my dairy inspector was talking about raw milk as though it was some sort of nuclear waste. The comment came about because I asked a question about pasteurizing milk at home.
    Reply
  5. D. Smith
    D. Smith on January 12, 2015 at 2:40 am
    @ Dairy Duchess: People who raise beef cattle are called ranchers, not farmers.

    Also, if a rancher is using antiobiotics on his beef cattle which are to be sold for human consumption, he should be blamed as a player in the antibiotic residue/resistance game.

    Your friend should try to avoid doctors, at all costs. Doctors are guilty of the human factor of antibiotic resistance, especially with children. Part of that is because most parents need re-educating about expecting a prescription every time they go to a doctor for a hangnail. Doctors are willing to please by writing scripts, necessary or not. It’s what has gotten humankind into a lot of trouble. MRSA is one of those “troubles”. Essential oils, vinegar, iodine and other alternative things have already been proven to help control MRSA, but the medical community doesn’t want to acknowledge it much. They don’t really want to acknowledge anything that hasn’t passed by (and been blessed at) the bigPHRMA altar.

    Reply
  6. Ken Conrad
    Ken Conrad on January 12, 2015 at 6:16 am
    David,
    Francis Quarles stated that, “Humility enforces where neither virtue, nor strength, nor reason can prevail”.

    Our ego tends to nurture narrow-mindedness and arrogance. These are difficult human qualities to overcome especially when the integrity of a well-established infrastructure/institution/religion is at stake.

    The following article entitled, “Humility and the practice of medicine: tasting humble pie” states,

    “The nature of knowledge is impossible to contemplate or grasp in its entirety. In the face of new discoveries and insights, today’s medical wisdom may be destined to become yesterday’s folly. (The strychnine injections Osler received on his deathbed — at the time a standard practice — are now known to be entirely useless.) The epistemological implications for those who practice medicine are critical. Physicians must be prepared to challenge fundamental assumptions and examine their practice patterns; they must consider credible evidence and be open to change. Humility dictates that no matter how great the measure of our reach, we acknowledge the limitations of our grasp… Within the profession of medicine, there is nothing simple about humble pie; but consider taking a bite — it could very well change the way you practice medicine.”
    http://www.cmaj.ca/content/182/11/1217.full

    Ken

    Reply
  7. Dairy Duchess
    Dairy Duchess on January 12, 2015 at 5:53 pm
    @D. Smith: I wasn’t referring to those who only raise beef cattle. I have friends that raise a couple of head now and then, and they don’t consider themselves “ranchers”. I usually have one or two steers a year (if that), and I’m not a rancher either, I’m a dairy farmer. I never said those who are guilty of antibiotic residue shouldn’t be blamed. I was trying to recall a conversation from over a month ago, and meant to post that comment to the article right before this one, but then opportunity came up here instead, after I followed one of the links posted in the current article. I’ve already seen in one of the dairy publications I subscribe to, to where a big portion of antibiotic residue came from dairy beef. So, you probably weren’t aware of the FDA testing/screening more often in anything pertaining to dairy–beef and milk. This is from the industry level, not someone else who raises beef, or milks cows (without a dairy permit because they aren’t selling milk conventionally) on a small scale.

    My comment about “And to think, I usually hear that farmers are the ones who get blamed for antibiotic residue/resistance” was again in reference to dairy farmers ONLY (typical conversation around here is about milk, right?). I guess I should have clarified that first?

    As for my friend, he was telling me about everyone in the doctor chain, not just his kids. I guess the majority of comments comes from him and his co-workers–all adults, and that is their major complaint too (prescriptions always being written).

    “Doctors are willing to please by writing scripts, necessary or not.” And how many of these people refuse? How many of the clam up if asked, “Do you have any questions?” My sister already got a doctor to ADMIT to being “drug pushers”. She kept questioning until the doctor caved. That doctor wasn’t going to volunteer the information. This is a problem with ALL involved–doctors, patients, farmers, ranchers, whoever, etc.

    Reply
  8. Shelly-D.
    Shelly-D. on January 12, 2015 at 7:12 pm
    “People who raise beef cattle are called ranchers, not farmers. ”

    That depends where you live.

    Reply
  9. D. Smith
    D. Smith on January 12, 2015 at 7:57 pm
    You don’t call them ranchers in Canada?
    Reply
  10. mark mcafee
    mark mcafee on January 13, 2015 at 12:40 am
    I would like to report that another year has passed and the community of RAWMI LISTED producers have once again exceeded all standards, goals and targets. The overall and individual coliform numbers are consistently very low and any rare outliers are caught and immediately resolved without incident. This is because each LISTED dairy has a RAMP plan and that plan includes plenty of testing to measure outcomes. Each dairy also has a system of controls that limit and manage “Grass to Glass” risks.

    Our RAWMI LISTED test data is piling up and will pretty soon be a database worthy of a published doctoral study. Our testimonials are also piling up in support of raw milk being highly digestible and non allergenic, just like the EU studies report.

    All the while, consumption of pasteurized fluid milk is dropping further and further. Conventional milk prices ( farm gate ) have dropped by 30% in the last five months and now dairies are once again beginning to bankrupt, sell out and leave the industry just like three years ago. The CAFO conventional system is a roller coaster from hell. It is hard to watch.

    The organic pasteurized community is fairing much better with all time price highs and shortages. I think this is being driven by the Cheese, butter, Greek Yogurt and probiotic market trends.

    Organic raw milk is doing very well and growing and growing as usual!!

    A couple of notes from the front lines.

    Reply
  11. David Gumpert
    David Gumpert on January 13, 2015 at 5:34 am

    Ken, humility, or the lack thereof, is definitely a big factor in blinding the medical profession in many of these areas. When it comes to the resistance to raw milk, I believe you have to add in industry financial pressures, which block out even the hint of humility. 

    Reply
  12. ingvar
    ingvar on January 13, 2015 at 3:38 pm
    I agree, David.
    Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (virtue), are looking better and better.
    If the FDA and its many tentacles and secret snoops do not comport with these things, it should be jettisoned.
    It should be jettisoned.
    The FDA, in toto, can join all the other flotsam and jetsam of history.
    Where it belongs.
    Law and our body politic is damaged, enervated, by such entanglements.
    i.e. it is choking the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness out of us.

    The best of days to all,
    Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard

    Reply
  13. D. Smith
    D. Smith on January 13, 2015 at 5:23 pm
    @ Dairy Duchess: I think you misunderstood some of what I wrote, but that’s ok. It’s become rather a jumbled up mess of words now.
    Reply
  15. Shelly-D.
    Shelly-D. on January 13, 2015 at 10:22 pm
    Agreed with Dairy Duchess. Those who have a range are ranchers, they have a ranch, but not everyone does. My beef come from a neighbour with a farm, not a range. He has about 10 acres and also grows and markets vegetables, berries, and pork, keeping a few beef cattle as well. Not a lot of range-land when most of the surrounding country is near-vertical – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_British_Columbia#mediaviewer/File:BC-relief.png. Sure there are some ranchers in Northern BC and in Alberta and some eastward, but a lot of beef comes from farmers. They don’t call themselves “ranchers” and they don’t have open grazing ranges that go on for miles. You can do a lot with a 10 acre farm.
    Reply
  16. D. Smith
    D. Smith on January 14, 2015 at 2:33 am
    @ Shelly-D. I guess I didn’t see where she called it range-land. I have been in BC a few times because we have friends there and my Dad nearly bought a ranch (and yes, they called it a ranch because there were huge expanses of open range) there in the 1960’s. It was typical ranch land just like what we have here where I live, not straight up and down. This was in/near Penticton. And, yes, it appears to be in the eye of the beholder what these folks are called. No one in my area of the country calls cattle people farmers. Never. So, it must be location, location, location!
    Reply
  17. Dairy Duchess
    Dairy Duchess on January 14, 2015 at 3:48 am
    @ D. Smith: It’s no big deal. I have a friend (is another dairy person too), who is real good at ‘correcting’ things I say, whether it was the wrong word (usually isn’t wrong, it just IS to that person), or something else, so I have a tendency to jump at the chance to fire one back at someone who does the same thing to me.

    This friend corrects others as well, so I know it isn’t just me, but still, it gets very annoying. Some of it also stems from a parent who always insisted he was right, even though I knew better, and I never turned down an argument. It’s just who I am, and am giving full disclosure here, so don’t take it personal.

    Reply
  18. Dairy Duchess
    Dairy Duchess on January 14, 2015 at 3:53 am
    “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”–EXACTLY!!! Those words were used in my very first post here, and what ties all of us together–those that comment on this blog.
    Reply
  19. Ora Moose
    Ora Moose on January 14, 2015 at 10:45 am
    I have never considered myself to be a big fan of this guy and generally believe that all politicians are the same, but this article has made me reconsider.

    The author is considered by many to be a savior and many others to be an idealistic whacko. It is really long, but also really good and realistic enlightening so give it a chance:

    http://patriotrising.com/2015/01/12/ron-paul-inner-city-turmoil-crises-predictions-2015/

    Reply
  20. D. Smith
    D. Smith on January 14, 2015 at 2:41 pm
    @ Dairy Duchess: I wasn’t correcting “you”, I was correcting the terminology – but as I say, I guess location makes the difference. The other problem is, we are dealing here with computerized words, as well – not face to face communication. A lot gets left out when the human factor is missing.
    Reply
  21. Dairy Duchess
    Dairy Duchess on January 14, 2015 at 5:40 pm
    @ D. Smith: I totally know what you mean about “computerized words”, and the “human factor” part, especially when it comes to ‘how’ a word is said. Take the word *that*. How many different ways can you say it, especially with a question mark after it?

    I do think location has a lot to do with the terminology. I don’t know of anyone in my, or surrounding states who raise cattle, and call themselves “ranchers”. These are people I have actually talked to. I’ve heard the term “beef farmers”, but that’s it.

    Reply
  22. Shelly-D.
    Shelly-D. on January 15, 2015 at 3:38 am
    Yes, the Okanagan has some pretty good grazing land.
    Reply
  23. mark mcafee
    mark mcafee on January 17, 2015 at 5:45 am
    Edwin,

    I share your disgust. The label says Pasteurized…..but the advice says…avoid raw.

    That is plainly insulting and a lie. Where are the truth in reporting laws? i thought yellow journalism died with Randolf Hearst 100 years ago. Boy….was I wrong. Someone needs to sue. This must be exposed as a matter of public trust and public safety.

    Reply
  24. mark mcafee
    mark mcafee on January 17, 2015 at 5:47 am
    Edwin,

    I share your disgust. The label says Pasteurized…..but the advice says…avoid raw.

    That is plainly insulting and a lie. Where are the truth in reporting laws? i thought yellow journalism died with Randolf Hearst 100 years ago. Boy….was I wrong. Someone needs to sue. This must be exposed as a matter of public trust and public safety.

    Reply

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