4 ms·

Turns out the old saying, "Let the kids play and eat dirt," might’ve been right all along—who knew? All this time, they might've been giving themselves tiny dos

Turns out the old saying, "Let the kids play and eat dirt," might’ve been right all along—who knew? All this time, they might've been giving themselves tiny doses of natural antibacterials without even realizing it.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
zamadatix 1y ago
I think that may actually be worse than if the dirt didn't contain any. Antibiotics only work well when the dose is strong enough and taken for a long enough period, anything less leads to the original problem being fought with no real benefit for having ingested them. There is a similar concept for that kind of saying called the "hygiene hypothesis" though, but it's often taken too far to the extremes from what it's trying to claim.
johnohara 1y ago
George Carlin: Germs, Immune Systems https://youtu.be/X29lF43mUlo?t=160 https://youtu.be/X29lF43mUlo?t=160
syed_qutub3 1y ago
So basically the FDA’s been scooped by toddlers with mud pies XD tough break for modern pharma.
thaumasiotes 1y ago
> Turns out the old saying, "Let the kids play and eat dirt," might’ve been right all along—who knew? Everyone? That's not an unusual position by any means. It's known as the Hygiene Hypothesis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis
- fsckboy 1y ago
  while everybody is correcting everybody, let's point out that the Hygiene Hypothesis is not called the Hygiene Theory, and the hygiene theories we have generally say to keep things clean.
somenameforme 1y ago
A lot of old ideas that seem nonsensical or superstitious at first often end up making logical sense over time. For instance on infected wounds the Egyptian's used poultices that included moldy bread which intuitively seems kind of... crazy. Except that mold likely included species of penicillium which would thousands of years later be accidentally [re]discovered and isolated as penicillin, so they likely were exploiting genuine antibacterial properties, even if they lacked the knowledge of exactly why it was working. Now the first guy who decided to try to treat an infected wound with mold... something's wrong with that guy, but that's the nice thing about having a lot of us trying all sorts of goofy stuff. Sometimes crazy turns out to be right!
- leobg 1y ago
  Ron Reagan, My Father at 100: > Many victims rapidly developed an especially viscous pneumonia and then, as one physician put it, “died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth.” Medical science of the day was helpless before the onslaught. There was nothing Nelle’s doctor could do for her. Jack, who ordinarily attended mass on an intermittent basis, began lighting candles daily at the altar. The boys hovered anxiously, waiting for the doctor to pronounce the end. Instead, in desperation, he advised the family to feed her as much moldy cheese as she could stomach. There is no medical reason that a virus would respond to what the doctor may have supposed was a crude form of antibiotic. But Nelle recovered nonetheless, her indomitable will refusing to submit to a mere pathogen. For the rest of his life, my father would credit the cheese.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

zamadatix 1y ago

I think that may actually be worse than if the dirt didn't contain any. Antibiotics only work well when the dose is strong enough and taken for a long enough period, anything less leads to the original problem being fought with no real benefit for having ingested them. There is a similar concept for that kind of saying called the "hygiene hypothesis" though, but it's often taken too far to the extremes from what it's trying to claim.

johnohara 1y ago

George Carlin: Germs, Immune Systems https://youtu.be/X29lF43mUlo?t=160 https://youtu.be/X29lF43mUlo?t=160

syed_qutub3 1y ago

So basically the FDA’s been scooped by toddlers with mud pies XD tough break for modern pharma.

thaumasiotes 1y ago

> Turns out the old saying, "Let the kids play and eat dirt," might’ve been right all along—who knew? Everyone? That's not an unusual position by any means. It's known as the Hygiene Hypothesis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

fsckboy 1y ago
while everybody is correcting everybody, let's point out that the Hygiene Hypothesis is not called the Hygiene Theory, and the hygiene theories we have generally say to keep things clean.

somenameforme 1y ago

A lot of old ideas that seem nonsensical or superstitious at first often end up making logical sense over time. For instance on infected wounds the Egyptian's used poultices that included moldy bread which intuitively seems kind of... crazy. Except that mold likely included species of penicillium which would thousands of years later be accidentally [re]discovered and isolated as penicillin, so they likely were exploiting genuine antibacterial properties, even if they lacked the knowledge of exactly why it was working. Now the first guy who decided to try to treat an infected wound with mold... something's wrong with that guy, but that's the nice thing about having a lot of us trying all sorts of goofy stuff. Sometimes crazy turns out to be right!

leobg 1y ago
Ron Reagan, My Father at 100: > Many victims rapidly developed an especially viscous pneumonia and then, as one physician put it, “died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth.” Medical science of the day was helpless before the onslaught. There was nothing Nelle’s doctor could do for her. Jack, who ordinarily attended mass on an intermittent basis, began lighting candles daily at the altar. The boys hovered anxiously, waiting for the doctor to pronounce the end. Instead, in desperation, he advised the family to feed her as much moldy cheese as she could stomach. There is no medical reason that a virus would respond to what the doctor may have supposed was a crude form of antibiotic. But Nelle recovered nonetheless, her indomitable will refusing to submit to a mere pathogen. For the rest of his life, my father would credit the cheese.