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"You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine." - Tim Minchin This quote used to really sum up my opinion, but the more

by themgt 11y ago

"You know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? - Medicine." - Tim Minchin This quote used to really sum up my opinion, but the more time I've spent growing and eating and researching a variety of plants/herbs/spices, it's quite clear that many of them do have quite a lot of beneficial health effects, often unique in being more effective or having less side-effects than western medicine. Plants have chemical-producing machinery that is in many ways far more advanced than what humans have developed. And many of them have been under-researched, I think both because of 20th century biases and the regulatory/patent environment, so in fact there's quite a gap between what we call medicine and treatments in alternative medicine which could be reasonably considered likely beneficial/effective. Just as an example, go read the Wikipedia pages and some assorted Googled info on what was listed in the article: nutmeg, ginger, “Bakul” tree, camphor, cinnamon, turmeric, Indian banyan, black pepper, long pepper, Neem and clove.

pinaceae 11y ago
absolutely. so please, once you have a serious condition only take your spices. no penicilin (or does it count as mold?), no insulin, no aneasthesia for you. just a little cinnamon. wear glasses or contacts? away with them! a little pepper in your eyes works wonders. and they wonder why seattle has lower polio vaccines rates than kazakhstan or tchad.
- venomsnake 11y ago
  English is not my first language, but I kinda read the OP's post as "Guys, we should throw some money in investigating some natural remedies, using the scientific method and stripping them of bullshit, to see what works, why and how"
splawn 11y ago
"artifical" medicine is all about having a specific dosage of the active chemical.. if you are consuming raw herbs then chances are you have no idea what dosage of the active chemical you are taking, which can affect the quality of your treatment. Given the importance of dosage (it can be the difference between medicine and poison) Tim Minchin was 100% correct.
kbenson 11y ago
Nothing about your included quote and the rest of your comment are mutually exclusive. The issue here is "proved". There are many, many natural remedies that have been noted to have beneficial effects. That said, the research on them may not be adequate to be viewed by the medical establishment as a known quantity. When you go to the doctor for an ailment, do you want a solution that's been shown through testing to work on 80% of people, or one that you've heard about with unknown effectiveness, and unknown side-effects? Randomized medical trials are expensive, and pharmaceutical companies aren't exactly incentivized to do them for natural medicines, since they can't patent the result. Absurdly, additional patent capabilities here might actually help reduce that problem.
rsync 11y ago
"Just as an example, go read the Wikipedia pages and some assorted Googled info on what was listed in the article: nutmeg, ginger, “Bakul” tree, camphor, cinnamon, turmeric, Indian banyan, black pepper, long pepper, Neem and clove." Actually, there's a shortcut - just read about aspirin. It's very effective, it has truly medicinal uses, and is (for most folks) "western" medicine. And it's just tree bark.

by themgt 11y ago

pinaceae 11y ago

absolutely. so please, once you have a serious condition only take your spices. no penicilin (or does it count as mold?), no insulin, no aneasthesia for you. just a little cinnamon. wear glasses or contacts? away with them! a little pepper in your eyes works wonders. and they wonder why seattle has lower polio vaccines rates than kazakhstan or tchad.

venomsnake 11y ago
English is not my first language, but I kinda read the OP's post as "Guys, we should throw some money in investigating some natural remedies, using the scientific method and stripping them of bullshit, to see what works, why and how"

splawn 11y ago

"artifical" medicine is all about having a specific dosage of the active chemical.. if you are consuming raw herbs then chances are you have no idea what dosage of the active chemical you are taking, which can affect the quality of your treatment. Given the importance of dosage (it can be the difference between medicine and poison) Tim Minchin was 100% correct.

kbenson 11y ago

Nothing about your included quote and the rest of your comment are mutually exclusive. The issue here is "proved". There are many, many natural remedies that have been noted to have beneficial effects. That said, the research on them may not be adequate to be viewed by the medical establishment as a known quantity. When you go to the doctor for an ailment, do you want a solution that's been shown through testing to work on 80% of people, or one that you've heard about with unknown effectiveness, and unknown side-effects? Randomized medical trials are expensive, and pharmaceutical companies aren't exactly incentivized to do them for natural medicines, since they can't patent the result. Absurdly, additional patent capabilities here might actually help reduce that problem.

rsync 11y ago

"Just as an example, go read the Wikipedia pages and some assorted Googled info on what was listed in the article: nutmeg, ginger, “Bakul” tree, camphor, cinnamon, turmeric, Indian banyan, black pepper, long pepper, Neem and clove." Actually, there's a shortcut - just read about aspirin. It's very effective, it has truly medicinal uses, and is (for most folks) "western" medicine. And it's just tree bark.