North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

Another shocker a year or so back was my discovery of two theories for the origin of the polio epidemic.  One was DDT, and comments from some people that it struck some families that used a lot of DDT.  We all know it went around in the summer, when pesticides would have been used.  The other was the fad for taking out kids tonsils.  Apparently someone checked and those kids who'd had their tonsils removed were more likely to have suffer nerve damage. 

     I wonder about the long term effects of new products or widespread changes occur in the American diet or lifestyle.  For example, they found in the 40's that the chemical used to bleach flour caused convulsions in dogs.  They switched to something else.  I have never read what that something else was, but I have wondered if it or other chemicals used on wheat and flour, or on corn, could be behind big "epidemics" of health problems.  I suspect so many people of having gluten intolerance like myself, that I wonder if it was always that common.  My ancestors are from northern Europe where wheat didn't grow especially well, so they ate more rye or barley with less gluten, or oats with none.  Then they came here and lived on corn for a few generations.  In the 40's the wheat breeders changed the wheat, bringing in a lot of Russian germplasm and bringing the gluten content way up.  Then Americans stopped eating as much locally grown produce and started living on packaged foods, including a lot more wheat products. 

    Remember the beta carotene craze?  The actual studies merely showed an inverse correlation between cancer rates and carotene intake.  Now, I ask you, who eats the most carotene in America???  I'll tell you who.  Gardeners.  There's not much in fruit, but lots in green and yellow veggies.  So if the gardeners get the least cancer, does that tell you that beta carotene is their secret?   I think not.  More likely it's because the food is fresh, it's got at least a little more trace minerals in it than grocery food,  and because by golly we grew it so we're going to eat it and we are NOT going to call out for a pizza.  Gardening stops cancer in much the same way that wearing a bra for more than 12 hours a day causes breast cancer compared to wearing one less than 12 hours.  (I really thought about that one.  Who takes their bra off at the end of the workday?  Women who are going home.  Of those who keep it on, a higher percentage are eating out after work, and/or are more vain, using more chemicals on their skin, nails and hair. )  Donna

 

P.S.   I personally believe that gardeners live longer than other people because in the winter, when other old people are depressed and dying, the gardeners open their seed catalogs and pure summer sunshine radiates out from every page.