Old Wives' Tales Cures
- Carrots contain proteins that improve the eyesight.Carrots image by tarheel1776 from Fotolia.com
Doctors were as uneducated as their patients throughout much of European and American history. Women often assumed the role of primary caregivers, tending the medical needs of their husbands and children in the home. They developed a body of folk wisdom over the generations as mothers passed their healing knowledge to their daughters. Many of these "old wives' tales" have been validated by science, particularly when it comes to curative foods. - Chicken soup is a widely used home remedy for the common cold, especially in Jewish homes where it is commonly referred to as "Jewish penicillin." This remedy dates back for hundreds of years. The earliest known reference to chicken soup as a treatment for colds was found in a 12th-century treatise by an Egyptian Jewish philosopher named Maimonides. A 2000 research study by the University of Nebraska Medical Center validated the benefits of chicken soup for colds and flu. It found that chicken soup contains anti-inflammatory properties. Chicken soup also blocks neutrophils, which are harmful white blood cells that are released by viral infections, from traveling throughout the body.
- Mothers have insisted for generations that their children eat their bread crusts, claiming that the crusts were the healthiest part of the bread. This bit of folk wisdom also has scientific merit. A 2002 study in Germany found that bread crusts were richer in antioxidants than any other part of the bread; dark breads in particular, such as wheat and pumpernickel, are endowed with higher levels of antioxidants. In addition, bread crusts contain a chemical called pronyl-lysine that boosts phase II enzymes, which are chemicals that prevent the formation of cancerous cells.
- Drinking cranberry juice for treating bladder infections or urinary irritation, another folk staple, also has basis in fact. According to researcher Terri Carmesano from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria cause most bladder and urinary tract infections. Carmesano's study found that cranberry juice blocks the bacteria's ability to gather in colonies or latch on to cells inside the urinary tract, which are necessary steps for infection to develop.
- According to another common old wives' tale, carrots help people see in the dark. Dietitian Catherine Collins from St. George's Hospital in London claims that this tale has some truth to it. Carrots contain vitamin A, which protects the eye by absorbing energy from light and preventing it from passing into the eye. This helps to sharpen visual perception in dim light. Carrots also contain lutein, a nutrient that is found naturally inside eye fluid. Eating carrots sharpens vision and prevents age-related conditions such as macular degeneration.
