Text 429, 91 rader
Skriven 2006-11-24 21:23:40 av Ardith Hinton (1:153/716.0)
    Kommentar till text 426 av James Bradley (1:134/77.0)
Ärende: Food & Drugs...  2B.
============================
Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

JB>  It's the same old story, that the quips are easy to
JB>  pound out, but the thought provoking messages, get
JB>  shortchanged.


          Understood.  I have several partially finished replies to you here...
I keep them in what looks like an echo area, but doesn't scan out or delete old
messages.  That's one of the advantages of being married to the SysOp!  And I'm
posting this message first because it's easier for me to condense umpteen pages
of factual material than to answer a "thinking" question... [chuckle].



AH>  Our ancestors may not have understood vitamins, enzymes,
AH>  etc. the way we do now... but I think there is a lot of
AH>  folk wisdom in certain traditional combinations.

JB>  I'm sure machismo, and trial and error played a part.


          Probably.  I found an an amusing anecdote on the Internet while I was
looking for information about the genus capsicum.  Some guy was planning to eat
hot peppers on Oprah Winfrey's show to prove his manhood... but he held them in
his hands before the attempt.  His palms were sweating because of the lights on
stage, and he rubbed his eyes with one hand.  He had to leave before he'd eaten
the peppers.  His eyes watered profusely, then his nose began to run....  :-)))



JB>  Why swing the acid content, when you want to even it
JB>  out? A Tums only swings the pendulum, and can't even
JB>  start to sway the ph balance by much. Hydrochloric
JB>  acid is so strong, a whole roll of Tums may up the ph
JB>  by a point.


          Good question!  While I don't have much of a problem with acid reflux
I know several other people who do.  So I did some digging on the Internet, and
here is what I found.  Acid reflux has a number of possible causes.  Usually it
has more to do with factors affecting the lower esophagal sphincter muscle than
with the proportion of acid in the stomach... but it can be caused by an excess
or insufficiency of stomach acid.  I remember reading about apple cider vinegar
years ago.  It was touted as a home remedy for all sorts of things at the time,
and I found some mention of it on the Internet as a remedy for heartburn and/or
acid reflux.  I suppose it might help folks who don't have enough stomach acid.
But if it works for others as well, there must be more to the story.

          Basically, the problem is that stomach acid & certain enzymes used to
digest proteins... (as in meat!)... get into the esophagus.  The esophagus does
not have the protective coating found in the stomach.  So by chewing on tablets
which contain calcium and/or magnesium, what a person may be doing is relieving
the burning feeling in the esophagus by neutralizing acid there.  I imagine the
effect on the acid *contained in the stomach* is negligible either way....  :-)



JB>  Hence my assumption the cap(whatever it's called)
JB>  oil in a hot pepper, will reinforce the acid balance.
JB>  Fighting it, requires the secretions increase to
JB>  counteract the foreign substance.


          One would think so... but in the various lists I found of what food &
drink to avoid, only alcohol was mentioned as increasing stomach acid.  Hot red
peppers have been used for centuries to treat a great variety of ailments.  One
of the ingredients is capsaicin... I think that's what you were referring to...
which is often recommended for its effect as a laxative & pain reliever.  Maybe
that's why Nora finds it helpful.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear it irritates
the sphincter muscle, however, in people who are not accustomed to it....  :-))



JB>  And then I learned, taste buds, and the sense of smell
JB>  diminish with age. When us kids used to hate walking
JB>  into a building in Heritage Park, (A collection of old
JB>  buildings, and environments.) it was because we smelled
JB>  the 'old' much more profusely than when we grew up.


          I agree that various senses tend to diminish with age... but I wonder
also if the smell of old things may be less offensive to the grownups sometimes
because they're used to it & it brings back memories.  When I go to museums now
I see a lot of the same things my parents & grandparents had years ago....  ;-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)