parasite burden, was Dangerous Grains

[Guest guest]

>>>>From an NT standpoint though, the primatives Price studied lived in a

rather dirty environment, and probably had tons of parasites, and *still*

did better than the cleaner Europeans:

-------------->i rarely disagree with you heidi , but i do disagree that

price's primitives probably had *tons of parasites.* i'm just guessing this

based on research with animals, as well as epidemiological studies and some

clinical trials with humans. since price's groups were not confined and had

free access to 'nature's pharmacy' i'm guessing they probably were able to

keep their parasite burden relatively low. i'm reading a book now called

" Wild Health " and the author describes a number of studies with livestock

that found that livestock that were not confined would self-medicate to

reduce their parasite load - most commonly with clay, but also with specific

herbs in some cases. they actually tested the before and after parasite load

and it was greatly reduced after the self-medication. wild animals have also

been observed eating specific herbs (sometimes just grass!) and expelling

intestinal parasites. some research found that healthy wild animals had a

relatively low parasite burden. but in time of famine or other high stress

situations, the load would be higher.

also, the worm hypothesis is based on clinical and epidemiological studies

where it was found that *human* populations that are not excessively

hygienic are less prone to *infestations* with certain parasites. the very

first thing i posted to this list (seems like ages ago!) was a research

article re treating IBD with worms. the researchers found that a *small*

parasite load (at least with the species tested) actually *stimulated* the

immune system, which was then better able to deal with a variety of

parasites, because the immune cells that were stimulated were ones that deal

with more than one type of parasite. and, IIRC, their success rate (for

treating IBD with worms) was pretty impressive!

Suze Fisher

Web Design & Development

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/

mailto:s.fisher22@...

[Guest guest]

At 07:41 AM 9/12/2002 -0400, you wrote:

>-------------->i rarely disagree with you heidi , but i do disagree that

>price's primitives probably had *tons of parasites.* i'm just guessing this

>based on research with animals, as well as epidemiological studies and some

>clinical trials with humans.

I was probably overstating the case. I was basing it on work done with

tribes and my goats. The goat book basically says that all goats have

parasites, but if the goat is healthy and not crowded and getting good

food, don't worry about it. And from people living with, say, the Indians,

their take was that Indian bedding usually had lice, and so did the Indians,

and people didn't worry about it much. So by " tons of parasites " I mainly

meant they had them, likely in a wide variety, in a kind of coexistent state

that would not be acceptable to us " clean " Americans.

I basically think you stated it more accurately: a healthy individual would

have some levels of parasites, and it wouldn't be an issue to them. And

I read the bit about worms being beneficial in some cases too.

But by our standards, if you were to go live with a group of people that

just always had lice and fleas, albeit to a low level, you probably

would think it was excessive (hence my " tons " ). I would guess that

anyone living out in the woods would have some level of various

critters, as do most animals living out in the woods (and fish: at

some times of the year, even healthy fish of some species are FULL

of worms!). Discover magazine had a bit about parasites, and

there are more of them than there are of any other kind of animal.

As with viruses and bacteria, healthy animals can deal with them

and usually keep them to a low level: a parasite that kills or

disables its host is not well-adapted!

Mostly they co-exist nicely. The primatives, though, also ignored

them. I guess the Guinea worms have been around for ages, and

are not a new thing, and are not diet related, but they are " accepted "

by the people who get them as part of life. Me, I freak out

at lice, never have had a tick, highly dislike mosquitos, and dread

the day my kids get their first pinworm.

Heidi Schuppenhauer

Cabrita Software

heidis@...