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Intro
Some ideas of health lore seem based purely on superstition . bury a pumpkin seed wo n’t cause an factual autumn pumpkin to grow in your belly . And cat ca n’t slip the breath of baby simply because both drink Milk River ( many CAT are actually lactose - intolerant ) .
But some ancient words of advice seem a bit more plausible , and could have roots in medical truths . MyHealthNewsDaily asked the experts which of some common ethnical wisdoms contain up in the illumination of science .
The importance of a hot-cold balance
In Eastern cultures , maintaining a correspondence of hot and cold in the body is thought important . In Taiwanese culture , for example , crispy or fried food for thought , beef , chilies and pepper are considered " hot " foods , while soy beans , gelt and oranges are study " cool " foods .
According to Taiwanese belief , an imbalance of " blistering " and " nerveless " in the body is thought to cause malady , allege Dr. Chun - Su Yuan , director of the Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research at the University of Chicago Medical Center .
" Based on Taiwanese medicine hypothesis , a healthy mortal is in effective balance between cold and passion , " Yuan told MyHealthNewsDaily . When a individual eats too many " hot " nutrient , there is a hot instability called " yeet - hay . "
But can crispy or spicy foods make you sick ?
In a way they can , said Dr. Alan Weiss , an internal medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio .
" If you haveacid reflux disease , eat spicy food can make you experience bad and , in that way , can make you unhinged , " Weiss told MyHealthNewsDaily .
And crispy solid food are commonly fry , and overconsumption of fried food for thought can increase the peril of heart disease , he say .
However , many people who eat spicy foods do n’t get sick at all , Weiss say . There ’s no scientific basis in saying that all gamy foods can make you sick , he added .
Hot toddies for a cold or flu
live toddies a concoction of whiskey , boiling water , honey , lemon and cloves are touted by the Irish for soothing and killing acoldor a bout of flu .
But scientific evidence does n’t endorse hot toddies as a cure for either complaint , Weiss said . And while alcohol kill some bacteria in the stomach , if we ’re sick , disease - do bacteria or viruses are already circulating throughout our bodies , and alcohol can do fiddling to them , he said .
However , raging toddiescan help salve symptoms of frigidness or flu because the steam from the drink can spread up nasal passages , he say .
And if your frigidity is do it hard to slumber , the alcohol may help you doze off rather , he said .
" It wo n’t bring around the flu and it wo n’t decrease the length of the influenza , but it sure could help with some symptomatic succor , " Weiss say . " If a hot hot toddy makes you feel comfortably , go for it . "
Shiatsu
Shiatsu , a case ofacupressure , is a hand - on healing method from Japan think to relieve disease and pain sensation when a practitioner presses sure pressure points on the eubstance . These pressure points are found in unlike neighborhood of the body , and compress on them is consider to rush a menses of energy to those parts of the body .
But there is no scientific evidence that shiatsu works in this way , Weiss said .
However , shiatsu could have some sanative welfare by help slack and exempt tender muscles , he say .
" When I conceive about traditional medicine and therapies , it ’s a pretty easy one to say it ’s not going to hurt you , but it could help , " Weiss say .
retiring studies have shown that acupressure can help with brainpower function and focus relief . A study published last month in the Journal of Neurotrauma point that acupressure enhanced memory mapping in people who survive traumatic brain injury .
And a work publish online last twelvemonth in the journal Evidence - Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine showed that acupressure reduced tiredness in cancer survivors .
Chicken noodle and matzo ball soup
Chicken dome soup and matzo ball soup ( both sometimes mention to as " Jewish penicillin " ) have quite the reputation for heal the worst cold or flu with just a few steaming bowls .
But while the combining of warm broth and comforting ingredients savour practiced and palpate good , there ’s no grounds that either soup can cure you of anything , Weiss say .
However , steam from soup can break up the phlegm that accumulate in your body when you ’re ghastly , he said .
" Jewish penicillin wo n’t bring around anything , but it ’ll make you sense better , " Weiss sound out .
Some inquiry suggests chicken noodle soup may forge better as a placebo . A 2000 study in the diary Chest showed that chicken bean soup with vegetables decrease the action of white origin cell that spur inflammation ( which kick in to the symptoms of the common common cold ) .
Wind, cold and wet hair
In Romania , any sort of idle words or cinch is considered a forerunner of sickness . In Ethiopia , the sinister " berd , " which entail cold , waits at every crack windowpane , fast - move car or more or less ajar door . Berd can supposedly result in aches and even paralysis .
But there ’s no health - come to reason to be afraid of flatus , Weiss said .
" confidential information can make you frigid , but it wo n’t give you the flu , " Weiss said . " There ’s no grounds that that will do anything . "
But what about going out of doors in the frigidity with pixilated hair ? In Latin countries , such as Cuba , " not only is it true that going out with blotto hair is considered risky for one ’s wellness , but also wash one ’s hair with cold water is considered risky and thought to chevy malady , " Hanna Garth , a ethnic anthropologist from the University of California , Los Angeles , say MyHealthNewsDaily .
But there ’s no scientific validation that going out with wet hair will make you ghastly , either , Weiss pronounce .
Your head give off a sight of heat , so it ’s possible to lose a spate of dead body heat through your drumhead if you have stale hair , he said , but going out of doors in the cold with wet hair wo n’t give you a cold or the grippe .
Flaxseeds for digestive problems
In Africa , flaxseeds are used to cure a number of ailment ( and are used as an ingredient in hairsbreadth gel , too ) . They are thought to lower cholesterol and therapeutic diarrhea , constipation and stomach ulcers .
There is a lot of verity to this old opinion , Weiss said . Flaxseeds contain fiber and a mickle of omega-3 fatty dose . fibre relieves constipation and depress cholesterol , he said .
A survey published this calendar month in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine even show that a character - rich diet canreduce a person ’s peril of overall deathover a nine - yr geological period because it can help guard off center disease and respiratory disease .
But there ’s no evidence that linseed can help with looseness of the bowels or stomach ulcers , Weiss said .
Bloodletting
In countries everywhere , including the United States , bloodletting ( also known as phlebotomy ) has been used in hope of cure disease , but has met with limited success .
In Ethiopia , for model , a traditional healer may cut a vein in the branch or the back of the neck opening to nurse out " black blood " that is causing malaise .
But relying on bloodletting to curative disease is a speculative idea , Weiss allege . multitude require blood to fight down disease , so removing parentage wo n’t help oneself gain the struggle , he said .
However , there are some uncommon representative in which bloodletting can be beneficial . A six - class Veterans Administration study of 1,277 people , published in 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association , showed that reap bloodline every six months abbreviate heart disease , heart attacks and stroke for multitude who have peripheral arterial disease .
The study researchers said they thought bloodletting improved their patients ' health by removing some of the eubstance ’s iron . Too much iron can goad arterial damage .
pass off it on : Those ancient cultural wellness Wisdom pass down from your grandma may maintain some heft even if it ’s just to soothe illness , rather than cure it .
