From:
Ferretwise
Date: 2001-05-10 23:49:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Re: Another opinion on herbs
>But, Alicia, EVERYTHING is made of chemicals! We are, our ferrets
>are, the herbs I have on our balcony and in the house are, the house
>is! Chemicals are a level of the normal building blocks of
>everything. Yes, chemical names may seem intimidating, but you know
>the chemical breakdowns of the components of everyday organic foods
>would sound just as intimidating, given in that form. When you get
>down to it we folks are carbon, water, and a pile of other chemical
>things. Heck, go back far enough and we've all got some stardust in
>us.
>
>It also can't be assumed that all additives are bad. I recall
>reading several years ago of one that on testing turned out to have
>protective effects -- which then led to some other studies.
>
>The history of some food colorings is very old, for example betal
>nuts for red, and there are Medieval recipes that call for bright
>colorations for foods used in celebrations. Foods have changed in
>human history to now, yes, esp. in terms of things like types of
>fertilization, reduction in variety, increase in saturated fats,
>decrease in some nutrients in certain horticultural varieties,
>increase in salt, and increase in sugars. Some aesthetic things that
>we don't off-hand expect to have been around for centuries have,
>though, like some food colorings.
Yes Sukie- I see we continue to agree to disagree! :) .
Chemicals are chemicals but chemistry replicating naturally occurring
composition is still artificial - making the end product different and
most probably tolerated differently by some body systems ( I was discussing
food differences in the discussion of herbal v modern chemical substances)
. Food processing has changed immensely in the last 50 years. I remember
buying and drinking whole milk with cream that was skimmed - then came
the pastuerization & homogenization processes. It was to make
products easier and safer for consumers -- but now more folks have lactose
problems because the processes actually caused the heavy cream molecules to
be made so small that it is absorbed into the system differently that it
was previously. Lactose problems were not a common malady before these
processes..now you hear about it from all ages! You perhaps can make the
argument that we just didn't know.
I do believe the Willards designed TF with the preservative provided by
vitamin e instead of the more common ethoxyquin for a reason-- but then
again - we will have to wait until the good doctor returns for his input
there.
It is beating a dead horse on food nutritional issues when there are
closed minds, but I try to use the best of both worlds but have found
better health here -- is less new chemistry ( food additives, artificial
flavoring, artificial colorings)! But thanks for taking notice! I will set
off to the side because I see there are some folks who are on either side
of the issue and perhaps we differ here too!
Alicia
alicia