We all like Pets, especially children. Today in the Amazonian jungle, children are encouraged to find and adopt many kinds of animals as pets; both for the learning of responsibility and the learning about the behavior and habits of prey species. In the area now known as Europe, in the course of hunting for and killing mammalian prey in the early time of man; the likelihood of killing for food female equine or bovine species with young is high. Thus the leap from raising these young as a hobby and then as a future easily obtained food source is a natural progression and easily envisioned. Certain animals selected for husbandry would appeal to males and others to females. However, herding the world over is the main duty of boys and young men in societies where husbandry is a major occupation.
In Africa today, there are tribes such as the Watusi, the Matabele and the Masai whose major source of food is their domesticated cattle. These people live in arid plains and savanna environments. The word "Senengeti" means "arid" in the Watusi language. This contrasts with the peoples of the Congo where the cultivation of maize, squash and banana species predominates with okra, millet and various leafy greens a close second as the food source. The contrast is obviously the result of adaptation to living conditions.
The constant search for food plants or fruit ready to eat gives one the knowledge of the cycles of plant growth and the conditions suitable for growth. Why should I move far from my favorite food plants? Why should I not make sure that the seeds grow and that the young plants get my attention so that they may grow to give me the crop which I want? Why not guard the plantings and watch over them so that I and my family reap the benefits of the harvest instead of some other animal like the elephant or antelope? Why not claim for my family a suitable plot of land and watch in contentment as my family grows and lives throughout the ages here? Why not get together with the other members of my group/tribe and construct a village in a suitable location from whence to grow my crops and raise my herds (cattle, goats, sheep, chickens, etc.)?
Each of these questions is a natural progression from one to the other and may be a scenario for the conceptual development of agriculture and husbandry. No-one will really know. The pictographs in various caves around the world show the oldest to deal with hunting. Later pictographs from the New Stone Age deal with dwellings and some form of agriculture with or without husbandry in addition to hunting. The island of New Guinea has seen agricultural cultivation some 10,000 years. There, Taro is known to have been cultivated since 7000 BC. Cereals have been cultivated in Syria since 10,000 BC and in Palestine since 8000 BC. Peas and Lentils have been cultivated in Iran, Syria and Israel since 8000 BC. Beans and Squash in South America since 7500 BC, Sheep and Goats in Syria since 7000 BC, Rice in China since 7000 BC, Cattle and Pigs in Turkey since 6500 BC, Potatoes in Peru since 6000 BC and brewing Beer in Mesopotamia since 4000 BC.
Aids to cultivation are more recent. Plows have been used in such disparate places as Iraq and Britain since 3000 BC, artificial pollination of Date Palms in Mesopotamia since 2000 BC; irrigation in Southern Russia since 4000 BC, in Egypt since 2800 BC and in Syria since 2500 BC; beekeeping in Egypt since the 5'th Dynasty (2500-2400 BC) and fish farms in Egypt since 1500 BC.
Thus the progression from foraging to hunting-gathering to animal husbandry and/or agriculture has occurred over a few tens of thousands of years. By contrast, the development of cooking foods and the drying, pickling and curing of foods has been a few thousands of years. The development of sterile foods to aid in preservation, distribution and shelf-life has occurred in the last few hundred years with the most progress in the last one hundred years. As the possibility for species radiation and evolution is more rapid for microorganisms than higher animals due to the quick rate of growth for microorganisms and accompanying gene transference mechanisms, microorganisms have kept pace with man in his development from strict forager to couch potato. The question we may ask is then is this: Are the changes in the microflora and possibilities for acquiring our microflora in the post-industrial environment for the betterment or the detriment to the overall health of mankind? My thesis is that a generous consumption of foods prepared for preservation by fermentation with "beneficial" microorganisms will greatly aid in helping to keep our alimentary tract in optimum health and thereby our health as a whole. This is called the science of Probiotics- the beneficial microflora that cooperatively maintain a delicate balance between the gastrointestinal tract and the Immune System. The beneficial microflora found in the gastrointestinal tract are called "probiotics". This may be the only manner by which modern post industrial consumers of sterile food may acquire the microorganisms which our early hominid ancestors encountered in nature whilst foraging in the wilds.
The theory of probiotics was developed by Nobel Prize winning Russian scientist Elie Metchnikoff during the early 1900's. He introduced the theory of phagocytosis, i.e., that certain white blood cells are able to engulf and destroy harmful substances such as bacteria. For his work on immunity he shared with Paul Ehrlich the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He developed a theory that lactic-acid bacteria (B. acidophilus) in the digestive tract could, by preventing putrefaction, prolong life. He was convinced that the regular consumption of yoghurt by the peasants of Bulgaria aided in their longevity. Metchnikoff believed that the bacilli that fermented this food positively influenced the friendly micro-flora of the G.I. tract by decreasing the toxic side effects of unfriendly bacterial micro-flora.
Consumers of alcoholic beverages stronger than beer are known to have lower bowel problems of many kinds. The same is known for persons sensitive to the mercury poisoning from the dental amalgam in their teeth. Both of these conditions are known to kill off the beneficial microorganisms and promote harmful microorganisms such as Candida. This condition is also known to be alleviated by eating naturally fermented yogurt, taking Lactobacillus tablets or liquid; eating miso soup, tempe' and other fermented soybean products; eating Kim Chee and Sauerkraut; eating curds and whey(from whole, non-pasteurized milk) and eating various non-pasteurized vegetable pickles. All these products help to restore the natural balance of "beneficial" microflora in the alimentary tract.
To qualify as a beneficial microfloral organism, the following characteristics must be in evidence:- it must be acid and bile resistant
- it must be metabolically active in the gastrointestinal tract
- it must be able to adhere to the gastrointestinal tract
- it must possess antimicrobial activity toward pathogenic microorganisms
- it must reduce colon acidity.
Probiotics modulate not only the microflora found naturally in the gut but also modulates the Immune System. Lactobacilli agument both cellular and humoral immunity. Lactic acid-producing bacteria stimulate various aspects of the immune system including phagocytic function of macrophages, natural killer cells, monocytes and neutrophils.
In all pre-industrial societies, children are usually weaned from mother's milk at age 4 years never to consume milk again in any form. In the Scandinavian and Northern European cultures, drinking fresh non-pasteurized milk from cattle and goats into old age was common until recently. This was to obtain Vitamin D from the milk, as they went about with their bodies covered for most of the year. Now milk is pasteurized for health reasons(Tuberculosis and Undulant Fever). However, milk products in the form of butter, cheese, and sour cream were produced so as to allow consumption at a much later time and still be fit for eating. These all have the "beneficial" microorganisms. Today, many of these products are produced chemically and have flavorings added to them. There are no "beneficial" microorganisms in them, they are sterile and lacking in vitamins, effectors and cofactors. They are merely "dead" calories and proteins.Probiotics reduce plasma levels of bacterial endotoxin concentrations by inhibiting translocation of bacteria across the gastrointestinal lumen into the bloodstream. Probiotics disallow colonization by disease causing bacteria through competition for nutrients, Immune System up-regulation, production of antitoxins and up-regulation of intestinal mucin genes. Adherence of normal, beneficial microflora competetively inhibits colonization of the mucosa by pathogenic bacteria and reduces over-stimulation of the Immune System. A healthy colon with adequate mucus production and appropriaet bacterial colonization prevents the adherence of pathogenic bacteris, modulates disease processes and prevents widespread inflamatory disorders. Both oral probiotics and vaginal suppositories of probiotics have been shown to reduce the incidence of recurrent urinary tract infection. You are what you eat!
|
