Modern research works to improve the results of remedies used for millennia
As researchers race to find the next “greatest cure,” some are looking into the past to learn why a known remedy works.
One research team in particular decided to take a cue from ancient Chinese folk medicine and study the properties of ginger, used by Chinese doctors for centuries to treat a range of illnesses. In particular, they are looking at curcumin, which is a member of the ginger family. This isn’t a new idea—ginger and curcumin in particular have been tested widely over the past decade here in the West, and time and time again we’ve looked to the East for time-tested remedies. (Who can balk at the idea of trying remedies used for millennia?)
The ginger family has been of ongoing interest due to its traditional use in China for treating male-pattern baldness. The underlying mechanics of this condition revolve around the androgen receptor. This receptor is a protein that is essential to the workings of testosterone and other male hormones. And that’s also its connection with prostate cancer, acne, an enlarged prostate, and Kennedy’s disease—a rare neurodegenerative condition that only affects men.
For curcumin, there’s a compound in it that has been recreated into a synthetic spin-off, chemically modified to intensify its power, and then tested. The researchers used Kennedy’s disease for the test, using mice that they’d genetically modified to carry the mutant human gene that causes the disease. And the results appeared promising. The mice were able to walk better, their muscles were stronger, and they wound up with adequate levels of a molecule that is essential for nerve-cell health.
This synthetic compound, named ASC-J9, must be further screened for side effects and efficacy in clinical trials.
But here’s the thing that got under my skin. The researchers wanted to make clear that they didn’t want to mislead anyone into thinking that foods containing curcumin would have any benefit for those with Kennedy’s disease.
While on its face that seems a reasonable assertion to make, it’s the rest of the story that angers me to no end. The main researcher had founded a biotech company, which would give him a vested interest beyond the glory of scientific discovery.
And as you know I’ve stated many times if you’re a faithful reader of House Calls and/or my newsletter, natural remedies can’t be patented. That poses quite a conundrum for those itching to make a profit. So what they do instead is tamper with and try to improve on nature, creating synthetic compounds in the lab that they hope will improve on millennia-tested remedies.
To that I say, “Good luck.” If they were truly steeped in the scientific method, they would recognize that this doesn’t seem to work. If they have so little regard for nature, why do they constantly find themselves reaching back into old folk medicine to germinate their “new” ideas? Why not just start from scratch?
