Menstruation as medicine

Menstruation as medicine.

Traditional healing rituals in many parts of the world seem to derive from a model of cyclical renewal provided in the first instance by menstruation. Health is seen as dependent upon a correct balance between polar opposite states such as 'heat' and 'cold','dryness' and 'wetness' etc. Nature seems to achieve such balance by alternating regularly between opposites such as night and day, wet sea...

Menstruation as a defense against pathogens transported by sperm.

Sperm are vectors of disease. During mammalian insemination bacteria from the male and female genitalia regularly cling to sperm tails and are transported to the uterus. I propose that menstruation functions to protect the uterus and oviducts from colonization by pathogens. Menstrual blood exerts mechanical pressure on uterine tissue, forcing it to shed, and delivers large numbers of immune cel...

Case of Vicarious Menstruation

Chocolate: food as medicine/medicine as food.

Cocoa and chocolate products have been delicacies for hundreds of years. Only recently have they been recognized as significant sources of phytochemicals with healthful effects. These foods are among the most concentrated sources of the procyanidin flavonoids, catechin and epicatechin. Recent studies have shown that these polyphenols are absorbed from the intestine of animals and humans with ep...

A Pesticide as Medicine ? Medicine as Poison ?

“The shikimate pathway links metabolism of carbohydrates to biosynthesis of aromatic compounds. In a sequence of seven metabolic steps, phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose 4phosphate are converted to chorismate, the precursor of the aromatic amino acids and many aromatic secondary metabolites. All pathway intermediates can also be considered branch point compounds that may serve as substrates for...