Summary:
In this article, scientists work together to try and bust the century old myth. They are looking for an answer whether snake oil does in fact cure aches and pains or whether it is a fraud like it was thought to be many years ago. The answer they came up with was actually very surprising. It all starts with something called Omega-3. It is something that is in our body, but is sometimes lost by people who have arthritis or joint pains. When snake oil was first thought to be a remedy to curing aches and pains back in the 1800's in China, no one knew why it worked, but it did. Then greed driven salesmen brought the product back to the United States in order to make money off it by selling cheap rattlesnake oil (useless-with no Omega-3), or completely fake snake oil. After a while people caught on and we got the idea that snake oil does not actually cure ailments, however scientists Richard Kunin and Nobuya Shirai conducted multiple experiments on real fish oils sold in a San Francisco China town and from the oils of two snakes they bought at a local pet store. From their experiments they found that there is in fact valuable Omega-3 in snake oil and it would heal aches and reduce the pain and swelling involved in arthritis. Despite the experiments by the two scientist, Americans are still skeptical of the snake oil scandals in the 1800's. So next time you hear snake oil healing is an old myth from China you can tell them that the people in China were actually on to something and that the Americans were just too selfish to bring the miracle healer to the United States.
Response:
I think this article had a lot of good information and it showed us that we are not always as smart as we think we are in America. I think that snake oil has a real shot in America if we just trust it and avoid frauds and scams that we got into in the 1800's. With work, the Omega-3 found in snake oil could significantly help researches now find cure for arthritis and other minor aches.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=snake-oil-salesmen-knew-something&print=true
4 Comments:
Is snake oil cheaper than fish oil? Because I'm pretty sure you can get Omega-3 from fish oils. Or are snake oils much more potent than fish oils? I would like to hear the answers to these questions, if anyone knows.
That is why I like Chinese people....and I need to get myself some of that snake oil. The fact that they sold the cheap stuff without the Omega-3 is kind of genious actually. But anyway, what exactly is Omega-3 anyway....I would love to know the chemical elements that make up such an intricate substance.
Well fish oils should be looked into for Omega-3 and if this is really a cure why have doctors not made it more known. Just breed some snakes and get there oils. and for arthritis I believe that doctors should look into mending the sacs that hold the fluid between joints and put a replacement fluid and then it would be solved. And Heck Lindsey Dewitt has like six snakes lets get some of that oil.
Its interesting to me to see how we can use so many things from animals to help ourselves! If this snake oil does indeed help with minor pains, then can I get some?!? And again if it will help cure these things, I hope that one day there will be enough research done on it that the US will take the chance. It sounds like it could be very useful.
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