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Sunday, October 30, 2016

Archeologists reveal Vitamin C deficiency wiped out an entire town

Archaeologists reveal: Vitamin C deficiency wiped out an entire town

Posted by: Lori Alton, staff writer in Vitamin C Benefits May 23, 2016 3 Comments

(NaturalHealth365) Although surrounded by fruits rich in vitamin C, the earliest European colonists settling in the New World suffered severe deficiency of this critical vitamin. Archaeologists have studied the bones of the early settlers of La Isabela, located in the modern-day Dominican Republic, and found evidence of scurvy.

Diseases like smallpox, malaria and influenza have long been blamed for the demise of the village. But new evidence gathered from graveyard remains near the site of the town’s church reveal that severe vitamin C deficiency, or scurvy, was the true culprit behind the many deaths at Columbus’s first settlement.

Vitamin C deficiency leads to whole slate of serious, deadly illnesses

Archaeologist Vera Tiesler ,Universidad Autonma, de Yucatan, Mexico, authored the study and points out that many diseases, epidemics and fevers plagued the early colonists, sparing no one and eventually leading to the abandonment of the village. However, it appears scurvy played a pivotal role in the weakening and eventual deaths of the settlers.

Vitamin C deficiency is known to produce multiple symptoms, including anemia, lethargy, and re-opening of past wounds. Noticeable symptoms first appear following about one to three months of complete vitamin deficiency. The bones of the early colonists at La Isabela show distinct signs of severe vitamin C deficiency.

Keep in mind, some of the health problems associated with long-term, low levels of vitamin C in the body include:

High blood pressure
Stroke
Increased risk of cancer
Atherosclerosis
Bleeding gums
Swollen and painful joints

Weakened immune systems caused greater susceptibility to disease

While the skeletal remains of the inhabitants of La Isabela still bear the telltale signs of scurvy, severe vitamin C deficiency likely played an indirect role in causing so many deaths as well. Healthcare providers and patients alike generally acknowledge the importance of a strong immune system in sustaining life and maintaining optimal health.

The immune system is essential for recovering from an infection, helping diseased cells to recover to a state of normal health, and neutralizing and eliminating toxins. It is also well understood that a strong, competent immune system is the best way to ward off disease and illness before it gets a start.

Scientific studies begun more than a half century ago and continued through today establishes the key role that vitamin C can play in fighting acute viral and bacterial infections. It also plays a critical role in neutralizing most toxin exposures.

Known as a powerful antioxidant, vitamin C plays a significant role in warding off cancer and other disease, playing an expansive role in strengthening the immune system and improving its ability to overcome and prevent disease. In addition to its antioxidant properties, vitamin C carries out a number of other functions of the immune system, including enhanced antibody production and natural killer cell activities, among other important functions.

It is likely that the colonists suffered not only directly from the symptoms of scurvy – as evidenced in the striations carved in the outer lining of bones found in the skeletal remains – but also from weakened immune systems. This weakened state likely allowed cancer, infection and other diseases to run rampant through the town’s population.

References:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140415-columbus-crew-town-scurvy-science

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Reaching Level 34 on Farm Town

Last August 7, 2009 I finally reached Level 34, the final level on Farm Town (a popular Facebook game).

It took me more than two months to reach the last level. I must say I invested lots of time and effort on this game. I love its interactive interface. Farming with friends and even with my son is really fun. I found myself playing Farm Town until the wee hours of the morning. Yes, its an addicting but rewarding game. I always got a sense of fulfillment every time I unlocked new seeds, trees, flowers, paths, ponds, buildings and decorations. One of my favorite parts of the game is decorating my farm.

When I reached Level 34, I was awarded with the privilege of buying a beautiful red mansion. Below is a screenshot of my farm (taken a few minutes ago). I have pumpkins ready for harvest. I decided to plant pumpkins in the spirit of Halloween.

My very own farm.

I love how Farm Town surprises "farmers" with new decorations. As you can see, I have decorated my farm with Halloween stuff. I have a basket of treats in front of my door. You are welcome to knock on my door on Halloween but beware of spooky things along the way. Trick or treat!

Its Halloween on Farm Town.

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The flu Thanksgiving and trips out of town have waylaid my blogging efforts

Its been a couple long weeks since I last wrote - when I looked at the date of my last blog entry, I was stunned by how long its been. And yet, there really hasnt been lots of noteworthy Hardy news over this time period. At 7 1/2 months, he is still an adolescent and hence, still has those butt head moments. But considering how boring it was for him the week I had the flu, he was actually very well behaved and found generally good things with which to stay busy.
When I felt up to it, I did take Hardy on some short public access trips - we went to Costco a couple times and now, depending on how well hes doing, we are venturing into the food areas. He has also been to Target, Office Max, and World Market recently. He is doing well with these trips but they are still primarily for his benefit and I watch him carefully for appropriate behavior and for any signs of stress or his being overwhelmed.
We attended APDT Rally trials the weekend after Thanksgiving. Laurel got her first Level 2 Championship (RL2X) and her APDT Rally Champion Excellent (ARCHX ) titles, which makes 6 rally or obedience championship titles this year.
In part because it got suddenly cold over the weekend, we put Laurel and Hardy into the same crate in our van; something they handled beautifully. Im not sure that will still work when Hardy reaches full-size but for now, they settle in and snuggle together. Once again, we were thrilled with how well Hardy handled hanging around in his crate at the trials and then coming out to meet people and do some behaviors with me. Hes also starting to appreciate one of Laurels favorite activities - hanging out with us at hotels!
Unfortunately, Brent slammed his back into our kitchen island on Thanksgiving day and although he felt okay through Friday, on Saturday morning, he was absolutely miserable with muscle spasms and radiating pain down his leg. He feels okay as long as he is sitting or laying down but the minute he gets up to do anything, he is just hobbling and hunched over again. This is the worst he has felt in a long time and it is reminding me how much of the physical things he does around the house. He is using Laurel to pick things up for him and do some of the other tasks she does for me. Hardy loves to join in but he is not real consistent ... he might pick the item up but that doesnt mean hes going to bring it to you - not yet.
He is doing very well learning (and now that hes an adolescent, relearning) basic obedience skills and loves his classes - conformation, obedience and agility foundations! I know there are many people who say that dogs cant learn more than one thing at a time (which is the reason many people wont train conformation dogs in obedience - because then they might sit in the breed ring; and why some people wont do obedience with dogs they are training in agility - thinking that the dogs wont want to leave their sides to do obstacles away from them).
I know from my experience with Laurel that she has, in fact, been able to learn exactly what is expected with whatever activity we are doing. When she is "dressed" and out as my full public access service dog, she is very different than she is when we are doing those activities in which she is allowed to "just" be a dog - obedience, rally, agility and now, freestyle. Not only does she know the appropriate behavior when she is "working" and needs to be serious, focused on me and not overly enthusiastic or friendly; but she knows and understands what we are doing when she sees the rally signs, agility equipment, an obedience or a freestyle ring. I truly believe that Laurel is much better able to do her job as my service dog because she does have all these other opportunities to be her energetic, enthusiastic and incredibly friendly-self! Plus, it helps build our relationship - our connection, communication and level of teamwork.
Even at 6 - 7 months, Hardy has been showing the same ability to discriminate what behavior is appropriate when he is dressed and working; when we are doing conformation or obedience or when he sees the agility equipment. And, working together in these different ways is also building our relationship. In our agility class, for instance, we work off-lead and Hardy is learning to work away from me a bit plus, in addition to learning all the jumps and obstacles (with the teeter board on the ground), we are learning how to work together to get from one to another which is all about teamwork.
I include training and competing in various dog sports in my training plans which, I believe, keeps me from getting too serious or focused on the ultimate goal of having a full public access service dog when they are just puppies or service dogs in training . Also, I think that for me, doing the different dog sports gives me opportunities to do fun things with my service dogs as well as continuing to train and be tested as a team.
Im including some of the photos Jack Powers took at the beginning of November below. One change since the photos, however - Hardy is now as big as Laurel!