Can cow poop cure cancer? Sth Africans rivalling Americans for size

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Can cow poop cure

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November 09 2004 at 07:32PM

 

New Delhi - A Hindu right-wing organisation claims that waste emitted

by cows has properties that can cure cancer and arthritis, it was reported

on Tuesday.

 

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP - World Hindu Council) has spent a

small fortune over the past eight years researching the medicinal properties

of cow dung and cow urine, the Economic Times newspaper reported.

 

In Hindu religion the cow is a sacred animal and its slaughter is

banned in most Indian states. The VHP, along with other Hindu organisations,

has special programmes devoted to the " protection " of the cow.

 

Brochures of the VHP's Govigyan Anusanchan Kendra (Cow Research

Centre), based in the southern city of Nagpur, claim that it is devoted to

research and development on the role of cows.

 

The unit has sprawling cow sheds and several heads of cattle.

Scientists and volunteers work on assorted projects devised by the

organisation, including generating electricity using cow dung.

 

The unit also produces distilled cow urine, which is bottled and

marketed under the brand name Ark. The solution has been patented in the

United States. According to Sunil Mansighka, coordinator of the centre, it

has properties that fight cancer and arthritis.

 

Three years ago, India's then Bharatiya Janata Party-led federal

government had commissioned a professor at one of India's premier management

institutes to do a study on the positive effects of cow excreta.

 

Anil Gupta of the India Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, endorses

that cow urine has some disease-fighting properties.

 

" But that is true of the waste of most animals, " he adds. " In India,

it is more socially acceptable to touch or consume cow excreta than that of

other animals. " - Sapa-dpa

 

 

We're as fat as the Americans, says prof ( gosh what is happening world

wide. I just saw on the TV British kids had doubled obesity rates in last 10

years, plus kiwi and Aussie kids are becoming larger. Just as an

observation, when I was at the Burger King with my boy the other day, we sat

opposite the drinks section and I watched all these obese people pour

themselves soft drinks from the unlimited refills. Then when I was at the

supermarket I watched the largest people ever putting 2.25 lit bottles of

coke in their trolley. So I checked out the calories and there was about

2000 calories in a 2.25 bottle of coke! That's a day's energy. The cups for

those unlimited refills are too big and little kids have huge cups at

McDonalds just for one soft drink. In the UK they are going to put red,

orange and green stickers on food for kids to say if they are just full of

fat and sugar or not and ban ads for junk food before 9pm. NZ was going to

put a tax on fat in foods. N )

 

 

 

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134013

November 07 2004 at 05:55PM

 

Chronic diseases linked to obesity could put the brakes on economic

progress in many of Africa's developing countries, and South Africa rivals

the US when it comes to producing fatties.

 

More than 200 delegates at the recent South African Society for the

Study of Obesity conference heard the problem was so dire that finance and

trade ministers were being called on to help health ministers formulate

strategic plans to improve the nutritional welfare of the population.

 

Prof Philip James, chairperson of the International Association for

the Study of Obesity's Task Force, who delivered the key address, painted a

grim picture.

 

" Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity already present

massive problems in this country, " he said, adding that about 60 percent of

deaths worldwide could be laid at the door of diabetes, cardiovascular

diseases, osteoporosis and cancer.

 

'Starvation in the black population was prevalent'

James said heart problems and diabetes could often be blamed on the

villain, obesity.

 

Speaking about a paper delivered to the conference by South Africa's

Prof Tessa van der Merwe, honorary secretary of the association, James said

Van der Merwe had found obesity in South Africa was on a par with that of

the US, particularly in the case of women.

 

Many people found this difficult to believe, but Van der Merwe's

research makes the comparison between the two countries on a per head basis.

 

" I found such a statement incredible, until I started walking around

and saw for myself, " said James, who believes that among black South

Africans much of this weighty problem can be laid at the doorstep of

history.

 

" Starvation in the black population was prevalent, " he said. " As a

result, they ate as much as possible when food was available, usually maize

porridge. This survival instinct is often still there. "

 

The tradition of cooking food for a very long time

It had been found that the pancreas ceased to function properly much

earlier in blacks than in whites. This could be put down to malnourishment

in youth, resulting in irreversible pancreatic damage.

 

" Although in later life the person appears healthy, the damage has

been done, and the pancreas will never recover, " James said.

 

As a result, black people were supersensitive to diabetes and

resistant to insulin, one in 10 adults being diabetic or glucose intolerant,

meaning they did not produce enough insulin.

 

James said many children in this country were still badly fed and were

often stunted. He cited studies among pregnant black women in Cape Town in

the 1970s, which showed they were producing small babies because of a poor

quality of diet. " They had no fruit or vegetables and consequently lacked

vitamins and folic acid. "

 

When it came to South Africa's Indian community, James said they were

in " a catastrophic state " .

Those who were vegetarians believed they were eating healthily.

 

" In fact, it is an extremely unhealthy diet, " he said, because these

people ate no animal protein, resulting in a shortage of vitamin B12.

 

The tradition of cooking food for a very long time destroyed folic

acid and vitamin C.

 

" In India they cook food for such a long time because there are so

many cases of food poisoning. "

 

However, wherever they moved in the world, the Indian community

continued this trend, even when it was no longer hygienically necessary.

 

Their diet was also high in ghee, sauces and butter, all rich sources

of saturated fat.

 

Almost 85 percent of Indian women showed low levels of iron and folic

acid, and were producing small, fat babies with little muscle, unable to

grow their tissues.

 

Indians were super-resistant to insulin. They tended to put on weight

around their middles, leading to pot bellies, and had the lowest amount of

muscle and lean tissue among all the races.

 

 

 

a.. This article was originally published on page 22 of Tribune on

November 07, 2004