The Nutritional Origin of the Term Red Neck and Other Fascinating Historical F

[Guest guest]

The Nutritional Origin of the Term " Red Neck " and Other Fascinating

Historical Facts About Vitamin Deficiencies

_http://www.naturalnews.com/023580.html_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/023580.html)

 

 

(NaturalNews) There is a long and fascinating history of relationships

between nutritional deficiencies and chronic disease. One of the most well

known

is probably scurvy -- a disease where your bones lose their rigidity due to a

deficiency in vitamin C. The historical accounts of this condition mostly

involve sailors who, when long sailing voyages, were overcome by this

nutritional deficiency. And it actually took hundreds of years before the right

scientist came along and discovered that this was caused by a simple

nutritional

deficiency that could be cured by eating fruits high in _vitamin C_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/vitamin_C.html) such as limes. Hence the name

'limeys' for

sailors.

 

That's just one example of a disease caused by _nutritional deficiencies_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/nutritional_deficiencies.html) . There are many

other diseases such as rickets and beriberi that are also caused by nutritional

deficiencies. Asian people who historically ate polished, processed rice

(white rice) frequently got beriberi, a disease caused by a deficiency in

vitamin

B1 (thiamin). Until the nutritional causes of beriberi were established,

however, physicians of ancient _Asia_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/Asia.html)

thought the disease was some sort of plague.

 

In _America_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/America.html) , the term 'redneck'

actually comes from a vitamin B deficiency that causes heightened

susceptibility to _sunburns_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/sunburns.html) .

Interestingly,

most Americans are, today, deficient in _B vitamins_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/B_vitamins.html) as well, which is why they are so

easily susceptible

to sunburns. As explained in Staying Healthy With Nutrition by Dr. Elson Haas,

M.D.:

 

For a long period of history, the _niacin_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/niacin.html) deficiency disease, pellagra, was a

very serious and fatal problem.

Characterized as the disease of the " three Ds, " pellagra causes its victims to

experience dermatitis, diarrhea, and dementia. The fourth D was death. As

described previously, the classic B3 deficiency occurs mainly in cultures whose

diets rely heavily on _corn_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/corn.html) and

where the corn is not prepared in a way that releases its niacin. One of the

first signs of pellagra, or niacin deficiency, is the skin's sensitivity to

light, and the skin becomes rough, thick, and dry (pellagra means " skin that is

rough " in Italian). The skin then becomes darkly pigmented, especially in areas

of the body prone to be hot and sweaty or those exposed to sun. The first

stage of this condition is extreme redness and sensitivity of those exposed

areas, and it was from this symptom that the term " redneck, " describing the

bright red necks of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century niacin-deficient

fieldworkers, came into being.

 

Colonial Americans Rejected the Wisdom of American Indians

The early colonial settlers in America, by the way, didn't know how to

properly process corn as the American Indians did. The American Indians

processed

corn using potash (which is highly alkaline) that makes the B _vitamins_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/vitamins.html) in corn available for assimilation

during digestion. But the American settlers, not understanding how to prepare

corn (and too arrogant to follow the food preparation ways of the Indian

" savages " ), would simply grind up their corn and consume it as corn flour (corn

meal). By the way, that's how most people eat corn today: as ground up cornmeal

ingredients in chips and foods. It's no wonder so many modern Americans

remain so deficient in B vitamins.

 

In more modern times, we know very well about what happens when you're

deficient in _folic acid_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/folic_acid.html) and you

are

a pregnant woman: your baby may be born with serious spinal cord defects or

even be stillborn. In fact, birth defects are almost always explained by

nutritional deficiencies or the consumption of foods and beverages by the

mother

that interfere with good _nutrition_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/nutrition.html) . Yet modern (arrogant) medicine

remains nutritionally illiterate,

refusing to teach expectant mothers much at all about prenatal nutrition

(beyond

folic acid, anyway).

 

We also know that _iodine_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/iodine.html) is

absolutely essential for human health, which is why _salt_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/salt.html) is enriched with iodine. That's in an

effort to prevent

goiter, a disease that was quite common in the United States until iodine was

finally mandated as a salt supplement (enrichment) by the FDA. And yet most

Americans get only the minimal amount of iodine necessary to prevent disease,

not

the higher intakes that would enhance health and help prevent obesity and

_cancer_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/cancer.html) ! (Read books by Dr. David

Brownstein to learn more about Iodine. See _www.DrBrownstein.com_

(http://www.drbrownstein.com/) )

 

As a nation we have managed to force a handful of minerals and vitamins into

_the food supply_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/the_food_supply.html) that

prevent only the most grotesque and physically obvious disorders and diseases

caused by nutritional deficiencies. And by the way, those are the only ones

that really get addressed through the _food supply_

(http://www.naturalnews.com/food_supply.html) . We have not yet, however, come

to our senses enough to

actually recommend levels of nutrients that would prevent degenerative diseases

like cancer, _heart disease_ (http://www.naturalnews.com/heart_disease.html)

and Alzheimer's.

 

And that, frankly, is why the public is still not being taught the

correlation between nutrition and chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart

disease, osteoporosis and even mental disorders like clinical depression. It is

why, for example, the truth that Vitamin D, all by itself, prevents nearly four

out of five cancers is still not taught to the public (and is, in fact,

censored by the cancer industry, which steadfastly remains invested in the

business of keeping cancer alive and well in America today).

 

What history has really taught us is that Western medicine is a system run

by illiterates who, after hundreds of years of claiming medical superiority,

still have not admitted that a single nutrient can treat a single disease.

Astonishingly, it remains the regulatory view of the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration that no nutrient has any therapeutic effect whatsoever on human

health. If it did, it would be classified a drug, not a nutrient, and would

therefore be outlawed as an " unapproved drug. "

 

Facts are stubborn things, but the blindness of Western medicine has proven

itself to be far more stubborn in its pursuit of enforced nutritional

illiteracy among not just the population, but the entire medical profession as

well.

 

Illiteracy among the uneducated is a dangerous thing, but when selective

illiteracy is embraced by those in the position of apparent authority, it

becomes a dangerous disservice to humanity.

 

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About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and technology

pioneer with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the

power

of nature to help us all heal He has authored more than 1,500 articles and

dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, impacting

the

lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing

phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is an independent

journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any

product or company. In 2007, Adams launched EcoLEDs, a maker of _energy

efficient

LED lights_ (http://www.ecoleds.com/) that greatly reduce CO2 emissions. He

also launched an _online retailer of environmentally-friendly products_

(http://www.betterlifegoods.com/) (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of

its

profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the CEO of a highly

successful _email newsletter software company_ (http://www.arialsoftware.com/)

that develops software used to send permission email campaigns to rs.

Adams is currently the executive director of the _Consumer Wellness Center_

(http://www.consumerwellness.org/) , a 501©3 non-profit, and pursues

hobbies such as Pilates, Capoeira, nature macrophotography and organic

gardening.

He's also author of numerous health books published by _Truth Publishing_

(http://www.truthpublishing.com/) and is the creator of several

consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the _Spam. Don't Buy It!_

(http://www.spamdontbuyit.org/) campaign, and the free downloadable _Honest

Food Guide_

(http://www.honestfoodguide.org/) . He also created the free reference sites

_HerbReference.com_ (http://www.herbreference.com/) and

_HealingFoodReference.com_

(http://www.healingfoodreference.com/) . Adams believes in free speech, free

access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over

medicines, genes and seeds. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams

posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos at

_www.HealthRanger.org_ (http://www.healthranger.org/)