Dr Matt's Newsletter October 5th, 2022
Below are some interesting items I like to share each week and please feel free to send me ideas of your own for the newsletter. Today’s newsletter sections include:
1: Reminder about the fall festival and craft fair on October 8th in Fairfax – A great opportunity to support local businesses. As I wrote in my newsletter from last week on September 28th, I plan to be at Keith Kadish’s craft booth around mid-day and would love to see some familiar faces to try to buy out all his inventory :-).
2: New chapter of Children’s Health Defense in Virginia!
3: Research of the week reaching all the way back to 1747 – the discovery that scurvy was not an infectious disease. This finding was ignored for another forty years by health experts who “knew” it was infectious and continued to quarantine and maroon sailors to protect the rest of the crew.
4: Family-run business of the week: nature preschool and summer nature camps with no masks or “social distancing”
5: Musical selection of the week: John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things
- Inspirational quotes and humor in the same breath – from Calvin and Hobbes.
Yours truly, one moment at a time.
Matt Irwin
Children’s Health Defense Virginia Chapter
– Many of you are familiar with this organization which was founded by RFK Jr. They consistently support freedom of health choices and have supported successful legal efforts to prevent forced covid-19 vaccines in schools. Below are sections of their welcome letter with links to learn more.
“Welcome to the Virginia Chapter of Children’s Health Defense! We are thrilled to announce our new chapter and look forward to working on behalf of the people of Virginia, especially our precious children.
“We vow to defend Virginia’s long-standing history of individual freedoms and the basic human right to make informed, voluntary, health choices. We hold sacred and envision a world with a clean environment, healthy food and vibrant kids!
“There is much work to do and your participation will help us to make real change benefiting our children’s health and our state’s future.
“If you would like to become a member of CHD Virginia Chapter, please sign up here and you will be added to our mailing list. If you are already a CHD member and have not opted in to our new CHD Virginia Chapter mailing list, please sign up here. For chapter volunteer opportunities, please complete our volunteer form and we will contact you. Stay tuned for news about our official chapter launch party.
“You can connect with us via our website va.childrenshealthdefense.org to learn more about upcoming events. Email us with any questions at va.chd@childrenshealthdefense.org.
Music of the week: John Coltrane’s My Favorite Things
This extremely successful recording brought his musicality into many people’s lives when it was released in 1961. It is a bit wilder than last two week’s piano sonatas and modern piano works, but my favorite part is the minimalist piano solo by McCoy Tyner starting around 2:20 which is cut from a similar cloth. Coltrane had a profound spiritual experience in 1957, cleaned up his life, and after that his music became more freely expressive. Unfortunately, despite stopping substance use and settling into a stable marriage, he still died at age 40 about ten years later. Note that 3 to 5 year olds also enjoying dancing to this with its swaying waltz rhythm :-)
Family-Run Business of the week: Nature Club Kids - preschool and summer camps with no masks or social distancing.
Ann Marie Douglass started this school to help kids learn and grow in interaction with each other. She maintained healthy social interactions for kids even in the dark days of March, April and May of 2020. Below is the description she sent me, along with her contact info and website. The preschool program is full right now, but she has some openings for events on some Fridays and holidays. Interested families can contact her and ask to be on her list-serve for updates.
“Nature Club Kids, LLC is an all-outdoor nature immersion program for children that offers preschool classes, summer camps, and teacher/parent trainings. We go with the motto of "never bad weather, only inappropriate clothing", so our classes are held in all seasons- rain, shine or snow. Children create their own play through open-ended, primary-sourced materials. All lessons, art, games and music will be derived from and pertain to local natural resources. Our main objectives are to hone our observational skills, acquire a sense of place and practice kindness towards ourselves, each other and the world we share.”
Ann Marie Douglass
Founder & Nature Mentor
Nature Club Kids, LLC http://www.natureclubkids.com - Phone 571-839-8896
"Let Nature be your teacher." ~William Wordsworth
Humor and Inspiration of the week:
From Calvin and Hobbes. Hobbes the tiger is Calvin’s imaginary “spirit friend” and as such is a friend you can definitely take with you 😊.
Research summary of the week: Scurvy - believed infectious for centuries including another forty years after the cure was discovered.
The story of scurvy shows how fear of infection can be resistant to change. It is also the story of one of the first clinical research trials in history. The text below is copied from my paper on humanity’s innate exaggerated fears of infection, fears which have been around for thousands of years (Irwin 2021). Although the clinical trial was carried out way back in 1747, it still adds support to modern parents’ admonitions for their kids to eat fresh fruits and vegetables...
Scurvy – A nutritional deficiency blamed on infection for centuries
Scurvy is now known to be caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, but for over two hundred years it was thought to be an infectious illness, and sailors stricken with it were quarantined. Primary sources reveal how severe and damaging the fear of infection was, with men dying alone and abandoned. Here is a direct quote with a graphic description from a 16th century sailor:
“For the most part they dies without aid given to them, expiring behind some case or chest, their eyes and the soles of their feet gnawed away by rats.” (Mayberry, 2004).
The historical review by Mayberry that provided this also has quotes from ship captains such as Jacques Cartier, taken directly from his ship log that was written in the 15th century. Cartier refers to how the terrible "infection" spread among his crew:
“Their gummes so rotten, that all the flesh did fall off, even to the roots of the teeth, which also almost fell out. With such infection did the sickness spread itself in our three ships, that about the middle of February, of a hundred and ten persons that we were, there were not ten whole.” (Mayberry, 2004)
Scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies commonly killed a majority of the men on long voyages. One example was a famous voyage in 1740 by sir George Anson which was completed just a few years before the cure was published by the Scottish naval doctor James Lind in 1747. Anson documented severe scurvy outbreaks in his crew, with 1400 of 2000 men dying. Mayberry writes:
“Anson began his voyage with nearly 2,000 men and 1,400 were now dead. Of those that died, only four died in battle and handful more from injury. The rest died from scurvy and other vitamin deficiencies.”
In some fortunate cases, extremely ill sailors were left marooned on tropical islands with access to fruits and vegetables, and in at least one well documented case in the 16th century their shipmates were surprised to find them healthy and thriving when they returned to the island several months later (Duesberg, 1995).
These types of experiences led Dr Lind to perform one of the earliest clinical trials in history. By trying different approaches in different groups of sailors, and recording his results, he found consistent cures with a diet that included fresh fruits and vegetables. He published his results in 1747, and again in book form in 1753, describing his results in detail. However, his findings were widely rejected for decades with only brief trials being done using boiled fruits. Unfortunately, boiling ruins the vitamin C content and reduces other nutrients, so boiled juice did not prevent or treat scurvy effectively.
Despite his continued efforts, including numerous publications as well as continued improved clinical results with ill sailors, it took 40 years before the British Navy finally adopted his findings. Younger naval doctors confirmed his results, and found that preserving the fruits in ethyl alcohol protected the needed nutrients for long voyages. In 1795 the British navy finally started issuing fresh preserved lime juice rations to all British sailors (Allan, 2021 Finding the Cure for Scurvy; Duesberg 1996, Encyclopedia.com).
The moral of the story from Dr. Matt is quite simple: Eat some fresh fruits and vegetables every day 😊
References
Allan P (2021, Feb). Finding the Cure for Scurvy.Naval History Magazine, Vol 35, No 1. https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2021/february/finding-cure-scurvy
Duesberg, P. (1996). Inventing the AIDS Virus. Washington, DC: Regnery
Encyclopedia.com - Lind, James (born Edinburgh, Scotland, 4 October 1716; died Gosport, Hampshire, England, 13 July 1794) https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/medicine/medicine-biographies/james-lind
Irwin M. (2021) Exaggerated Fears of Infection: A Basic Part of Human History. https://www.drmattirwin.com/epidemics.html
Mayberry, J. (2004). Scurvy and Vitamin C. Harvard Law School Class Paper.
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8852139/Mayberry.html?sequence=2