Louis Pasteur had been studying fermentation to explain why dairy and meat was going bad. He didn’t believe that it was spontaneous but rather there had to be a scientific explanation. When working with grapes and understanding that yeast was the driving agent in fermentation of grapes, he hypothesized that if you can protect grapes from fermentation, that people could be protected from infectious disease.
The questions that Pasteur asked had to with the passing of disease from one animal to another or from human to human. Scientists that opposed his work firmly believed that infectious disease was spontaneous, just like the fermentation of meat or dairy. He set out to prove them wrong.
As he was walking past a farm that had had many
cattle die of anthrax, he noticed a discolored part of the pasture. Upon further discovery, he found out that the cattle that had died were buried where the discoloring was happening. There was evidence of worms and made the connection that living cattle were grazing in the area where the bacteria was surfacing with thanks to the worms. The source of the worms: the dead animals buried below the pasture. His studies of infectious disease would later help him discover immunizations and vaccinations to cure such disease. His work is now responsible for the vast array of medications like antibiotics and other cures for contagious disease. He collaborated with veterinarians in the study of the anthrax break out with the cattle. His original work that led him down the road to fermentation and later infectious disease was when he studied under a crystallographer named Jean Baptiste Biot. They studied crystals and early discovery of related molecules led him down the path to his life’s work and achievement.
Imagine a world where there was a great chance of a mother dying right after giving birth to her child. Sounds like a pretty crazy supposition. Unfortunately, not too long ago, that was the world we called home. Nuland’s book discusses the unfortunate tragedies of puerperal fever and the journey the medical field in Europe took to discover a cause and prevention. Hand in hand, Nuland also depicts the life of Ignác Semmelweis, the unknown founder of the aforementioned cause and prevention strategies: washing hands in chloride of lime. The Doctors’ Plague is a worthwhile read based off the information provided, its ability to break new ground, and the credibility of its author and sources.
The Roman writer and naturalist Pliny the Elder, in his treatise Naturalis Historia states “there is nothing more useful than wine for strengthening the body, while, at the same time, there is nothing more pernicious as a luxury, if we are not on our guard against excess.” Years before he wrote those words, wine had in fact come from humble origins outside Italy itself. Furthermore, the process of fermenting grapes goes back thousands of years, and its beginning can be traced to where the wild grown grape-vine, vitis vinifera, flourished and was actively utilized for this reason.
A remarkable breakthrough in medicine occurred in the late 1800s through the work of Louis Pasteur. Pasteur's experiments showed that bacteria reproduce like other living things and travel from place to place. Using the results of his findings, he developed pasteurization, which is the process of heating liquids to kill bacteria and prevent fermentation. He also produced an anthrax vaccine as well as a way to weaken the rabies virus. After studying Pasteur's work, Joseph Lister developed antisepsis, which is the process of killing disease-causing germs.
Nestle, Marion. Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003.
The article “Chemistry of Winemaking: A unique Lecture Demonstration” by L. B. Church of the State University of New York, seeks to demonstrate how the winemaking process can be used as a teaching tool. Found in the Journal of Chemical Education, the text uses an instructive and formal tone while discussing the process and how it might relate to the classroom. His rhetoric leans heavily toward the use of logic. Aimed for chemistry teachers, the article refrains from using step-by-step demonstrations of each and every process, and instead discusses the use of common techniques that could be used within the framework of Winemaking. By guiding the readers through the general process, the author makes it seem a logical and easy to implement demonstration that would capture and maintain the interest of students. He does this with a noticeable lack of appeals toward pathos and ethos, and indeed, there are absolutely none of the tried and true tools of persuasion. I believe this is a deliberate act on Church’s part to accommodate his discourse community of chemists. The community has little interest in how someone may feel about any given subject, and instead desires the facts behind that subject so that they may draw their own conclusions. The discourse community is interested in what you started with, what you did with it, and what you observed during and after the process. Then, and only then, should the conclusions derived from that information be given. Even after having done so, a writer in the scientific community must be prepared to be proven wrong, as that is the nature of science. As such, attempts to persuade via emotion tend to be ineffective, and would often be better spent presenting your arguments, and so I feel that the ...
still a factor that continuously infects humans. In Foodborne Diseases, it says that “They [Salmonell...
Nutritionism and Today’s Diet Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
Often described as “Nature’s Perfect Food”, milk is the foundation of life for all newborn mammals (Velten 10). Milk has played a central role in the American cultural and industrial landscape over the last century, binding farms with urban consumers, placing regulators at odds with producers, and inspiring a constant dance between producers, consolidators, nutritionists and end-users about how it is marketed and sold (Smith-Howard 368). As I have become older I have gained a new yet expected intolerance to lactose. I never used to have a problem when I was little but as food economies are changing, so are our products. By the 1950s, consumers demanded standards for dairy products while also developing a growing concern about health issues caused by dairy fats (Smith-Howard 368). This puts all of us at risk for certain diseases including osteoporosis and heart disease. The females of all mammal species can produce milk but cow milk dominates commercial production. Cow’s milk was initially intended only for baby cows. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Humans are the only species that drink milk after infancy.
Though vegetarianism was never a taboo subject as are some other controversial topics, The question of whether or not human beings should live off meat still is highly discussed amongst all types of people. Spiritual leaders, activists, scientists, and doctors have spoken up on behalf of their group’s opinion. Amongst the arguments of what is right when it comes to the food chain, resonating on many a mind is where the concept of vegetarian came from. Was it started as a religious virtue or a moral decision? Perhaps it was a forced lifestyle or a diet trend gone wrong (or right depending). Health wise, which is better for us? Educating ourselves by answering these questions helps us answer the, perhaps, most important question of all. Which lifestyle will we, as individuals, choose?
Public health practice in the nineteenth century mainly focused on sanitary reforms such as clean water, efficient sewage system, garbage collection and disposal, fumigation practices and clean housing facilities. This was mainly attributed to the filth theory which was widely accepted during that time. These sanitary measures were necessary to keep the infectious diseases such as smallpox, cholera and typhoid under control so as to prevent their epidemic outbreaks. However, in the early twentieth century, the advent of germ theory shifted the focus of public health from sanitary reforms to the laboratory. This changed the outlook of public health officials leading to alterations in the treatment procedures of the disease which were now concentrated mainly on the elimination of bacteria causing the disease. (Rosen, G.,1993)
Now during his time of teaching and being a part of administration at these different schools, he was also researching and performing studies in his labs. These breakthroughs are what Pasteur tends to be remembered for. One of his most well-known works is his work on the Germ Theory of Fermentation. Around this time many people believed in spontaneous generation. Spontaneous generation states that living organisms would develop from nonliving matter. Pasteur disproved this using boiled broths. He placed them in tubes with longs necks that did not allow particles to get in. No bacteria formed when the tube had the long filter on it. When he used regular tubes, the bacteria would form, thus proving that the origins of bacteria were caused by spores or dust particles and not by the broth itself. This began the theory of biogenesis which then caused spontaneous generations to be forgotten and disregarded. From here, Pasteur 's research showed that beers, milks, and other beverages would be spoiled due to the growth of these micro-organisms. He then invented a process of heating up the liquids in order to kill them and disinfect the liquids. This process is known as Pasteurization. He also hypothesized that micro-organisms caused human and animal diseases and could be prevented by not letting them into the body. Because of this, Joseph Lister inventing antiseptics to use in surgery, which helped to prevent diseases
Although fermentation has been known of for at least 8,000 years, in 1865 Louis Pasteur was the scientist who really discovered the process of fermentation. At this time, Pastuer was the Dean and professor of chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences in Lille, France. He was originally asked by a friend to investigate difficulties he was having manufacturing alcohol by the fermentation of beetroot. Often, instead of alcohol, the fermentations were resulting in lactic acid. At that time, fermentation leading to the production of wine, beer, and vinegar was believed to be a simple and straightforward breakdown of sugar to the desired molecules. It was believed that the chemical breakdown of sugar into alcohol during the fermentation of wine and beer was due to the presence of inherent unstabilizing vibrations. Yeast cells were found in the fermenting vats of wine and were known as living organisms, yet they were only believed to be either a product of fermentation or catalytic ingredients that provided useful ingredients for fermentation to proceed.
Throughout the film many statements are made and sources are provided, but how reliable they really are is a questionable matter as it is apparent that some fallacies are made that could change how effective this really was. One of the more noticeable fallacies is the one previously addressed that they would make claims such as that food industry is growing and so is diabetes and obesity therefore the food industry is the main cause for health issues. This is an example of post hoc ergo propter hoc that appears, where in these instances they connect the food industry’s growth to the development of some other negative event and imply that the food industry is the cause for all of these negative events without solid and expert proven evidence
Processed foods make up 70% of the U.S. diet. Over the past century, a gradual revolution continues to increase the average consumer’s intake of highly processed food products. Everyday, new food-like substances are replacing real food on supermarket shelves and companies continue to fuel this epidemic by mislabeling products. Consumers must learn how to avoid processed food substances, which have been associated to numerous health concerns, and select healthier alternatives.
The history of how my career became what it is today, starts way back to when humans first discovered how to cook and the various ways of cook. Many different factors contribute to the changes this career goes through. The French Revolution and Industrial Revolution were the main factors. Cooking was first discovered some time in between the first uses of fire and the first appearance of the Neanderthals.