Rediscovering Ancestral Wisdom in Diarrhoea Treatment

My son has been suffering from diarrhoea for the last four days. Despite giving him prescribed medicine for continuously three days, his symptoms did not alleviate as much as they should be. The watery motion in high frequency continued.

I wondered and contemplated what I must do to bring him relief. I reminded of a medicine that a doctor had once, several years ago, prescribed to my elder son during diarrhoea. Its formula is Zinc Sulphate.

I looked for the importance, uses and effects of zinc sulphate during diarrhoea. I found out that diarrhoea causes zinc deficiency in the gut which in turns create a loop of severity in the symptoms and deficiency, of the illness and the nutrient respectively.

Zinc supplementation has been found to be associated with the decrease in severity and frequency of diarrheal episodes. Thus, though not an active medicine, zinc intake has an important role to cure the illness and in returning body to its healthy functioning.

The knowledge made me mull on the traditional South Asian dietary recommendations during diarrhoea. I have seen my parents and grand parents emphasizing on those diets for curing the illness.

One food that is recommended is what we call PATTLI KHICHDI. It is a combination of red, yellow or green lentil cooked with rice in a ratio of 1:1 or 1.5:1. The process for cooking involves soaking the mixture for more than an hour and then cooking it until it is completely tenderized.

No spices are added except a little amount of table salt. This food is considered to be easily digestible and is believed to reduce the symptoms of the illness.

While searching for the zinc rich food , I came to know about an interesting fact about zinc content in lentils. Despite being an important source of zinc, the phytates in the lentils reduce zinc absorption in the body. Nevertheless, soaking, sprouting and heating increases the bioavailability of the mineral. It means the wisdom doesn’t lie in the content of the food only, but also the method utilized to prepare the food.

Another food that is highly recommended during diarrhoea is Banana.

It is considered to be an effective treatment to control the severity of the symptoms. Looking for the active ingredients in banana I found out it is rich in potassium- an important electrolyte responsible for proper functioning of nerve cells, muscular movements, and cardiac system.

During diarrhoea, the body suffers from a loss of potassium in the body. This loss, in turn, causes multiple weaknesses in the body including fatigue, numbness, muscle spasms and heart palpitation etc. Thus, banana seems to be an effective source to make up the loss of potassium caused by diarrhoea.

Reflecting on the nutritional benefits of these traditionally recommended foods, I realized how negligent today's Easterners are about the richness and wisdom dwelling in their cultural values. Though our ancestors did not get university certification for medicine or food sciences, yet the methods of treatment and healing they used were effective, now backed by modern research in the field.

Surrendered to the values and treatments taught by the West, we have simply put our long proven methods aside just like a trash. With an approach to get quick treatments via artificial ingredients and factory produced medicine we are not only spending more money but also are gaining lesser value in terms of health and nutritional benefits.

It is a time to rethink and reconsider what we are becoming habitual of, whom we are aiding and what we are gaining in return......

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Images are taken by me via my mobile camera.