La controversia médica sobre las bebidas frías en el siglo XVI: el opúsculo latino de Bernardino Gómez Miedes / The medical controversy over cold drinks in the sixteenth century: the Latin booklet by Bernardino Gómez Miedes

El presente trabajo establece el marco en el que se difundieron en España, en la década de 1569 a 1579, seis tratados sobre la controversia médica de las «bebidas frías», cuyo debate estuvo centrado en sus posibles efectos nocivos o terapéuticos y en el que intervinie-ron renombrados médicos del Renacimiento. En el seno de esta controversia sobre el uso más saludable de beber frío con nieve descuella el único opúsculo español editado en latín, frente a la lengua vernácula de los otros cinco. Fue escrito por el prelado Bernardino Gómez Miedes y publicado en Valencia, en 1579, como «Apéndice» en la 2.ª edición de sus monumentales Commentarii de sale, dedicados al rey Felipe II y su hijo el príncipe Diego. Se realizará una aproximación a esta monografía latina para abordar cuestiones retórico-pragmáticas referidas a esta controversia médica (AU)

Enamel erosion and mechanical tooth wear in medieval Icelanders.

OBJECTIVES: The Icelandic Sagas are an important source of information on the way of life and diet habits in Iceland and possibly other Nordic countries 1000 years ago. Archaeological human skull material worldwide has revealed extensive tooth wear, with the main cause believed to be coarse diet. From a graveyard near volcano Hekla, 66 skeletons dated from before 1104 were excavated. The purpose of this study was to determine the main causes of tooth wear in Icelanders 1000 years ago. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-nine skulls were available for research. Two methods were used to evaluate tooth wear and seven for age estimation. An attempt was made to determine the main causes of tooth wear in the light of likely diet and beverage consumption according to a computer search on food and drink customs described in the Icelandic Sagas. RESULTS: Tooth wear was extensive in all groups, increasing with age. The highest score was on first molars, with no difference between sexes. It had all the similarities seen in wear from coarse diet. In some instances it had similar characteristics to those seen in erosion in modern Icelanders consuming excessive amounts of soft drinks. According to the Sagas, acidic whey was a daily drink and used for preservation of food in Iceland until recently. CONCLUSIONS: Since acidic whey has considerably high dental erosive potential, it is postulated that consumption of acidic drinks and food, in addition to a coarse and rough diet, played a significant role in the dental wear of ancient Icelanders.

Ritual drinks in the pre-Hispanic US Southwest and Mexican Northwest.

Chemical analyses of organic residues in fragments of pottery from 18 sites in the US Southwest and Mexican Northwest reveal combinations of methylxanthines (caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline) indicative of stimulant drinks, probably concocted using either cacao or holly leaves and twigs. The results cover a time period from around A.D. 750-1400, and a spatial distribution from southern Colorado to northern Chihuahua. As with populations located throughout much of North and South America, groups in the US Southwest and Mexican Northwest likely consumed stimulant drinks in communal, ritual gatherings. The results have implications for economic and social relations among North American populations.

Chocolate in history: food, medicine, medi-food.

Throughout history, chocolate has been used to treat a wide variety of ailments, and in recent years, multiple studies have found that chocolate can have positive health effects, providing evidence to a centuries-long established use; this acknowledgement, however, did not have a straight course, having been involved in religious, medical and cultural controversies. Christian Europe, in fact, feared the exhilarating effects of new drinks, such as chocolate, coffee and tea. Therefore, these beverages would have been banished, had not doctors and scientists explained that they were good for the body. The scientific debate, which reached its peak in Florence in the 18th century, regarded the therapeutic effectiveness of the various chocolate components: it was necessary to know their properties first, in order to prepare the best cacao concoction for every patient. When Dietetics separated from Medicine, however, chocolate acquired the role of vehicle for easing the administration of bitter medicines, being associated to different health problems. The recent rediscovery of the beneficial use of cacao and chocolate focuses upon its value as supplemental nutrition. Building a bridge to the past may be helpful to detect the areas where the potential health benefits of chocolate are likely to be further explored.

[The influenza pandemic 1968-1970: crisis management in separated Germany - "Vodka and Raspberry Tea"]. / Die Grippepandemie 1968-1970: Strategien der Krisenbewältigung im getrennten Deutschland. "Wodka und Himbeertee".

The Hong Kong Flu in the years 1968-1970 challenged both German health care systems. This article intends to analyse the patterns of reaction to the pandemic. Both German states faced the threat according to their respective ideological orientation. This applied to the two parts of Berlin - West and East - as well. In the GDR the control of influenza was centrally organized. When the pandemic passed away an influenza guiding document ("Führungsdokument") was made obligatory for the fight against the plague. In the FRG hospital treatment maintained predominance while the outpatient sector was administrated by physicians in private practice. In West- Berlin outpatient clinics were declined by the Association of Physicians ("Kassenärztliche Vereinigung"). In 1970 a first concept of surveillance was presented on the level of the state in West Germany. In the years 1968-1970 vaccinations were not common in both German states. The essay is based on the analysis of archival sources, monographs, scientific and newspaper articles.

Patterns of beverage use across the lifecycle.

Total beverage intake patterns have changed greatly over the past half century. The present research was conducted to evaluate historic and current patterns of beverage consumption of adults and children in the U.S. Data were drawn from food balance surveys along with two-day beverage intake averages and were weighted to be nationally representative. A marked slow continuous shift downward in total milk intake with a shift toward an increased proportion of reduced fat milk was determined. The biggest shifts in beverage consumption among children aged 2 to18 were an increase in sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) (from 87 to 154kcal/d), a smaller increase in juices (+21kcal/d), and a decrease in milk consumption (-91kcal/d). Data among adults aged 19 and older indicated that SSB intake has more than doubled. Water intake was highly variable, with a marked increase in bottled water intake but no clear trend in total water intake. Overall trends by age were presented and indicated that age-related beverage intake, both in ounces and kcal/day, decreased sharply for adults aged 60 and older. Kcal/d values ranged from a low of 283 for those over age 60 to a peak of 533 for those aged 19 to39 to 367 for 2 to 6year olds. The consumer shift toward increased levels of SSBs and alcohol, limited amounts of reduced fat milk along with a continued consumption of whole milk, and increased juice intake represent issues to address from a public health perspective.

Conviviality in Catalonia.

Food, essential to social interaction everywhere, has particular importance in the regeneration of this rural community in Catalonia. The misery of the Civil War in Spain was followed by three decades of rural depopulation and economic decline, but a gradual return to the countryside since the 1980s has encouraged the revival of villages like Mieres. Food and drink play a fundamental role in the fiestas, fairs, and other celebrations that pack the public calendar, creating and sustaining social interaction and rebuilding a sense of community.

[The textual research on the related names of ancient health-care drinks].

There are many kinds of related names of ancient health-care drinks such as tea, tea soup, herb soup, soup, boiled water, thirsty water and cold decoction etc. Following textual research on each connotation of all kinds of names, they have the same aspects as well as different special contents. Among them, the tea soup is some kind of health-care and curative drink, mainly containing tea with other plant decoctions; not only referring to the drinking tea, but also the decoction drunk as tea. The 'tea soup can mostly reflect the original meaning of ancient health-care drinks, and also accord with the understanding of current health-care drinks, thus comprehensively and exactly summarize the content of ancient health-care drinks.

[Spanish purgatives waters "made in France"]. / Les eaux minérales naturelles purgatives espagnoles "made in France".

Before the First world War, many french societies exploited spanish purgatives watters. The watter was drawn in Spain, but it was bottled in France for many reasons. The authors of this article explain the beginnings of exploitation of three of the most famous purgatives watters: Rubinat source Llorach, Carabaña and Villacabras.

[The history, ingredients and effects of energy drinks]. / Az energiaitalok története és hatása az emberi szervezetre.

The market and the degree of the consumption of energy drinks is increasing every year, but only a few have global knowledge of their ingredients and actual physiological effects. Furthermore, the number of available publications that really go into the details in this topic is also rather poor. After a short historical introduction, this article reviews the contents of energy drinks, lists a few products distributed in Hungary and abroad as a comparison, and provides information on their physical and mental effects on the human body. In the end of the article the authors word the limitations of energy drink consumption.

A short history of beverages and how our body treats them.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that beverages containing sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) or alcohol are handled differently by the body than when sugar or HFCS are incorporated in solid foods and as a result the overall caloric intake from solid food does not adjust to account for the calories in these beverages. A consideration of our evolutionary history may help to explain our poor compensatory response to calories from fluids. This paper reviews the history of eight important beverages: milk, beer, wine, tea, coffee, distilled alcoholic beverages, juice and soft drinks. We arrive at two hypotheses. First, humans may lack a physiological basis for processing carbohydrate or alcoholic calories in beverage because only breast milk and water were available for the vast majority of our evolutionary history. Alternatives to those two beverages appeared in the human diet no more than 11,000 years ago, but Homo sapiens evolved between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago. Second, carbohydrate and alcohol-containing beverages may produce an incomplete satiation sequence which prevents us from becoming satiated on these beverages.

[Mineral water as a cure]. / Mineralwasser als Heilmittel.

The treatment of diseases with mineral spring water belongs to the oldest medical therapies. The "remedy" mineral water is therefore of importance also within the pharmacy. The present pharmacy historical work examines the impact of the use of mineral waters, as well as of their dried components, as therapeutic agents in the 19th and early 20th centuries, i.e. from approx. 1810 to 1930, as well as the contributions given by pharmacists in the development and analysis of mineral water springs. Beside these aspects, the aim here is also to describe the role played by pharmacists in the production of artificial mineral water as well as in the sale and wholesale of natural and artificial mineral water. In the first part of this work the situation in Switzerland and its surrounding countries, such as Germany, France, Italy and Austria, is discussed. The second part contains a case-study of the particular situation in the Canton Tessin. It is known from the scientific literature published at that time that information on mineral water was frequently reported. Starting from the beginning of the 19th century the number of such publications increased tremendously. The major part of them were publications in scientific journals or contributions to medical and pharmaceutical manuals and reference books. In particular the spa-related literature, such as spa-guides, was of growing interest to a broad public. The inclusion of monographs into the Swiss, the Cantonal as well the foreign pharmacopoeias granted a legal frame for the mineral waters and their dried components. These works are of major importance from a pharmacy historical standpoint and represent a unique proof of historical evidence of the old medicinal drug heritage. The most frequently used therapies based on mineral waters were drinking and bath cures. Several diseases, particularly those of a chronic character, were treated with mineral waters. The positive influence of these cures on the recovery of the patients was to attribute, on the one hand to the physico-chemical properties of the water and on the other hand to the climatic, nutritional and social factors characterising the selected health resort. All over Europe, pharmacists were dealing with mineral waters, among them even very famous names such as Klaproth, Trommsdorf, Lampadius and Fresenius. They were on one side involved in the development and analysis of the waters, while on the other side they were interested in their artificial production. Their knowledge and findings in the area of the mineral water source chemistry gave a crucial impetus to the future evolution of analytic chemistry. Following the improvements in the precision of analysis and classification of the composition of the mineral waters, the imitation of artificial mineral waters increased significantly. Certain pharmacists tried to copy well-known mineral waters in their properly furnished laboratories. At the same time, pharmacies were important sales points: natural and artificial mineral waters as well as their dried components were either sold there, or delivered upon prescription. In the second part of this work, specifically concerning the situation in the Canton Tessin, the most important local sources and spa resorts are described, as well as the analyses performed and the researchers involved. Moreover, the types of therapies used at that time are mentioned. The integration of the local mineral waters into the pharmacopoeia of the Canton Tessin, the Farmacopea Ticinese, is also discussed. Of particular interest are the delivery and the sale of mineral waters and their dried components by a local pharmacy. In the Canton Tessin, the five most frequented spa resorts were Acquarossa, Brissago, Craveggia, Rovio and Stabio. Craveggia spa resort is of course based in Italy; it has however been included in the present work due to its proximity to Switzerland and to a connected historical Substantial differences existed among the individual health resorts mentioned, especially regarding the quality and quantity aspects of the performed mineral water analyses, as well as in the reported written evidence and publications on the success of the therapies. Differences were also to be found in the conditions of the health resort facilities and in the medical support given. The therapy opportunities included mainly drinking and bath cures, which could occur alone or in combination. In the mentioned health resorts different clinical disease symptoms were treated. The most important baths were located in Acquarossa and Stabio, which were specialized in selected therapeutical domains, because of their particular water compositions. Numerous personalities from science and politics were concerned by the local springs and accepted to contribute to the promotion of these structures. Their engagement led to the integration of the native springs in the Farmacopea Ticinese. Since at that time it was extremely difficult to find experienced mineral water analysts in the region, the analyses of local native sources were assigned to qualified experts mainly coming from Italy. This scientific co-operation between the southern part of Switzerland and the northern part of Italy was, already at that time, active also in other work domains. The evaluation of the historical documentation available from the Farmacia Vantussi shows that this pharmacy supplied a considerable assortment of national and foreign spring waters, as well as foreign dried components. Of commercial interest was, to be noted, the free sale of the waters to hospitals, institutions, hotels, restaurants as well as to private households. The sales of waters and of their dried components upon prescription, however, constituted only the minor part. The introduction of the industrial bottling occurring in the first decades of the 20th century, led to a lowering price trend, through which the product 'mineral water' became accessible to a broader public. Henceforth its importance as welfare and medicinal water decreased and the product was considered purely as table water and as a foodstuff. As a consequence this new function brought the sales of mineral waters into the hands of depots and wholesalers, and later on also to retailers, while concomitantly pharmacies turned away from this kind of business.

Chemical and archaeological evidence for the earliest cacao beverages.

Chemical analyses of residues extracted from pottery vessels from Puerto Escondido in what is now Honduras show that cacao beverages were being made there before 1000 B.C., extending the confirmed use of cacao back at least 500 years. The famous chocolate beverage served on special occasions in later times in Mesoamerica, especially by elites, was made from cacao seeds. The earliest cacao beverages consumed at Puerto Escondido were likely produced by fermenting the sweet pulp surrounding the seeds.

Acerca del chocolate, sus beneficio y desafueros / About chocolate, misfortunes and benefits

Going on with the review of the three main foods containing xanthynes (coffee, chocolate and tea), we´ll make up some sanitary considerations about chocolate, this delicious and discussed pleasure, not bad considered in a direct risk of pathologies, but surely harmful if look to this related chaps, like sugar, fat and other compounds added for flavor performance. Chocolate is as much criticized as applauded, but always admired and- deeply- desired, including those who censure it (AU)

[The separation of churches and chemist's shops. The "Tisane du curé de Deuil"]. / La séparation des églises et de la pharmacie. A propos de la Tisane du curé de Deuil.

In 1945, in application of the law of September 11, 1941, the first-rate "Tisane du curé de Deuil" was almost renamed "Tisane de Deuil". Some documents found in the archives of Laboratories Lesourd allow to redraw, at least partially, this administrative imbroglio.