Food and Medical Practice

1. Food and Medical Practice By Josie and Peyton

2. Diet and Nutrition • People depended on grain for their diet • “Just price”: most people believed in this medieval idea  prices should be ‘fair’ and imposed by government decrees • This idea clashed with the free-market philosophy [Smith] which was favored by government officials , economists, and landowners. • Food riots and public disturbances • Vegetables considered ‘poor people’s food’ + fruit limited to summer • Everyone loved meat and eggs but the poor couldn’t obtain it. In contrast, the rich could legally kill game and enjoyed fish, meat, sauces, sweets, cheese, and nuts. [no fruits or veggies for them]

3. Diet and Nutrition [cont] • Only in the Low Countries and Britain did the people eat meat. • Regional dietary differences in 1700 northern, Atlantic Europe ate better than southern, Mediterranean Europe • Poor of England and Netherlands probably ate the best

4. The impact of Diet on Health • Nutritional advantages for ordinary diet: grains + field peas and beans + whey, cheese and eggs [protein] =adequate diet [in normal times] • Key dietary problem: getting enough green veggies to get vitamin a and C [scurvy  problem for sailors on long voyages] • The rich ate too much and lacked vitamin A and C = gout and scurvy • New methods of farming brought new patterns of food consumption like the potato

5. The potato, market gardening, bread, and sugar • The potato replaced grain as primary food for the poor especially in Ireland • The potato was accepted in the rest of Europe more slowly but became a staple • Growth of market gardening and greater variety of vegetables • Lemons, oranges from Portugal and West Indies • Rising incomes and new tastes = shift from whole-grain black/brown bread to white bread= decline in bread’s nutritional value • There was growing consumption of sugar • In conclusion  growing nutritional decline

6. Medical Practitioners • The enlightenment focused on laws and nature  gave rise to number of practitioners and experimentation/research in medicine • Faith healers believed demons and evil spirits caused disease [esp. in countryside] • Women excluded from medical professions • Urban cities: apothecaries sold expensive drugs, only which a few worked like strong laxatives and regular purging: considered vital for good health

7. Physicians • Frequently bled or purged people let people die • Apprenticed in their teens for several years of training who mainly came from rich families • Worked on similar patients

8. Surgeons • Made considerable medical/social progress • Amy surgeons led the way • However they didn’t have painkillers [people died of shock] and performed surgery in midst of filth  bacteria and infection

9. Midwives • Suspected of witch-craft in 16th/17th c. • Orchestrated labor and birth for women • Male surgeons avoided this • Discredited by surgeons for economic reasons

10. Hospitals and Medical Experiments • Hospitals kept in poor condition • Crowded, no fresh air, and hospital reform began in late 18c century due to Diderot’s article • Nurses were old ignorant, greedy, and often drunk women • Mental hospitals savage • Mental illness misunderstood and inhumanely treated • Violent patients were chained to a wall and forgotten

11. Medical Experimentation • Intensified in second half of 18th c. • Creative quackery involving discovery of electricity • Greatest triumph: conquest of smallpox • Started with Lady Montagu [English aristocrat] who learned about practice of smallpox inoculation • Edward Jenner, country doctor, practiced Baconian science and in 1796 performed his 1st vaccination on a young boy – more successful vaccinations • Helped lay foundation for science of immunology in 19th c.

12. Multiple Choice Questions • Which class had a better diet? • The wealthy • The poor • What occupation was often suspected of witchcraft? • Midwives • Surgeons • Physician • What new food helped the poor a lot from not starving? • Tomato • Corn • potato • hgch