Abe V Rotor
As resistance of pests and pathogens continue to increase and become immune to drugs, man is corollarily searching for more potent and safe kinds and formulations. He has resorted to looking into the vast medicinal potentials of these lowly organisms, as well as their value as natural food. Here are some popular examples.
1. Nori or gamet (Porphyra, a red alga) – elixir,
claimed to be more potent than Viagra
2. Edible seaweeds - rich in iodine, vegetable substitute.
There is no known poisonous seaweed.
3. Seaweeds as source of natural antibiotics, much safer than conventional antibiotics.
4. Mushrooms have anti-cancer properties.
6. Cyanobacteria prolongs life, restores youthfulness.
7. Yeast is a health food
8. Yogurt is bacteria-fermented milk, health drink.
9. Carica and Mamordica extracts for medicine and health food
10. Organically grown food (without the use of chemical pesticide and fertilizer)
Dr. Domingo Tapiador, a retired UN expert on agriculture and fisheries, helped initiate the introduction of Spirulina in the country. He showed me the capsule preparation produced in Japan. “Why can’t we grow Spirulina locally?” he asked.
Today a year after, there are successful pilot projects. Spirulina is not only good as human food but feeds as well. Professor Johnny Ching of Dela Salle University found out that Spirulina added to the feed ration of bangus improves growth rate. (MS Biology, UST) Similar studies point out to the beneficial effects of Spirulina on the daily weight gain in poultry and livestock. Earlier studies also discovered Azolla, an aquatic fern with a blue-green alga symbiont – Anabaena, as a valuable feed supplement to farm animals.
These lowly groups of organisms which cannot even qualify as plants, but instead protists with which protozoa are their kin, biologically speaking that is, are after all “giants.”
They hold the promise in providing food, medicine, clean environment, and as a whole, a better quality of human life for the people today and the coming generations. ~
Living with Nature, 3 AVR
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