Page 20 - Seniorstoday September-2023 Issue

Point of View

How folk remedies can fuel

misinformation

Folk wisdom isn’t likely to disappear anytime soon. So we need to understand what
makes people believe in it and to what extent it challenges beliefs in science, write
Katrine K Donois and Hassan Vally

When London faced the bubonic plague the idea of ingesting garlic to prevent
in 1665, many people desperately sought becoming infected with any bacteria or
a way to protect themselves and their virus is mostly folklore.
loved ones from getting sick. One widely Folk remedies may sound benign, but
adopted method consisted of mixing two they can hurt people. A 72-year-old woman
small cloves of garlic in a pint of fresh milk. ended up with a chemical burn on her
People believed that drinking this cocktail tongue due to her daily use of raw garlic
in the morning, on an empty stomach, in an attempt to protect herself against the
would prevent the feared disease. coronavirus, for example.
Like those living through the great plague
of London, many people searched for
remedies that would keep Covid at bay,
which is why claims that garlic could cure
or protect people proliferated on social
media. The claims prompted an exasperated
World Health Organization to post tweets
of caution.
Unfortunately, despite laboratory studies
showing that garlic does indeed have
compounds with anti-microbial properties,

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