Is Nutrition and the Way Agriculture is Handled of Any Significance in Medicine?

© Copyright 2003 by Dr. Hartwig Schuldt, Germany
(Explore Issue: Volume 12, Number 4)

The following material was presented at the International Institute of Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics at their meeting in Baden Baden, Germany, on August 2-7, 2002, where Dr. Schuldt was one of the panelists, at the Symposium on holistic and integrated health maintenance, with a focus on understanding individuals and diverse human systems.

The considerations in this article apply both to agriculture and to horticulture, as separate means of plant management.

The topic dealt with may lead one to meta-phrase existing procedures as being under control without any need for critical evaluation. However, in using bio-energetic methods new basic approaches can be reached. It turns out these can be applied to a general situation that otherwise tends to placidly comfort all shortcomings. It is unquestionable that nutrition is indispensable for our subsistence, our wellbeing and our health, along with high quality and perfect standards. Medical care should encompass a detailed knowledge of food components as well as food preparation. Some nutritionists are highly concerned about diet and food application. Here exist scores of prescriptions as to how to balance and concentrate food intake.

The nutritionists’ campaign to guarantee a balanced food-intake approaches frequently procedures of purist thinking in a narrow way of comprehension. It is hard to follow strict rules concerning time and quantity of food-intake, such as a teaspoon full of grain taken every morning at 8.17 hours A.M. apart from the fact that the practical use of such prescriptions is rather limited, also considering the amount of organizational efforts. The same nutrient components taken over a protracted course of time finally will be in disagreement with the body’s requirements leading to apparent deficiencies. Unless changes are effected these deficiencies would have then to be countered by all kinds of artificial supplements resulting in relative unbalance.

In this article, digestive processes are reviewed in the light of various internal and external factors affecting their proper functioning and efficiency and the importance of the nutrient quality of plant foods are highlighted in view of their utmost role in human nourishment. Outlines are made to recall the occurrence of notable nutrient losses in the course of food processing and handling.