WEBVTT

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[MUSIC]

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JANEANE DART: How has food
been used as medicine.

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And I think a really nice
way to illustrate this,

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is using the Australian
aboriginal people.

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The Australian aboriginal
people have been around

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for 40 to 60,000 years.

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And their connection
to the land,

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and their connection to
native ingredients in food

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really is a fabulous
history of how

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food has been used as medicine.

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So, an example of this would be
a river red gum, or eucalypt,

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of which Australia's got
around over 500 species.

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And the sap from
the river red gum,

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was actually used along
the Murray, for example,

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in Victoria, to
actually treat diarrhea.

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In addition, the
leaves of the red gums

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were actually used
in a steam bath

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for a variety of illnesses.

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A nice extrapolation of this, is
thinking about eucalyptus oil,

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which we use now.

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Another example, I
guess, is a group

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of aboriginal people from the
central and north east Arnhem Land

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Arnhem Land.

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And their
classification of foods

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was grouped into plant and
vegetable foods, and then

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the protein foods.

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All the meat, and
shellfish, and game foods.

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And their principle
was to eat a balance

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of both of these foods each
day, in addition to water.

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And if they didn't
have adequate amounts,

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for example of the
protein types of foods,

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then they would often
travel, and they

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would trade with another clan.

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So, I think it's
about we have to learn

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from some of the cultures, or
some of the ancient groups.

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Understand where their
food wisdom and knowledge

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comes from.

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And at the same time,
use the evidence.

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And perhaps there are
opportunities to really combine

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these knowledges.

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An example of this is with
The Modern Australian Guide

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to Healthy Eating.

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It's been recently reviewed,
and how that actually includes

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some of the indigenous foods.

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So, I think it's a nice
example of how things are being

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integrated and moving forward.

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From ancient and
medieval times, spices

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were viewed as
exotic ingredients.

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They came from the
Orient to Europe,

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and that's where a lot of
the documented evidence

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has come from.

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And spices, interestingly,
we perceive them now

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as being a condiment,
used as a food stuff.

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But historically they came,
and they were used medicinally.

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So for their main
medicinal properties.

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With something such as pepper,
was used for the heart,

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was used to calm the stomach.

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It was used to treat
things such as snakebites.

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Cloves?

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Cloves we use for the
heart, for the lungs,

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and for the
gastrointestinal system.

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Clive oil was used
to cure a tooth ache.

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We think of pepper and clove
in current times purely as

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condiments to add to
cooking, to add flavors.

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But, I think spices are a
really interesting subset

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of food ingredients
that really have

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come from medicine
historically, And now

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being used in that food space.

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Historically, things such
as caffeine, tobacco, tea,

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alcohol, sugar, cannabis,
were also used medicinally.

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And we know now that
they're not part

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of what we're recommending.

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Things such as sugar
and salt were actually

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used as payment for people.

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When the colonists
first came to Australia,

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salt and sugar were a
key part of their ration.

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Salt was a highly
valuable commodity,

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and was used primarily
as a preservative.

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So, this was before
refrigeration.

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So without salt, food would
become rancid very quickly.

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In current times, of course,
we're aware to eat less salt,

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you know, reduce salt
products, et cetera,

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that pervade our food supply.

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And I think that
highlights, really,

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that how much of our food
supply now is based on processed

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foods, manufactured foods.

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Compared to salt being
used in certain foods

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as a key preservative.

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Alcohol was something that
was revered, because there

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was such poor access to it.

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It's also been used, of
course, to try and maintain

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septic techniques when
someone had an injury,

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and also used to numb the
pain sort of metaphorically

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and literally, I guess.

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Cannabis is an
interesting example

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that's undergoing a lot
of research in Australia,

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and a lot of exploration
at the moment.

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And it's used in
chronic pain management.

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Again, something that's
been an illegal substance,

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but now actually,
potentially, might

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have a role to
play as a medicine

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or a therapeutic agent.

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So I think this
highlights, we really

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need to keep a
nice open mind when

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it comes to food and its role
in medicine and in health.

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But also be open to
some of the history

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and the rich stories
that come with food

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and its uses across
the centuries.

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What we also have currently,
is a range of other health

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care professionals, a
range of other medicines

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and special products,
that we can use.

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For example, we no longer
need to use clove oil

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on a toothache, because we have
got a dentist we can access,

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and we've got pain
relief we can access.

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