Traditional Foods and Medicines and Mounting Chronic Disease for Indigenous Peoples Worldwide
Rudolph C. Rÿser, PhD, Aline Castañeda Cadena
Volume 17, Number 2 (2019) 17 (2): 23-43
Keywords Fourth World peoples, climate change, atmospheric CO2 levels, wild foods, plant-based, animal-based, traditional medicine, ethno-botany, indigenous health, food policy
Abstract
This essay discusses the rationale, theoretical foundation, method and focus of the two-year study: “Indigenous Peoples’ Health: Effects of Elevated Atmospheric CO2 on Plant and Animal-based Foods and Medicines” undertaken by the Center for World Indigenous Studies beginning in late 2017. The study employs a relational investigative approach aimed at establishing the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on traditional plants and animals on which indigenous peoples rely for their daily diet. There are many factors such as “nutritional transition” where Fourth World (indigenous) peoples have become reliant on commercially produced foods and medicines, industrial development intervening through mineral extraction, oil extraction and construction of towns which have all contributed to adverse health effects among Fourth World peoples. Researchers (conventional and indigenous) have identified evidence that elevated CO2 in the atmosphere may contribute to a significant decline in micronutrient and macro-nutrient values in plants and animals and increase sugars—potentially contributing to increased incidents of chronic disease. While increased CO2 levels (and other greenhouse gases) in the earth’s atmosphere contribute to Global Warming—regularly referred to as “climate change”—the great concern in public research and public discourse is that the radically varying weather patterns contribute to destruction and growing risks of damage to human infrastructure and other economically important activities throughout the world. The “health factor” is usually associated with increased temperatures directly affecting human health, but the food base that is reliant on photosynthesis to produce the nutrients and medicines on which human beings rely tends to be ignored. In this article the author discusses the multivariate factors limiting orthodox researchers examining plant-based and animal-based food, medicines used by Fourth World communities that prevent a full understanding of growing levels of chronic disease among Fourth World peoples. This analysis may provide valuable information for future research and for reporting to indigenous health leaders as well as orthodox health providers concerning the use of plant-based and animal-based for food, medicines, and pharmacological support.
Rudolph C. Rÿser, PhD
Aline Castañeda Cadena
Published January 1, 2019
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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