Hand washing and white washing

The New York Times reported today on the importance of hand washing to reduce the incidence of the swine flu. The article quoted a number of recent studies demonstrating that from preschool children to college students and washing with soap and water, or alcohol-based sanitizers, can substantially reduce the rate of both swine flu and other types of infectious diseases.

I don't want to underestimate the importance of cleanliness or downgrade the importance of washing one's hands. However this brings up an important bias which persists in the media not to mention in medical school, hospitals, and the entire basis of funding medical studies. That is to say, the systematic whitewashing of the concept of "terrain" when evaluating a person's risk of illness. Below is an excerpt from my new book, Medical Aromatherapy: the Aroma MD method, which teaches healthcare providers how to use essential oils to treat a variety of medical conditions:

Biological terrain is the sum of all the factors that affect the function of the body--the internal milieu. The concept of terrain allows us to evaluate all the factors that make a person, say, at risk of contracting an infection. For example, immunity is much more than infection fighting cells. The nervous system, the endocrine system, genetic factors, commensal organisms ("good bacteria"), and diet, all affect the quality of the immune system and its ability to protect the body from infection in a balanced manner. By addressing these factors, we allow the body to take advantage of its innate healing capacity to the fullest degree possible given its homeostatic state to affect a cure, and not just a treatment.

Biological Terrain is a key concept of health that has been present in Eastern medical systems for millennia. In the West in the late nineteenth century a number of intellectual ideas converged to create a concept of terrain based on a scientific observations and experimentation. Discovery of homeostatic regulatory mechanism such as pH, oxydo-reduction potential (rH), hormones, enzymes and the role of trace minerals created a rich, integrated and inter-related concept of le milieu interieur (internal environment) in which the body functions. At the same time, the effects of complex plant medicines were being described and an appreciation for essential plant oils was burgeoning as methods to treat disorders.

Simultaneous to these developments, reductionist concepts and treatments were being developed as well. These include the germ theory of Pasteur, which holds that microbes are the cause of infectious illness, circumventing the role of the terrain. The growth of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry lead to single-compound “pure” drugs to work on single receptors or single agents such as microbes. Professional medical monopolies and the codification of medical education served to control the propagation of ideas and determine scientific and medical orthodoxy, ultimately driving the concept of terrain and biological complexity out of the realm of scientifically accepted and funded concepts.

Like many other important systems-based concepts and truths based on a holistic understanding of the human body, the very institutions which sought to suppress the concept of terrain are currently the ones promoting the concept of terrain after 120 years. The prestigious Journal of the American medical Association's (JAMA) recently published an editorial speaking about the importance of systems-based medicine as a method to overcome the reductionist tendencies in medical education and health care system. Read this editorial carefully because it sums up the key points of the end of the endobiogenic system developed by Drs.Duraffourd and Lapraz of Paris, France.

So, what's wrong with just washing our hands? The problem lies in what is called the "hygiene hypothesis". The hygiene hypothesis is based on a number of observations published in peer-reviewed medical literature. Researchers have noted that the more a society reduces exposure to minor illnesses in childhood, the greater the incidence of autoimmune disorders such as asthma, allergies, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. It turns out that mild infections and exposure to healthy bacteria early in life helps develop, regulate and maintain a healthy immune system, quite the opposite of what we are normally taught and read about the media.

Unfortunately, the overall state of health of the average American is so compromised due to diet, environmental and emotional stress, toxins, and other attacks on the internal terrain, that hand washing is considered the best defense against infections. What I recommend for my patience in my clinic is the use of medical aromatherapy.

Essential oils affect the three key factors which affect the terrain for: they support healthy organ function and detoxification, they stimulate the immune system, and they are directly antimicrobial. When taken internally under medical guidance, used topically to massage or diffused into the air they are quite effective. Of course, a healthy diet based on a person's unique metabolic type, stress reduction, and support of key organs such as the liver, pancreas, adrenal gland and thyroid, or also an important part of my treatment philosophy.