WHO IS THE JIVA? – 3. Holy cow and sattvic food
The food that was eaten by our primate ancestors had a large influence in making us what we are today. We could branch off evolutionarily as Modern Man (Homo sapiens) from apes, thanks to that food. We differ enormously from chimpanzees, though 99 per cent of our genes are common between them and us, possibly because of the differences in the type of food we consume, according to evolutionary biologists. Experiments with mice showed that the kind of food that is consumed can trigger or block the activity of genes, thus affecting our behavioral patterns. So genes are not everything. Latest research showed that even if you have it in your genes to get heart attack, you can switch off that gene by varying your food. Intestinal bacteria harbored by people who practiced farming in ancient times and ate essentially carbohydrate food were different from the intestinal flora of the people who mostly ate meat by hunting animals. People who domesticated animals and were accustomed to consuming dairy products would have more of lactobacteria that helped them in digesting milk protein. Hence it cannot be that one food suits all.
Sage Vyasa described three types of food in Bhagavad-Gita (Ch XVII – verses 7-10): sattvic that gives health and happiness; rajasic that produces pain and disease; and tamasic that causes unwelcome temperament.
But is it you who decides what you eat? Our choice of food may not entirely depend on us. The microscopic creatures that we host in our guts have also a say in the matter.
Though no two individuals, nor even twins, have the same bacterial flora in their bodies, in a general way, we can distinguish three groups of people depending on the type of bacteria which dominate in their intestines. These bacteria determine how the food is metabolized by the host. For example, one type of bacteria produces the Vitamins B2, B5, C and H. Another produces B1 and folic acid. The food habits of the hosts vary accordingly. It will be an interesting study to compare these group characteristics with what Sage Vyasa had listed.
Cow is worshipped and the cow’s milk and milk products are held high in all Vedic rituals. If you are one of those who have to be nearer to a toilet if you drink milk, well, you are not alone. Nearly a third of the population digests the milk protein lactose imperfectly and most of the Afro-Asian and Mediterranean people are unable to digest lactose. Dr. Harpending and his colleagues argue that “the ability to digest lactose shaped human history.” Lactose-tolerant populations, according to them, “could better survive famines, and may also have been better conquerors, aiding the spread of their civilizations and cultures.” Another investigator finds that diet rich in lactose could have helped in developing resistance to malaria.
A section of the Evolutionary Anthropologists suggests that a number of the modern day man’s health problems are the result of the differences in the foods that we eat now and what our forebears ate. A recent research paper goes to support this idea. “Children in rural Burkina Faso eat foods similar to those that people ate 10,000 years ago when farming was first developed. Their diet is high in fiber, cereals, non-animal protein and plants. These children have high numbers of bacteria that digest plant fibers and are free from inflammatory gut diseases such as Crohn’s and inflammatory bowel disorders which typically occur in European kids accustomed to the modern high protein and highly processed foods.”
Another aspect of modern day life that attracts a comment is with reference to the over indulgence in the use of antibacterial products. “Extreme hygiene, on the level of using antibacterial products, is an asset in health care settings, such as hospitals, where risk of infection is high” as Dr. Blaser notes. But “such measures are not likely working to our long-term advantage elsewhere, where the benefit is minimal if any,” he says. There could be a danger of losing bacteria that is helpful for us in the process and thus we may get exposed to disease producing microbes (pathogens). Recent research has demonstrated that our antibacterial and anti-infection crusade could as a matter fact be counterproductive “making children and adults more likely to develop asthma and other allergies and perhaps even mental illnesses” as per Dr. Callahan, who studied bacteria and infectious diseases. Dr. Lowry from Bristol University found a type of friendly bacteria in soil that works like anti-depressant. “This leaves us wondering if we shouldn’t all be spending more time playing in the dirt”, he remarked in a lighter vein.
In sum it is a world of bacteria all around us and within us. Perhaps there is no human being without bacteria being an integral part of him and his nourishment. We can hardly push them away or wish them away. Our wisdom lies in exercising a constant vigil to recognize both bad and good bacteria and learn to live in their world. The well known biologist Craig Venter said that if “you do not like the bacteria, you are on the wrong planet.”
We could inquire so far in the last three Blog Posts whether it is man’s world that he lives in or he is only a minority trying to adjust in some other living being’s habitat. We also noticed that it is simply a myth to count man as an individual. Man is a composite being whose health and mirth are well intertwined with a large number of creatures he has in, on and all over him.
But we opened the blog to examine if man is truly the supreme entity in creation uniquely blessed with awareness and whether other lowly creatures enjoy awareness at all. These issues are long stories by themselves and deserve to be addressed in separate essays.
