Latest news with #CorpusofEarlyMedievalLatinMedicine
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Vinegar face masks and barley water? Medieval 'health hacks' mirror today's TikTok trends
Historians recently unearthed some "health hacks" dating back to the Middle Ages v and some sound like they came straight off TikTok. The database, called the Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine, offers a wealth of information about how people in the so-called "Dark Ages" viewed health, science and medicine. It was announced by Binghamton University in July. Meg Leja, an associate professor at the university, told Fox News Digital that she helped catalog hundreds of medieval medical texts, particularly focusing on all surviving Latin manuscripts up to the year 1000. Wearable Hydration Monitor Could Help Prevent Heatstroke, Scientists Say "This means that we covered most of Continental Europe, but not England, where many early medieval medical writings were in the vernacular (i.e., Old English)," she said. "Because very few manuscripts survive from before the year 600, effectively our date range is 600 to 1000." Read On The Fox News App Some of the cures, researchers said, could fit into in modern wellness circles. Below are six examples they found. Historians repeatedly came across a 12-month detox plan that included drinking herbs like cinnamon, sage, ginger and fennel – one for every month. The drinks were said to purge the body of buildup like mucus and "unwanted matter," much like modern juice cleanses. World's Most Premature Baby Defies All Medical Odds To Reach 1St Birthday Another recipe in the database recommended a vinegar remedy "so that your face is radiant." "Grind wheat flour with vinegar [and] put this on as a plaster mixed with oil," the tip advises. Barley water occasionally pops up on TikTok as a "natural remedy" — and centuries before influencers promoted it, early medieval writers recommended its use. According to a text written before 1000 A.D., a healer claimed that mixing barley with hot wine would aid digestion. Other hacks were not TikTok-like at all, featuring ingredients that are both unpleasant and difficult to obtain. One text written before 1250 swore by dead vultures being a one-size-fits-all cure for a myriad of health issues. "You capture a vulture and decapitate it with a reed while saying 'Angel, Adonai Abraham, on your account the word is complete,'" the text advises. The dead bird's skull was said to prevent migraines, while its eyeballs "relieve pain of the eyes." Tying the vulture's feathers to a pregnant woman's legs was also said to help speed up labor. One late 9th-century tip – found in a priest's personal manuscript – suggested using green lizard ashes for fuller hair. Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter "For flowing hair, cover the whole head with fresh summer savory and salt and vinegar," the translated instructions read. "[Then] rub it with the ashes of a burnt green lizard, mixed with oil." The most repulsive recipe, from an 11th-century text, offered the following tip for chest pain. "You dissolve goat dung in water and, sieved, you give it to drink," the tip advises. "It soon relieves the pain, however intensely it hurt." J. Matthew Knight, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, urged caution for those considering trying these cures. The Florida-based medical expert told Fox News Digital that, while barley, cinnamon and fennel may offer minor digestive benefits, the idea of detoxing over 12 months isn't backed by science. Knight, the founder of the Knight Dermatology Institute, also noted that the vinegar facial mask "could lead to irritant contact dermatitis," though vinegar has antibacterial effects. As for the more extreme remedies – like using goat dung for chest pain – the doctor warned they are "unsanitary and dangerous," and emphasized that anyone experiencing chest pain should go straight to the emergency room. Though Knight said he appreciates the novelty of the list, they exist "somewhere between funny and completely ineffective." For more Health articles, visit "All of these schemes predate the microscope, germ theory of disease and modern medicine, and rely on the idea that maladies were due to spiritual imbalance, moral transgression or cosmic forces," he told Fox News Digital. "Illness wasn't seen as bacterial or viral, but as a disturbance in unseen forces, like 'body humors.'" "Unfortunately, when it comes to TikTok trends, or medieval remedies, there is painfully little to no scientific basis for their use."Original article source: Vinegar face masks and barley water? Medieval 'health hacks' mirror today's TikTok trends Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
3 days ago
- Health
- Fox News
Vinegar face masks and barley water? Medieval 'health hacks' mirror today's TikTok trends
Historians recently unearthed some "health hacks" dating back to the Middle Ages v and some sound like they came straight off TikTok. The database, called the Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine, offers a wealth of information about how people in the so-called "Dark Ages" viewed health, science and medicine. It was announced by Binghamton University in July. Meg Leja, an associate professor at the university, told Fox News Digital that she helped catalog hundreds of medieval medical texts, particularly focusing on all surviving Latin manuscripts up to the year 1000. "This means that we covered most of Continental Europe, but not England, where many early medieval medical writings were in the vernacular (i.e., Old English)," she said. "Because very few manuscripts survive from before the year 600, effectively our date range is 600 to 1000." Some of the cures, researchers said, could fit into in modern wellness circles. Below are six examples they found. Historians repeatedly came across a 12-month detox plan that included drinking herbs like cinnamon, sage, ginger and fennel – one for every month. The drinks were said to purge the body of buildup like mucus and "unwanted matter," much like modern juice cleanses. Another recipe in the database recommended a vinegar remedy "so that your face is radiant." "Grind wheat flour with vinegar [and] put this on as a plaster mixed with oil," the tip advises. Barley water occasionally pops up on TikTok as a "natural remedy" — and centuries before influencers promoted it, early medieval writers recommended its use. According to a text written before 1000 A.D., a healer claimed that mixing barley with hot wine would aid digestion. Other hacks were not TikTok-like at all, featuring ingredients that are both unpleasant and difficult to obtain. One text written before 1250 swore by dead vultures being a one-size-fits-all cure for a myriad of health issues. "You capture a vulture and decapitate it with a reed while saying 'Angel, Adonai Abraham, on your account the word is complete,'" the text advises. The dead bird's skull was said to prevent migraines, while its eyeballs "relieve pain of the eyes." Tying the vulture's feathers to a pregnant woman's legs was also said to help speed up labor. One late 9th-century tip – found in a priest's personal manuscript – suggested using green lizard ashes for fuller hair. "For flowing hair, cover the whole head with fresh summer savory and salt and vinegar," the translated instructions read. "[Then] rub it with the ashes of a burnt green lizard, mixed with oil." The most repulsive recipe, from an 11th-century text, offered the following tip for chest pain. "You dissolve goat dung in water and, sieved, you give it to drink," the tip advises. "It soon relieves the pain, however intensely it hurt." J. Matthew Knight, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, urged caution for those considering trying these cures. The Florida-based medical expert told Fox News Digital that, while barley, cinnamon and fennel may offer minor digestive benefits, the idea of detoxing over 12 months isn't backed by science. "When it comes to TikTok trends, or medieval remedies, there is painfully little to no scientific basis for their use." Knight, the founder of the Knight Dermatology Institute, also noted that the vinegar facial mask "could lead to irritant contact dermatitis," though vinegar has antibacterial effects. As for the more extreme remedies – like using goat dung for chest pain – the doctor warned they are "unsanitary and dangerous," and emphasized that anyone experiencing chest pain should go straight to the emergency room. Though Knight said he appreciates the novelty of the list, they exist "somewhere between funny and completely ineffective." For more Health articles, visit "All of these schemes predate the microscope, germ theory of disease and modern medicine, and rely on the idea that maladies were due to spiritual imbalance, moral transgression or cosmic forces," he told Fox News Digital. "Illness wasn't seen as bacterial or viral, but as a disturbance in unseen forces, like 'body humors.'" "Unfortunately, when it comes to TikTok trends, or medieval remedies, there is painfully little to no scientific basis for their use."
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Dark Age detoxes sometimes resembled TikTok health trends
There are countless so-called wellness tips permeating platforms like TikTok on any given day. And while many are little better than pseudoscience, some treatments like acupuncture are based on legitimate medicinal practices dating back millennia. This mix of both good and bad health remedies is nothing new, but according to researchers compiling a growing database of centuries' old medical manuscripts, some of today's social media suggestions aren't that far off from prescriptions documented in the Dark Ages. But whether that's a positive or a negative sort of depends on how you view things. 'People were engaging with medicine on a much broader scale than had previously been thought,' Meg Leja, a Binghamton University medieval historian, said in a recent profile. 'They were concerned about cures, they wanted to observe the natural world and jot down bits of information wherever they could in this period known as the 'Dark Ages.'' Leja is also a contributor to the Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine (CEMLM), an international collaboration between universities to expand the known catalog of pre-11th century Latin medical manuscripts. Many of these old texts haven't been included in other digital collections. So far, their work has almost doubled the number of known Dark Age medical manuscripts. After reviewing the still-expanding library, researchers now believe that the era's remedies weren't always quite as dubious as you might think. Many books recommend topical ointments and detox cleanses made from ingredients like dried herbs and distilled alcohols. One book's headache cure, for example, suggests mixing crushed peach pit with rose oil before rubbing it onto your forehead. As strange as it sounds, one study from 2017 indicates rose oil may help with migraine pains. As expected, others don't hold up to present-day scrutiny. Contrary to one famous 9th century CE codex, vulture eyes wrapped in a fox pelt will not reduce your own eye pains. Neither will a pregnant woman's labor progress more quickly if you tie the bird's feathers to her left leg. Meanwhile, other treatments seem to straddle the line between valid and absurd. Another 9th century manuscript's suggestion for improving hair health starts sensibly enough— covering the head with herbal-infused salt and vinegar will help to disinfect the scalp of parasites. But to really make those locks extra luscious, it then recommends applying a salve of oils with the 'ashes of a burnt green lizard.' The main takeaway Leja's team stresses is that while the Dark Ages were 'dark' in the sense that a large number of sources have not survived the centuries, many of the era's experts were truly interested in researching real medical treatments. Leja even goes so far as to push back on the notion that people then were 'anti-science.' 'People in the early Middle Ages were quite into science, into observation, into figuring out the utility of different natural substances, and trying to identify patterns and make predictions,' she explained. Of course, rigorous research standards must be maintained to ensure ingredients like 'lizard ash' stay out of today's prescription shampoos. Meanwhile, a medieval doctor would be forgiven for thinking social media's ability to amplify bad science amounts to demonology. In any case, hearsay, like in the Dark Ages, shouldn't be taken at its word—be it in an ancient codex, or the latest hashtag.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
The weirdest medieval medicines you could try today…if you dare: Scientists say Dark Age cures were 'way more sophisticated' than we thought - so, would YOU try lizard shampoo?
A trip to the doctor in the Dark Ages might sound like a terrifying prospect. But researchers now say that medieval medicine was actually 'way more sophisticated' than you might think. In fact, you might just see some cures from the Dark Ages trending on TikTok today. Dr Meg Leja, an associate professor of history at Binghamton University, says: 'A lot of things that you see in these manuscripts are actually being promoted online currently as alternative medicine, but they have been around for thousands of years.' However, you might have to be brave to try out some of these medieval treatments. One text likely dating back to the fifth century recommends a particularly striking treatment for 'flowing hair'. The author suggests: 'Cover the whole head with fresh summer savory and salt and vinegar. [Then] rub it with the ashes of a burnt green lizard, mixed with oil.' So, would you dare to try out any of these weird medieval cures? While we often view the Dark Ages as a backwards and barbaric time, researchers are now revealing a very different view. The Corpus of Early Medieval Latin Medicine collates hundreds of medical manuscripts pre-dating the 11th century, doubling the number of known texts. Just like we are today, people in the so-called Dark Ages were obsessed with their diet, health, hair, and skin. Dr Carine van Rhijn, a medieval historian from Utrecht University and collaborator on the project, told MailOnline: 'People took care to look nice, to smell good, to have nice hair, deal with pimples, raw voices, or bad fingernails. 'This is perhaps not what you would expect to find in the early Middle Ages.' And while some of these 'treatments' might seem wacky, they often have striking modern parallels. For instance, although lizard shampoo is definitely not a good idea, using vinegar and oils to treat your hair has been a trending hair care 'hack' on TikTok for years. Similarly, one text suggests that you should mix the juice of the herb soapwort with lard to make an ointment for the hands and feet. Both lard and soapwort are now often promoted as gentle or natural alternatives to soaps and moisturising products. For anyone suffering from a headache, medieval patients were advised to mix the crushed stone of a peach with rose oil and smear it on their head. Although that sounds odd, a study published in 2017 found that rose oil really does help alleviate migraine pain. But not every bit of medieval skincare advice was quite so sensible, such as a treatment for scabs which says to 'mix old cheese and honey and apply it to the scabby shins for seven days'. An even more modern-sounding example comes from the margins of a 6th-century theological text. In a small blank space, one of the book's owners had scribbled down a recipe for a 'posca for loosening the belly'. The recipe calls for: 'Nineteen eggshell-fuls of plain water. Of vinegar, three eggshell-fuls. Of salt, one eggshell-ful.' Although that doesn't sound pleasant, if you look on TikTok, you will find an endless number of videos a dvocating the health benefits of drinking apple-cider vinegar and water. Scientists say the medieval approach to medicine was much more scientific than we might think. Medical manuals included detailed theories about how the zodiac signs and position of the moon affects the treatment of various ailments Dr van Rhijn says that medieval people were extremely concerned with their diets as a way of staying healthy. She says: 'We found many texts that tell you what you should eat and drink to stay healthy in every month of the year.' However, the motivations of medieval people were a little different to those of people sharing health hacks on social media today. Dr van Rhijn says: 'People were not so much concerned with their weight, for instance, but wanted to maintain balance in their body. 'So: you eat things that cool you down in the hottest months of the year, or things that warm you up in winter. 'Sometimes there are such recipes for a kind of "super-potion" intended to do exactly this – and that looks like something you may find on TikTok!' Some of this advice sounds like something you might be able to read on any modern health blog. Lentils, for example, 'move the stomach by making wind but do less for the health of the bowels', while 'bread made from barley restricts [constipates] and cools'. Likewise, one eighth-century text recommends you take hot baths and drink wine in February, while sticking to pennyroyal tea in March. In a slightly stranger piece of advice, the text also suggests swapping sex for wine throughout the entire month of November. However, Dr van Rhijn points out that the researchers are 'historians, not experts on pharmacy' and wouldn't encourage anyone to try these cures for themselves. Although some of these treatments and their explanations seem odd, these recipes and cures show that medieval medicine was much more scientific than we might assume. Dr Leja adds: 'People were engaging with medicine on a much broader scale than had previously been thought. 'They were concerned about cures, they wanted to observe the natural world and jot down bits of information wherever they could in this period known as the "Dark Ages".'
