Re: Sunnat that you Follow in Daily Life??
The reason pork has been forbidden, besides the obvious, from a medical point of view is that they carry diseases.
The medical aspects of the prohibition
To abstain from consuming pork means to care about one?s health. The omnivorous pig, being by far the most slovenly and greedy domestic animal, devours virtually anything, including human excrement and is a breeding ground for various malignant microbes and parasites. Consumption of pork may result in many serious diseases. We are safe to assume that one of the main reasons behind the prohibition of pork consumption was the spread of trichinosis, - a disease caused by trichinella spiralis, a parasitic roundworm.
Trichinosis is caused by eating infected raw or insufficiently cooked pork, in which the immature parasite is encysted. When such a piece of meat is eaten, the encysted embryos are set free in the intestines, and develop into full-grown trichinae. From each pair of these, thousands of new embryos may arise in the course of several weeks. As soon as this new generation of embryos is produced, they make their way into the wall of the bowel, and thence wander through the circulation system, finally depositing themselves between the fibers of the voluntary muscles, where they become encysted. The first symptoms develop in the course of two weeks after the infection. The disease is characterized by fever and severe pain in the limbs and muscles, oedema of the soft tissues, and eosinophilia in the blood. The infection may result in severe damage to the nervous system (in the form of encephalitis), cardiac muscle (miocarditis), as well as other complications.
Despite the therapeutic advances, contemporary medicine does not provide an effective cure for trichinosis. The only efficient protection, therefore, is based on prevention, or giving up eating pork. Although the meat is subject to thorough inspection in slaughter-houses, as well as by the Sanitary Inspection, this procedure does not give a one hundred percent guarantee, as was clearly shown by the recent outbreak in Moscow.
The list of the microbes and parasites found in pork is vast. It should be emphasized that many of these diseases as yet remain incurable.
Taenia Solium (tapeworm). The taeniasis is caused by the brain?s infestation by the larvae form of the pork tapeworm, the gastrointestinal parasite, and may constitute up to 1.3 percent of the intracranial volume. The parasite?s onchosphere travels through the mucous membranes of the blood vessels into the portal circulatory system, and is thence transported throughout the body, infecting various internal organs, as well as the brain. The course of the disease is remittent and, symptomatically, is characterized by the presence of several niduses. The infestation may often be manifested in the development of the epileptic syndrome, meningism and the increase of the intracranial pressure.
Roundworms. Ascariasis may result in appendicitis, and some types of jaundice. The infestation is known to cause dyspepsia.
Schitosoma Japonica. This disease is manifested in hemorrhages and anemia. In the case of the ova infesting the brain or bone marrow, the disease may bring about paralysis or death.
Paragonimus Westermani. Infestation may result in haemoptysis, or the coughing up of blood, due to the worm setting in the lungs.
Paciolepsis Buski. This parasite causes dyspepsia, severe diarrhea and general edema.
Clonorchis Sinensis. Infestation by this parasite may be manifested in some types of jaundice.
Metastrongylus Apri may cause bronchitis or the inflammation of the lungs? tissue.
Gigantorinchus Gigas causes anemia and dyspepsia.
Balantidium Coli is known to cause acute dysentery, resulting in the severe emaciation.
Bacterial diseases
Tuberculosis.
Fusiformis Necrophulus, which causes a serious disease of the lower limbs.
Salmonella Cholera Suis (cholera)
Brucellosis, - the disease results in the irreversible loss of the victim?s capabilities.
Erysipelas, or St. Anthony?s fire.
Viral infections
Small pox.
Japanese encephalitis (B-type).
Influenza.
Protozoan infections
Toxoplasma Goundii. This microorganism causes a very serious disease of toxoplasmosis. In the congenital form the unborn child is infected by the mother. Toxoplasmosis often results in the sudden death within several days or weeks after birth. In the case of survival, the infection may result in mental retardation, loss of sight or deafness. The acquired form in adults may manifest itself in chronic fever, marked by liver and spleen malfunction, pneumonia, and hydrocephalus. This disease may also affect sight and hearing.
Those who consume pork are more prone to obesity due to the high percentage of fat in pork. In this group, blood cholesterol level is frequently higher than normal; pork-eaters are more susceptible to arteriosclerosis, which may result in cardiovascular diseases, malfunction of the brain blood-circulation, vascular pathology of the lower limbs, etc.
Pork is difficult to digest, which may be the cause of many chronic diseases of the digestive system. Ulcerous skin infections are more frequently found within the pork-consuming group. Of great interest is the research into the hydrolysis of pork fat, its deposition in the human body, and the extent of its utilization. There is a theory that animal fat, acquired by the consumption of the herbivorous animals? meat, undergoes a process of hydrolysis and is thence synthesized anew and deposited in the body as human fat. Pork fat, however, is not subject to hydrolysis and is consequently deposited in the human fat tissue as pork fat. Since the proper utilization of this fat deposit is problematic, in order to produce energy, the body burns up the stock of glucose, which is essential for brain activity. This process brings about a chronic feeling of hunger, which, in turn, results in a vicious circle: although having a substantial fat build-up, the person is constantly consuming additional food without feeling satisfied.
