In the original incarnation of Weird Health Wednesdays, candy posts always brought the most traffic. Maybe candy stories are irresistible because they remind us of childhood or maybe because, hello? It’s candy. It’s sweet, yummy goodness in a pocket-sized package. At any rate, look at two common treats with a long history of medicinal use:
Marshmallows as Cough Suppressants
The marshmallows we know today contain no actual marsh mallow root, which contains a sticky white substance used to ease coughs and other ailments and to make candy for who knows how far back. Possibly, the Egyptians created an early sort of candy by combining the root with honey.
All-Purpose Licorice
Licorice comes from a plant, too, though the commercial candy itself is now usually flavored with anise. Some ancient cultures used licorice to treat digestive and respiratory problems, and Europe and Asia still use it for some conditions, including viral hepatitis and various inflammatory disorders. Too much of the extract can cause serious side effects, though, and scientific evidence of its therapeutic benefits is unclear.
I’m not condoning the use of any candy as medicine, but food history like this always makes for interesting reading. Check out these related posts:
When Economies Go Down, Candy Consumption Goes Up
Candy Plus a Little Radiation (For Health)
“Healthy” Candy
I dunno…I ate an entire bag of licorice yesterday, and it didn’t help anything…but it DID make me sick.
I actually HAVE heard of licorice helping digestion…and fennel root (which has a licorice flavor, if I remember correctly) is used with colicky babies (which I really think is reflux…my “colicky baby” stopped being colicky when I insisted they treat her for reflux)
Yup these two are spouted around a lot. They sound whacky but look at just how many herbal cough medicine type things have liquorice in them-the purging quality of it also helps you cough up the lung junk as well as aiding poor digestion which the Victorians thought was the reason for their asthma (actually it was the bad London air!)
Marshmallows-yes- well there isn’t any, as you know, in the sugar and glucose and coconut shavings style marshmallows that you tend to get now-but there must be some truth in it, as my Gran said pink marshmallows were good for coughs! Why pink, I have no idea, but I approve-and my Gran knew everything!
But I’ve also heard this from the Mother of a friend of mine who is a generation older than my parents-eat marshmallows if you have asthma. I love them, but I eat the ‘nowadays’ variety so I’m not expecting a miracle!
Sara–Yeah, a whole bag of anything probably negates whatever beneficial aspects it might have–not that I haven’t done the same thing myself, only not with licorice. (Which I hate.)
Susannah–It always comes back to the Victorians! I’m telling you, if I ever get AG over to visit London someday, she’d be in heaven.