71–80 of 165 posts
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Yes, that is the modern understanding. Widespread lead exposure had very little / nothing to do with the decline the Roman Empire.
Plus to prove the lead connection you have to discount the centuries of Roman dominance and growth during which lead exposure was common.
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High calorie sweeteners have deleterious population-level effects. Is there any evidence that modern low calorie sweeteners have deleterious population-level effects, and what are they compared to high calorie sweeteners?
Anecdotally I get gut dybiosis (microbiome imbalance) that notably only occurs when using artificial sweeteners and stops when I stop taking it, I’ve talked to many others who have noticed the same thing. Gut dysbiosis can cause chronic systemic inflammation which is rather bad for the body, not sure if it’s worse than the sugar it replaces, but it shouldn’t be assumed that the problem is solved by low calories. I th…
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I wonder if any Romans evidence had any evidence of population-level delirium from lead consumption...
Lower intelligence would likely surface as hedonistic behavior which is probably hard to distinguish from decadence. Decadence and hedonism were constantly being complained about long before the eventual fall.
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"Back in school I was often told the lead pipes in Roman aqueducts likely played a key role in the fall of Roman. We know lead is a poison with negative long term effects on cognition." I highly doubt there was much effect from the pipes. They would quickly be sealed in mineral scale. Cups or utensils - maybe, but would be more about specific important people using them rather than being widespread.
Wine (and grape juice) was cooked in lead vessels, which generates Lead(II) Acetate aka Sugar of Lead. They lead poisoned themselves coming and going. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_acetate
Around the World in Six Glasses will tell you that tea replacing wine lead to Progress in Europe because they weren’t drunk all day but I wonder how much was inebriation and how much was lead exposure.
One of the problems with beetroot though is that it is loaded with sugar.
Isn't nitrates what makes processed meats so unhealthy? Does this mean the bacon that claims to be cured with celery juice is actually on to something?
The main preservative for processed meats, and the one that reacts with other compounds to form carcinogens, is nitrites not nitrates. Nitrates are sometimes used too, especially for meats that are cured for a long time, because some bacteria will reduce them to nitrites, making them effectively work as a sustained release form of nitrite. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_salt
Is there a material difference between drinking beetroot juice and just eating a mess of beets?
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Lower intelligence would likely surface as hedonistic behavior which is probably hard to distinguish from decadence. Decadence and hedonism were constantly being complained about long before the eventual fall.
Violence in the US declined as children born around and after leaded gas was banned reached the average age of first offense. It’s quite a line.
My point is that while it may have been unclear to the Romans as to the cause of changes in behavior they did notice a change and did complain about it a lot. I accept the premise that lead poisoning leads to lower intelligence.
Back in school I was often told the lead pipes in Roman aqueducts likely played a key role in the fall of Roman. We know lead is a poison with negative long term effects on cognition. The aqueducts were also responsible for Romes ability to proliferate and grow. Lead was both a blessing and a curse. I wonder what future generations will say about our highly enriched and processed diets. Calories have never been cheap…