Swedish Bitters

Quoted message said:

What do Swedish Bitters do? I bought a bottle for no better reason
than "it was on sale," and have been taking a tablespoon daily for
about a month. So far, the only difference I'm certain of since I
started is my appetite has dropped way off. I've never had had weight
to lose, but I am an over-eater, so it's not a bad thing. Is there
any evidence ( or at least really good rumors ) that Bitters are
anything more than snake oil, though? It's not cheap when it's not on
sale.

Sure, it works, it has been used for generations to do a chemical
castration for their horses. That's a "good rumor" for you.

My guess is that it acts like a sort of "shock to the system."
Exactly what it does on the molecular level would be interesting to
determine. I didn't see any studies listed on pubmed.com when I
searched for swedish bitters. The thing to do would be to measure
every "marker" in the blood of a person, before and after taking it.
This wouldn't necessarily tell you if it was "good" or "bad," but it
would be a place to start. Unfortunately, some scientists seem to
enjoy criticizing "alternative medicine," which is fine, if evidence
exists to make the claims. With all the money being spent on various
"wars" that won't be won (the "war on cancer" was supposed to be "won"
by 1980, for example), it's absurd that there are few if any studies
on some of the "alternative medicines," though I'm an advocate of
attempting to restore normal physiology and biochemistry by
eliminating things from your diet that have been demonstrated to be
dangerous (down to the molecular level).

You can see my essays on health, diet, and "disease" issues at my free
site:

http://groups.msn.com/TheScientificDebateForum-/