Strong Foundations - The Dirty Five
Watching an episode of Myth Busters with Izzy the other day. The guys (Adam and Jamie) were examining the relative germy-ness of everyday items we touch. During the course of the show they actually debunk a much bigger myth but don’t even realize it. More on that later.
They went about swabbing for bacterial colonies on numerous objects. A toilet seat, money, cell phone, hotel remote, light switch, computer keyboard and a shopping cart were tested. The swabs were then rubbed on petri dishes to see what would grow. Afterwards they would count the colonies and rank the surfaces from most to least nasty.
The results are interesting and not necessarily what you would expect.
- kitchen sponge (most colonies)
- money
- light switch
- computer keyboard
- hotel remote
- shopping cart
- cell phone
- toilet seat (fewest colonies)
The boys then had a microbiologist re-rank them based on the dangers posed based on the type of germs and came up with this list.
- kitchen sponge (most nasty)
- money
- light switch
- computer keyboard
- toilet seat
- cell phone
- shopping cart
- hotel remote (least nasty)
For the last part, they would gather a much larger sample size of the “dirty five” and came up with this list.
- kitchen sponge (most dirty)
- money
- computer keyboard
- toilet seat
- light switch (least dirty)
Who would have thought a toilet seat would be so not dirty. Interesting results to say the least. But what does this mean? What exactly is the bigger myth?
We spend most of our lives being taught that germs cause disease. Somebody “gave” you a cold (like it was a gift). You touched something, better get that antimicrobial hand stuff. Damn bottles are everywhere.
As a side note, one of the main ingredients in that stuff is Triclosan, already being banned because it doesn’t prevent anything and may cause cancer.
So the myth is this, germs cause disease. Think about that, the top 2 are the kitchen sponge and money. One would surmise then we should all be sick much more frequently, shouldn’t we? So what’s really going on.
“If I could live my life over again, I would devote it to proving that germs seek their natural habitat – diseased tissue – rather than being the cause of dead tissue. In other words mosquitoes seek the stagnant water, but do not cause the pool to become stagnant.”
Dr. Rudolph Virchow, the father of modern pathology
There’s more to the story than just the germs. You are an integral part. How adaptable are you to your world? How well does your immune system adapt?
Hope you enjoyed our first issue of Strong Foundations. Feel free to share if you know people who might enjoy it.
P.S. One of the main goals of our Structural Corrective chiropractic approach is adaptability.
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Scott Family Chiropractic
92 High Street #4
Hampton, NH 03842
(603) 929-7268