[5.3.4]

Part 5

There are many problems and issues attendant to this proposal and they merit careful study and empirical research. Individuals interested in pursuing this research may wish to contact us. We intend to test the usefulness of the taxonomy by using it as the pre-printed form given subject volunteers who are interested in the daily round assessment of the medicinal value of garlic, more particularly, a preparation or garlic extract now available in Hawaii, and the rest of the United States, under the trademark KYOLIC.

Our interest in a garlic preparation (KYOLIC is the only one now available, as far as we know) is shared by people the world over. One may find books on garlic in any health food store or library, and according to these reports garlic is being used as a treatment drug in most of the European countries and Russia where the medical practices are similar to those in North America, "modern" Japan, and Hawaii. KYOLIC is produced by a Japanese-based company, according to the label. Dr. Paivio Airola, President of the famed international Academy of Biological Medicine, and a super-best-seller American naturopathic physician, has recently reviewed the testimonial and clinical evidence on this "miracle food" (Airola, Let's Live, November 1977, Vol. 45(11)). In the summary, Dr. Airola states: "The empirical and scientific evidence presented in this article shows that garlic is, indeed, a wonderful health food and a miraculous healing plant. It can truthfully be called ‘the king of the vegetable kingdom.’… Garlic not only will improve and enrich the diet, but will help to improve your health, prevent disease, and prolong life." (p. 39)

Thus, there are traditional, historical, scientific, and clinical data that point to garlic as an important health-related food, preparation, or drug. As well, there are personal motivations involved since, if the case for garlic can be made, then, certainly it would be good for us personally, and we would adopt this new eating habit. Already, one of us (Dr. Gordon), has been ingesting vast new quantities of garlic in the form of the 0 KYOLIC preparation and has a favorable testimonial to offer on such symptoms as cold feet, weak muscles, painful lymph glands, and a host of others caused by former medical treatment for cancer. However, we are also interested, as applied social psychologists, in the scientific techniques that one might bring to bear on this all-important community issue of the validity of medical assessments. We are therefore engaged in setting up a study for the investigation of daily round techniques that might be suitable to meet the objectified model we proposed above as an alternative to the current experimental schema. As well, we expect this study to be informative concerning the feasibility of a community pool of subjects for the preparation of Medical Daily Round (MDR) data in conjunction with general daily round data of the DRA type. This technique is, of course, usable for the assessment of any treatment, product, or exposure, whether in the form of pharmaceutical, s, foods, physical manipulation, or spiritual practice. We hope others concerned with matters of health on a day-to-day living basis will join us in this endeavor.

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