Natural healing: Plant-based medicines and supplement skepticism

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Dr. Cassandra Quave harvesting wild capers with Giusseppe Farina. These were brought back to his home, where he ferments them in a salt brine until ready for measurement and sale. Photo by Cassandra Quave.

Host Jonathan Bastian talks with ethnobotanist Dr. Cassandra Quave about the amazing medicinal potential of plants and her global search for natural compounds — long known to traditional healers — that could help save us from the looming crisis of untreatable superbugs. We also hear from Dr. Marion Nestle, New York University professor emeritus of nutrition, food studies, and public health, on the health benefits — both real and fictitious — of nutritional supplements. From probiotics to vitamins, why do we take supplements without any scientific evidence that they do any good?

Credits

Producer:

Andrea Brody