Constipation and Barefootedness

For those of you who have lived in China for a while, you may have heard many weird things related to health.  One of the things I have always heard while living in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province was really off the wall.  It made me think though, if there actually was any scientific basis for it.  After all China has one of the longest histories and medicines on the face of this planet.  I heard it from my host family and from my Chinese teachers.  The problem was when they would see me walk barefooted around the place.  Ok, I know that isn't the smartest thing to do, especially in China, but I am from Hawai'i and we do tend to like to walk barefooted indoors - it's a cultural thing.  Anyway, they would say, "Hey don't walk around barefooted, you're gonna get constipated!"  LOL.

Well it has been a little over two years since I last heard people relate constipation to walking barefoot so I decided to verify their claims once and for all.  My goodness to my surprise I found an article talking about the causes for constipation.  You can read it by clicking here.  In that article it says that parasites can indeed cause constipation and that parasites can be easily picked up by walking barefoot! 

Now I feel a little dumb that I didn't believe my host family and teachers!  However, according to the article you need to walk over an area where an animal that has parasites was sleeping OR where an animal has defecated.  So no worries for my Hawai'i people.  It's not everyday we step in doodoo barefooted. 

Next time I hear some off the wall thing from another country, I won't reject it so quickly.  I should have verified the claims 2 years ago ;)