She was born before parents took their kids to the doctor for an earache or a runny nose. She was born before you could go to WebMD to research different diseases or buy cough medicine at 7-Eleven.
"You had to live off the land," she said.
And
that is why this 92-year-old great-great-grandmother -- whose first
name is Jessie, though no one calls her that -- stands in front of a
stove, stirring a secret potion in an old metal pot. The
recipe has been passed down for at least three generations, originating
on a cotton plantation in Georgia and ending up in this small kitchen
in a tidy two-story home on the west side of Detroit.
Supporters
of alternative medicine say that more than 50% of Americans go outside
traditional medicine to treat illness -- such as using herbal therapy --
although many never tell their doctors.
Critics
say that the homemade remedies might seem to work because of the
placebo effect. And the Food and Drug Administration cautions that a
doctor should be consulted before taking any supplement.
