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Potato Powder Stops Bleeding, May Help Surgery
Big E writes "'A powder made from the common potato appears to help blood to clot, closing minor cuts and aiding surgical procedures, new research suggests'. Reuters story is here.
According to the company that produces it, Medafor Inc. , it is "Effective even in areas of profuse bleeding". That's a bit more than closing minor cuts and they are seeking approval for use during chest and intestinal surgeries. Maybe this will prove to be the biggest thing since the Band-Aid maybe even revolutionize emergency & combat medicine." Here are some Scanning Electron Micrographs of this sweet potato in action, too.
what's the chance for infection after applying potato to an open cut?
Thank you, very interesting/informative.
Combat medicine? Looks like the stereotype of the bad soldier peeling potatos is about to gain more merit.
This statement is false.
Stopping blood loss can the the most important thing in a lot of trauma situations. Particularly in situations where you can't get to a real medical facility very quickly. Anyone working in the field would want this in their medical kit if it is really effective and save.
Clot capitol of the world...
Somehow that doesn't sound right.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
The marriage of Mr. Potato Head and "Middle-class-white-houswife-3kids" Nurse Barbie, the new craze for Matel.
I live in a giant bucket.
You know, it occurs to me that this product is going to be used in basically the same situations as QuikClot and other similar clotting agents. (QuikClot is a mineral-based agent that's in use by the military; a Google search will reveal all, if you're so inclined.)
The thing about agents like QuikClot and MPH is that they're not really that useful in catastrophic traumas. Blood loss due to superficial injuries is almost always controllable in the field; in the worse case, in which a patient has suffered lots and lots of minor injuries, the blood loss is sufficiently slow that the risk of hypovolemic shock is almost nil.
The real danger in trauma situations comes when an artery is damaged or severed. Clotting agents like these won't help in those cases. You don't stop an artery from pumping by clotting. You stop it by clamping the shit out of the little fucker until you can get it tied off or anastomosed.
So in those cases where blood loss is really life-threatening, these sorts of substances won't help. I'm sure they've got valid medical uses, but they seem more like band-aids or bactine than a real life-saving medical tool.
Just my two cents. I'm not a doctor, but I play one on tee vee.
I write in my journal
...growing up on Prince Edward Island. How was I to know that Bud the Spud was a medic, too? Would have helped the doctor shortage...
And I thought Pringles ruled just because it works as an antenna.
What's the next cool thing that Pringles can be used ?
...scientists from the University of Louisville in Kentucky have determined that redheads need, on average, 20% more potato powder to stop the bleeding from those massive flesh wounds.
Dr. Bubba Jones, chief research scientist at said university, declined to mention why so many of his team's studies have focused around redheads. His only comment was "Now listen, there ain't no correlation 'tween the color of mah' neck and the color of mah' test subjects' hair!"
really not funny!
I remember something about potato peels being applied to skin burns helping the burns heal faster. Not sure if it's the starch or potassium. Maybe google can shed more light on the subject.
The next step of the research may find that carving a suppository out of a potato makes an excellent treatment for bleeding hemorhoids.
Anal sex is only of interest to those 'in the closet', or fully displaying their disease. No woman should have to endure being a fag's secret boy.
--Keeping the flame wars alive, one post at a time
So how much better (apart from being sterilized) is this compared to the stuff you can buy in the supermarket (whose particles are spherical to some degree)?
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
If you don't happen to have a supply of potato powder around, table sugar is reported to have a similar effect.
At least according to one of those 'how to fight off a shark and leap from a motorcycle to a car' books I read...
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I don't know about the clotting effect, but sugar (and even better, honey) can help prevent infection in wounds. It works the same way that concentrated sugar and salt solutions work to preserve fruits and vegetables without boiling/sterilizing in preserves and pickles. The solution MUST be sufficiently concentrated to prevent bacterial growth. Pouring salt on a wound would be just too painful, but sugar and honey both work.
Honey is even better for treating wounds than sugar for (at least) two reasons: It's already a superaturated sugar solution right out of the jar, and it contains, in addition to some interesting sugars (mostly levulose, maltose), some natural antibiotics/bacterial growth inhibitors.
It's not just for toast and tea!
Could this development aid hemopheliacs?
Damn. My mod points expired yesterday, but if it is any consolation, +1 Funny
Back on topic, I saw a few years back that researchers were looking into using potato to help burns victims, a thin sliver of frozen spud is very similar to frozen skin, so they were able to put bits of spud on to the naked wound and it would do the trick to seal in the good stuff and keep out the bad stuff.
Eventually real skin grows back, which is quite re-assuring, although turning green upon exposure to sunlight would be a great excuse to stay inside.
Those micrographs looks like peas mixed with mashed potatoes. Mmmmmm... Thanksgiving.
-- This sentence is false.
Someday Everyone Will keep Instant mashed Potatoes in the medicine kit.