Q1: So why the snake? It is to mark the Chinese Year of the Wood Snake (mushennian 木蛇年) that begins on Wednesday 29th Jan. The Snake zodiac symbol represents intuition and comes paired this year with the Wood element symbolizing strength and creativity.
Snakes have a mixed reputation in both East and West. The Chinese “Legend of the White Snake” is an ancient love story between a young man deceived by snake transformed as a woman. This is an interesting twist on the biblical story where the woman Eve is tricked by a cunning serpent leading to her and Adam’s banishment from Eden (Genesis 3:1-15). The snake’s reputation is reversed in another bible story, the snake wound on a pole became a symbol of healing(Numbers 21:6-9), used today as the World Health Organization logo.
Q2: Why snakes in this blog about plants? Whenever one talks about herbal medicine, critics invariably mention “Snake Oil”, a term synonymous with fraud and deception. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, oil extracted from water snakes is used to treat joint pain. Originally brought to the USA by Chinese labourers, it was soon “copied” by fraudsters marketing products made from rattlesnakes, mineral oils, plant oils or any other cheap ingredients they could pass off. Sadly, the “snake oil” slur has tainted herbal medicine ever since, despite the fact that plant-derived molecules and derivatives still dominate modern medicine (see Leaf 2 - https://lnkd.in/d3-mA4UZ).
Q3: Is there any clinical value in snake oil? Authentic water-snake oil is 20% eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), a nutritionally important omega-3fatty acid. Our bodies can make EPA, but only in small amounts. Good dietary sources are oily fish and fish oil supplements. But it seems that neither snakes nor fish synthesize EPA. The main source is botanical, aquatic algae rather than land plants. Fish, and water snakes get their EPA from eating algae. Human vegans can get their EPA likewise.
Happy Chinese New Year
Further reading
🐍 Wikipedia (2024) "Legend of the White Snake," https://w.wiki/Cpd6
🐍 Susan Strasses (2017) “Snake Oil Revisited: Household Medicine and the Condescension of Posterity,” OAH Blog, https://www.oah.org/process/snake-oil-revisited-2/
🐍Jordan Friedman (2024) “How Snake Oil Became a Symbol of Fraud and Deception” Smithsonian Magazine, October 21, 2024, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-snake-oil-became-a-symbol-of-fraud-and-deception-180985300/
