Bacon Cures Nosebleeds...Of Course it Does!

I really don’t want to talk about bacon. This is not because I don’t appreciate bacon (at least in moderation) but because bacon has become to the food world what CGI has become to the film world – something that presumably makes everything better. This is just not always the case. I have reported in the past about the lengths of creativity that marketers have employed to sell bacon in every conceivable form imaginable. If you were to ask me a few months back about the limits of bacon passion, I would have said there are in fact limits…I am not so sure about that anymore. Nevertheless, while the culinary world remains in an adolescent fugue over bacon, the medical world has arrived upon a practical medical use for these strips of pork fat, and no, it is not a cure for being skinny.

According to the Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology (a publication I have yet to pick up, but will surely seek it out) our friend bacon, not only provides a world of flavor to soups, pastas, sandwiches, cookies, what have you, but bacon also does double duty as an effective method to curb nosebleeds. The report provides a fairly straightforward description of how this works:

“Cured salted pork crafted as a nasal tampon and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae … To our knowledge, this represents the first description of nasal packing with strips of cured pork for treatment of life-threatening hemorrhage in a patient with Glanzmann thrombasthenia.”

News like this makes a person wonder how researchers even conceived of the idea of stuffing bacon up one’s nose. I will have to admit, it sounds more like a collegiate hazing ritual than something that would actually produce results. But it appears that bacon up the nose is an old tradition that fell out of favor because, “packing with salt pork was fraught with bacterial and parasitic complications. As newer synthetic hemostatic agents and surgical techniques evolved, the use of packing with salt pork diminished.” Not to mention the fact that a nose packed with bacon might just be too much of a good thing.

Skepticism aside, it seems this folk-like remedy does actually work, but however one may love, love, love bacon, it is difficult to imagine anyone being even remotely happy about a nose full of packed fatty pork.

Feel free to comment upon this particular practice, but I certainly will not require it, as the ridiculous nature of it fosters more one-liners than serious commentary. However, if anyone would like to share some interesting, and maybe even effective, folk remedies involving food, this would be a good place to do it.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

J.L. A.

9:23AM PST on Feb 16, 2012

The medical article was about a life-threatening bleeding from the nose--under that circumstance, lower level risks become an acceptable alternative.

send a green star

L B.

8:40PM PST on Feb 15, 2012

Please see the related article in this Care2 section about pork tapeworms in the brain.

They can't be killed, they multiply, and they cause incurable epilepsy. Right here, in the US. Even if you don't eat pork, anyone who handled your food after handling infected pork can give you these permanent brain parasites. Really not a pleasant thought. I'm not terribly thrilled about possibly stuffing the tapeworms right in there myself. As much as the pork industry might like to believe it, raw fatty meat is not a cure-all.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/pork-tapeworms-in-the-brain.html

Jennifer C.

6:23PM PST on Feb 15, 2012

Thanks for this article.

Michele W.

9:19AM PST on Feb 13, 2012

So glad I never eat bacon!

Dan and Tina P.

4:26PM PST on Feb 10, 2012

Not for me. I thought it was a joke at first. I'd rather bleed myself!

Pepper H.

9:45AM PST on Feb 9, 2012

Pretty funny writing, but the number of sensible comments that support the concept certainly add credibility. A note to those who disapprove of killing animals that wouldn't exist if not raised for food, man is a carnivore among other things. So why are you even reading items like this??

Brian D.

4:43PM PST on Feb 2, 2012

It would be hard not to eat this delicious treat as it passed my mouth. And then the smell, the joyous smell. mmmmm bacon makes everything better, EVERYTHING! Gonna go get a baconator on my way home now.

Ailsa P.

11:27AM PST on Feb 2, 2012

No I wouldn't try it myself but then I have never had nose bleed problems! Strange. And I wonder how these old fplk remedies ever got started!

Elle E.

11:27PM PST on Jan 31, 2012

I couldn't justify having a poor sow in those horrible concrete and steel farrowing pens just to stop a nosebleed. Surely there must be something better than smoked animal parts?

Joan S.

9:00PM PST on Jan 31, 2012

I am a pediatrician and traind at St Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tn. We definitely used plugs of salt pork to help stop nasal bleeding in the children with leukemia. It works...and..after clotting occurs, the plugs slide out easily..whereas with other types of packing, the clot is sometimes pulled off when removal is attempted, re-initiating the bleed. I, too, wonder how it originated...but..it does work!! Joan S