Two researchers in Norway once tried to solve a real surgical headache with ingredients that sound like a pub menu. Their paper in the BMJ, titled "Effect of ale, garlic, and soured cream on the appetite of leeches," was published on December 24, 1994. It asked whether beer, sour cream, or garlic could coax medicinal leeches into biting faster.
The results were not what folk medicine promised. Leeches dipped in beer reportedly became erratic, and leeches placed on garlic-smeared skin died.
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