The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune

There were many interesting winter residents who spent the winter season in The Bahamas during the 1940s and 50s. Mr John Manning was a most interesting person. His passion was deep sea fishing for billfish.

Mr Manning, his wife and their daughter always rented a house somewhere on Eastern Road during the winter months. The Mannings always employed the same house staff to look after them when they were here.

During one of their Bahamian visits sometime in the late 1950s, Mr Manning mentioned to his cook that his stay in Nassau would be cut short because he faced surgery in the US to correct a problem he had with persistent bleeding ulcers. According to Mr Manning, the immediate reply of his cook was that he didn’t need surgery as she knew how to correct a bleeding ulcer. Her solution was for the affected person to include okra - in any form - in every meal, including breakfast.

Manning had nothing to lose so he agreed to have his cook act as his gastroenterologist. When, as scheduled, he checked in with his doctor in the US he was told he no longer had a bleeding ulcer and certainly didn’t need any surgery.

Manning, who was quite well off, became fascinated by the potential of using okra as a medicine. He hired someone to do research on the medical history of people who live in areas that have a high consumption of okra in their regular diet. This researcher found few problems with ulcers in the Deep South of the US where okra is a popular food.

He then hired people to synthesise okra, determining what chemicals or elements are present. Much of this work was done by a biologist at Fairchild Botanical Gardens in Miami. He also found out where it was economical to grow okra and came to the conclusion that Louisiana was the best location. I don’t know if Mr Manning ever purchased any property there, but I do know that his expenditure on okra started to mount to a considerable level.

At about this time two researchers from Australia found that ulcers were caused by a bacteria called H. pylori. That discovery meant that most of Manning’s work was to no avail as anyone with ulcers could be cured by simply taking medicine to eradicate the H. pylori bacteria.

Despite the disappointment, Mr Manning did find a use for some of his huge expenditure on okra. Apparently, because of his work, it is used as a bugger in some aspirin to reduce the acidic effects of this medicine.

I don’t know what ever happened to John Manning, his wife Jo or his daughter Mary. If anyone who reads this has this information please let me know at johnw@inbox.com

JOHN A. WANKLYN

Nassau

October 29, 2019