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Medical Myths DeBunked
Can you tell the
difference between medical fact and fiction?
By Jean
Lawrence
WebMD Feature
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You don't want to
be an April fool -- or any kind of fool -- when it
comes to your health. Yes, those old wives knew a
thing or two, but they never went to medical school
or conducted a scientific study. Are you sure you
know the answers to the following?
1: Chewing gum takes seven years to
pass through your digestive system.
__ True __ False __ Only Juicy Fruit
ANSWER: False. The gum component
itself is pretty indigestible, but will "pass" in a
mass and will not stick your insides together,
either. This one probably got going when exasperated
parents tired of buying more gum after half an hour
because their kids had chomped, then swallowed,
their allotment. Also, swallowing gum was seen as
ignorant and lower class.
"My husband's mother told him he
would grow a gum tree in his stomach!" Loraine
Stern, MD, clinical pediatrics professor at UCLA,
tells WebMD.
Incidentally, the desire to chew for
chewing's sake is quite ancient. Our ancestors used
to chap away at tree resin. Did you know that Santa
Anna of Alamo fame first turned gum manufacturers
onto the gum resin. He thought it would be a good
substitute for rubber. It's OK to swallow the
occasional watermelon seed, too, unless you suffer
from intestinal inflammation. Doctors are pretty
sure watermelon seeds do not grow into full-fledged
watermelons.
2: Cutting salt intake can help your
high blood pressure.
__ True __ False __ Pass the pretzels
ANSWER: True. People are not in love
with the idea of a tossing the salty snacks and tend
to ignore this advice. But in 1998, at the 13th
International Interdisciplinary Conference on
Hypertension in Blacks, researchers said that in
blacks with high blood pressure who get higher
amounts of salt in their diets, even a small
decrease in salt can help regulate blood pressure.
Blacks are particularly prone to hypertension, but
the advice goes for everyone. Tossing the salt
shaker is not the whole answer. That's because most
of the salt we eat comes from processed foods --
such as deli meats and canned foods. The best advice
is to change your taste for salt. Don't
automatically salt before tasting. Use herbal
seasonings and condiments to flavor your foods.
Pretty soon, things will begin to taste too salty
and you'll be on the right track.
3: Cracking your knuckles will cause
arthritis in later life.
__ True __ False __ Maybe
ANSWER: False. Depending on your
point of view, knuckle-popping sounds disgusting or
cool. There is no evidence that cracking your
knuckles inflames the joints and leads to arthritis.
The cracking causes the bones to pull apart, forming
a gas bubble and breaking the adhesive seal in the
joint. Crack! About a quarter of the population
crack their knuckles and might begin to lose their
grip a little. Constant cracking can weaken the
fingers.
4: Staring at an eclipse can blind
you.
__ True __ False __ Only if you're
not wearing specially made sunglasses
ANSWER: True. Never view the sun
directly with the naked eye or with any unfiltered
optical device, such as binoculars or a telescope!.
As sunlight enters the eye, it can
damage the light-sensitive nerve endings in the back
of the eye -- known as the retina -- causing vision
loss.
Total and partial eclipses can lead
to serious damage if precautions are not taken to
prevent blindness. This is why there are only a few
safe ways to view an eclipse, such as with a
referred image. Regular sunglasses, exposed film,
and even a welder's helmet are not safe.
5: Staying out in the cold and wind
will give you a cold.
__ True __ False
ANSWER: False. Colds are caused by
viruses, with enough variations to give you a choice
of 200 versions of a cold (which is why you get them
over and over again). Because viruses get into
healthy cells, it's difficult to kill them without
knocking off the good cells. This is the job of your
immune system, which usually clears out cold viruses
in a week or two. You can get the virus through
inhaling infected air droplets sneezed or coughed by
an infected person, or by touching something that an
infected person has touched and then transferring
the germs to your mouth or nose. You don't get it
from cold air, slush, wind, or other wintry
conditions.
Cold viruses are more active in the
winter, and that's why people get more colds in the
winter. Stern says she used to come home from swim
class, her wet hair frozen crispy, but never got
sick until her mother saw it and said, "You will get
such a cold!" So what's the best way to ward off
this miserable virus? Wash your hands often.
6: You can catch a sexually
transmitted disease (STD) from a toilet seat.
__ True __ False __ Who told you
that?
ANSWER: False. Mary J. O'Sullivan,
MD, vice chair for ob-gyn at the University of
Miami, tells WebMD that the idea that you could get
an STD from a toilet seat "sounds believable," but
is highly unlikely. Hard surfaces such as toilet
seats are not conducive to STDs. Incidentally, there
is rumor that the toilet seat myth got started by
men who wanted their wives to think a public
restroom, not their mates' adulterous ways, had
given them an STD.
7: Feeding kids sugar causes
hyperactivity.
__True __ False __ Possibly
ANSWER: False. Don't go by the kids
cake icing, advises O'Sullivan. You may notice a
correlation between sugar intake and romping or
grumping in the short-term, but not as a cause of
chronic hyperactivity.
8: Drinking warm milk puts you to
sleep.
__ True __False __ ZZZZZZZZZ
ANSWER: True, Stern says. Milk
contains a chemical known as tryptophan. However,
some foods, such as cheddar, avocados, some imported
beers, and bologna or salami, can keep you awake.
Other sleep tips include never oversleeping. Get up
about the same time everyday even if you had trouble
sleeping. And try to get to bed at around the same
time every evening.
9: Chocolate causes acne.
__ True ___ False __ Who cares, it
tastes good!
ANSWER: False. Stern says the link
between chocolate intake and acne outbreaks has been
broken. Another study, however, showed that stress
can cause outbreaks. Acne forms when the oil glands
make too much sebum, a waxy substance that along
with dead skin cells can clog pores. Bacteria grow
and irritate the blocked pore given the red and
swollen look to them. Too much harsh washing can
further inflame the area. Doctors have many tools to
attack and control acne these days. Some birth
control pills even promise to improve acne.
10: Teething causes a fever.
__ True __ False __ Look for another
cause.
ANSWER: False. Stern says studies
have shown that symptoms such as fever and diarrhea
may make teething babies more miserable but have not
been triggered by the teething. "No correlation with
tooth eruption," she says. In fact, she adds, if the
teething baby has a fever, you might want to look
for another cause in addition to adding choppers.
Feel smarter?
Those old wives over there are
looking pretty smug.
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