Ever wonder if an apple a day really keeps the doctor away, or
if going out in the cold with wet hair will make you sick? Like
family heirlooms, health beliefs tend to get passed from one
generation to the next.
Ever wonder if an apple a day really keeps the doctor away, or if going out in the cold with wet hair will make you sick? Like family heirlooms, health beliefs tend to get passed from one generation to the next. We put 10 persistent health beliefs under the microscope to determine if they have any merit.
Don’t swim for at least 30 minutes after eating
When you eat, your body moves oxygen-rich blood to your digestive system; when you exercise, blood is redirected to your muscles. So, if you swim after eating, your gut could be deprived of oxygen, which might lead to cramping. However, “I’ve never seen a patient who reported this problem,” says Dr. Jonathan Schreiber, a gastroenterologist.
Bottom line: It makes sense to avoid strenuous exercise on a full stomach.
Drink at least eight glasses of water a day
Dr. Heinz Valtin, a retired Dartmouth Medical School professor, wondered where this rule got its start. His findings: “After 10 months of very careful searching, I couldn’t find its exact origin or any scientific evidence for the number eight whatsoever.”
Bottom line: Kids and adults need to stay hydrated, but if you live in a temperate climate and are not engaging in strenuous exercise, it’s probably fine to let your thirst dictate how much you drink.
Sugar makes kids hyper
This is one of the most pervasive health myths around. But when researchers put it to the test, they found no evidence that sugar led to hyperactivity in kids or adults. So what turns an otherwise calm kid into a human pinball after an encounter with a birthday cake? Blame it on the excitement of the party.
Bottom line: “Sugar may have an effect on kids with established hyperactivity, but it won’t make a nonhyperactive child hyperactive,” says professor Richard Surwit.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
“I don’t know if it would keep the doctor away, but your basic apple is a pretty good and healthful food,” says Dr. Gerard Mullin. Apples contain Vitamin C and are high in fiber, and they’re particularly abundant in quercetin, an antioxidant that revs up the immune system and helps protect against various diseases, including heart disease.
Bottom line: Apples may help you stay healthy, but even an apple a day can’t replace the benefits of a balanced diet.
Swallowed gum stays in your body for seven years
Despite what you may have heard, the Hubba Bubba you swallowed as a kid didn’t stick around for long. Although the main ingredient in gum is an indigestible synthetic base, “it moves through the digestive tract at the same rate as any other food and isn’t likely to get stuck in your intestines,” says Dr. Mitchell Shub.
Bottom line: Always try to spit out your gum, but if you accidentally swallow it, just remember that it too shall pass.
Feed a cold, starve a fever
This one has been confounding folks for centuries. For one thing, half of us have it backward. Either way, “it’s not good medicine,” says Dr. David Donnersberger, a clinical instructor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. In fact, says Dr. Donnersberger, “during any infection, the body needs increased intake of calories and fluid.”
Bottom line: Feed a cold. And feed that fever too.
Going outside in the cold with wet hair will make you sick
If you’d asked your doctor about this one a few years ago, she would have laughed and told you there was no correlation between the two. But a recent study in which half of the volunteers stuck their feet in ice water indicated that some people may be more susceptible to colds if they become chilled after exposure to a virus.
Bottom line: Although it’s not definitive, your mom may have been right to nag you about wet hair. “If you’ve run your immune system down – chilling might be one way of doing that – and you’ve been exposed to a virus, you could be more likely to come down with a cold,” says Diana Noah, Ph.D., a research virologist at Southern Research Institute.
Chicken soup can cure a cold
Grandma may have been on to something. “Chicken soup has long been esteemed as a traditional remedy for colds,” says integrative medicine expert Dr. Andrew Weil, “And a growing body of evidence suggests there’s more than folk wisdom at work here.” A 1978 study, for example, found that sipping hot liquids, such as soup, helps temporarily clear clogged nasal passages. More recent research showed that chicken soup has the power to slow neutrophils, the white blood cells that cause many of your nastiest cold symptoms.
Bottom line: It won’t cure your cold, but a nice bowl of chicken soup might help you get over it faster – and help you feel better while you’ve got it.
Carrots are good for your eyes
Bugs Bunny didn’t wear glasses, but his uncanny ability to spot a hunter at a hundred paces had nothing to do with his favorite food. While carrots do have a lot going for them, including fiber and vitamin A, eating them won’t improve your vision. Truth is, the British Royal Air Force started this myth during World War II to explain its pilots’ phenomenal success at locating enemy bombers in near-total darkness. In reality, it was the development of one of the first radar systems that gave the pilots “superior vision.”
Bottom line: If you don’t get enough vitamin A, your vision can suffer. “But vitamin A is stored in the body,” says Dr. Clyde Kitchen, author of “Fact and Fiction of Healthy Vision,” “so you’d have to be on a starvation diet for a long time before you’d run short of your natural reserves of it.”
Reading in dim light or sitting too close to the TV will hurt your eyes
You can breathe easy: all those hours spent under the covers with a book and a flashlight or nose-to-nose with your favorite cartoon characters haven’t hurt your vision, and they won’t hurt your child’s either. “The eyes are remarkably durable for reading, seeing and tracking,” says Dr. John Hagan, an ophthalmologist and editor of Missouri Medicine. And kids’ eyes are even better than adults’ at adjusting to different levels of light.
Bottom line: Both practices could cause some minor – but strictly temporary – eyestrain.
