Almost everyone has an old wives’ tales about a health issue, from a grandmother, best friend, or Internet “wisdom.”
In a recent poll of 1,000 doctors, more than 85 percent say they’ve encountered misinformation from patients in the last five years.
“We’re often looking for a one-pill type of solution, that one thing we can do to take care of a problem or simplify our lives to feel effective,” Dr. Leonor Fernandez, a primary care doctor at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, told Harvard Medical School.
“But for most things in health, the solution lies in the balance between what you do and what you eat rather than one specific thing.”
Being able to tell the difference between fact and fiction is critical when it comes to your longterm health and wellbeing, experts stress.
Nervous knuckle-crackers
Cracking your knuckles is a bad habit, and an old wives’ tale claims that doing so can cause arthritis.
The source of this belief, which has been bandied around for decades remains unclear. But doctors say it’s not true.
Osteoarthritis — which affects about 33 million U.S. adults and is by far the most common type of the joint condition — is caused by overuse, and wear and tear over time.
“The truth is there is no connection between cracking your knuckles and arthritis — or any other long-term health problem,” Dr. Eric Ruderman, a rheumatologist at Northwestern Medicine, stated.
Troubled over timing
More than 100 million Americans are living with obesity which increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease and other life-threatening conditions.
A frequent misconception is that eating at night can make you gain weight. Celebrities, like Marvel star Chris Hemsworth, reportedly participate in intermittent fasting, and not eating for hours before bedtime.
However, although your metabolism does slow at night, when you eat doesn’t actually count as much as what you’re eating at that meal.
“There may be some truth that our metabolism and insulin secretion change at night because we’re sleeping,” Fernandez said. “But I suspect what you eat, and whether your eating is mindful, matter more.”
Sticking around
An old, playground adage suggests that chewing gum can linger in your stomach for seven years after you swallow it.
But while our bodies don’t have the enzymes to break down the gum base, which is made of polymers and waxes, it does actually leave the body, gastroenterologist Dr. Nancy McGreal told Duke Health.
“In all the upper endoscopies I have done in both children and adults, I have yet to see a wad of gum lying around in the stomach,” she noted.
Caffeine queries
The myth that coffee stunts growth is believed to have stemmed from a business scheme in the 1930s. A 1933 ad, by Tycoon and Grape Nuts-maker C.W. Post for caffeine-free coffee substitute Postum, pushed a warning about a cup of joe.
The ad claimed that “by crowding milk out of the diet of children, coffee is a cause of undernourishment. It robs children of their rosy cheek sand sparkling eyes. It lowers their vitality, lessens their resistance to disease, and hampers proper development and growth,” according to a report by The Atlantic.
In reality, there’s no scientific evidence that drinking coffee can stunt a child’s growth, Harvard Medical School said.
“Caffeine does not meaningfully impact how tall a child gets,” pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Roy Kim told the Cleveland Clinic.
A cracking discovery
The myth that eating eggs causes high cholesterol is another scrambled truth that’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
While there’s no denying that eggs are high in cholesterol – with 186 milligrams in the yolk alone, or 62 percent of the recommended daily allowance – this will not significantly raise blood cholesterol levels, according to the Australia Health Alliance.
“Rather, it is the excessive consumption of foods high in saturated fats and sugar which tends to do this,” the alliance explains.
Eggs are also high in protein and other nutrients, and eating them may actually improve heart health, according to a Harvard University study.
Chill out
The idea that ice can help heal a burn seems reasonable to people who aren’t medical experts. Ice helps to soothe inflammation and other injuries.
Yet, putting ice on a burn can actually do more harm than good, doctors say. Ice can cause frostbite that further damages the skin, Tulsa ER and Hospital warned.
Instead, people should run the affected area under cool water.
“On a burned area, it is best to use running cool water, such as holding the burned area under a running tap for several minutes,” Mount Elizabeth Hospitals doctors recommend.
“Take some pain relief medication, and apply an antibiotic ointment and loose gauze to protect the area from germs.”
Drop it
The origin of the “5-second rule,” or the idea that food is still safe from bacteria following five seconds on the floor or another surface, may be surprising. It’s traced back to Mongolian warrior Genghis Khan, who created his own “Khan rule.”
Any food dropped on the floor at his banquets was considered good enough to eat because it was so special.
But bacteria transfers onto food the second that it hits the ground, according to Mount Elizabeth doctors.
“To avoid getting sick, you’re better off erring on the side of caution and throwing any dropped food away, or at the very least, washing it carefully first,” they wrote.
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