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Health Myths
Years ago, both true and false health information would spread slowly. Not today. The Internet and social media has given people the ability to send everyone on their email lists wild stories that end up mushrooming around the world in a matter of hours. Most of those health scares are a misreading of facts or a deliberate twisting of the truth. The following are a few examples and their truths. Drink eight glasses of water a day In 1945, the U.S. Food and Nutrition Board told people to consume eight glasses of fluid daily. Before long, we believed we needed eight glasses of water, in addition to what we eat and drink, every day. The Truth: Water’s great, but you can also fulfill your daily needs with juice, tea, milk, fruits, and vegetables. Even coffee quenches your thirst, despite its reputation as a diuretic. The caffeine makes you lose some liquid, but you’re still getting plenty. Stress will turn your hair gray In today’s crazy world with stress and deadlines, who doesn’t believe that stress can shock your locks? The Truth: Too much stress does age you inside and out. It ups the number of free radicals, scavenger molecules that attack your healthy cells, and increases the spill of stress hormones in your body. So far, though, no scientific evidence proves a bad day turns your locks gray. Reading in poor light ruins your eyes It’s the commonsense refrain of parents everywhere that reading under the covers or by moonlight will ruin your eyesight. The Truth: Reading in dim light can strain your eyes. You tend to squint, and that can give you a headache. But you won’t do any permanent damage, except maybe cause crow’s-feet. Your overtired eyes can get dry and achy, and may even make your vision seem less clear, but a good night’s rest will help your eyes recover just fine. Coffee’s really bad for you 108 million Americans crave coffee each morning. Could something so many crave possibly be good for you? Wrong. The Truth: Too much may give you the jitters, but your daily habit has a lot of positives. Coffee comes from plants, which have helpful phytochemicals that act as antioxidants. Drinking coffee gives your brain a boost, too. And, despite the jolt of energy it provides, coffee has no effect on heart disease. Feed a cold, starve a fever The old wives’ tale has been a staple since the 1500s when a dictionary master wrote, Fasting is a great remedy for a fever. The Truth: Colds and fevers are generally caused by viruses that tend to last seven to 10 days, no matter what you do. There is no proven evidence that diet has any effect on a cold or a fever. Even if you don’t feel like eating, you still need fluids, so put a priority on those. If you’re congested, the fluids will keep mucus thinner and help loosen chest and nasal congestion. Fresh is always better than frozen Ever since scientists and health care professionals realized the benefits of antioxidants, they’ve stated “eat more fresh fruits and veggies” which implied that eating frozen fruits and vegetables was second rate. The Truth: Frozen can be just as good as fresh because the fruits and vegetables are harvested at the peak of their nutritional content, taken from a plant, and frozen on the spot, locking in nutrients. Unless it’s picked and sold the same day, produce at farmers’ markets, though still nutritious, may lose nutrients because of heat, air, and water. Eggs raise your cholesterol In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists linked blood cholesterol with heart disease and eggs (high in cholesterol) were carefully eliminated from most diets. The Truth: Newer studies have found that saturated and trans fats in a person’s diet, not dietary cholesterol, are more likely to raise heart disease risk. And, at 213 milligrams of cholesterol, one egg slips under the American Heart Association’s recommendation of no more than 300 milligrams a day. Eggs offer lean protein and vitamins A and D, and they’re inexpensive and convenient. Get cold, and you’ll catch a cold It must be true because your mother always said so. The Truth: Mom was wrong. Chilling doesn’t hurt your immunity, unless you’re so cold that your body defenses are destroyed and that only occurs during hypothermia. You can’t get a cold unless you’re exposed to a virus that causes a cold. The reason people get more colds in the winter isn’t because of the temperature, but it may be a result of being cooped up in closed spaces with more people and exposed to cold viruses. Your lipstick could make you sick In 2007, an environmentalist group, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, had 33 lipsticks tested for lead. Although there’s no lead limit for lipstick, one third of the tubes had more than the limit allowed for candy. The Truth: The reality is that lead is in almost everything. It’s all around us. But the risk from lead in lipstick is extremely small. Lead poisoning is most commonly caused by other environmental factors like pipes and paint in older homes. 
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