12 Health 'Facts' You Have Believed Are Actually Misleading
Lim Kairen
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Our parents would have us believe many health myths when we were younger. Most of which we would assume to be right for a very long time because as kids, we trusted that the adults were always right, or so we thought. Appendicitis and jumping around after eating was one of those myths that have been preached widely everywhere and guess what? They were wrong all along. To know more about those health myths that we were being misled about all these while, read on below for 12 health 'fact's you have believed which are actually misleading.
1. Microwaves Gives You Cancer
We've got older generation folks avoid using microwaves because they believe it can give cancer. But according to Cancer Research UK, microwaves only heat food and nothing more. Old folks will have you believe that microwaves can destroy the nutritional value of food but other forms of heating food, such as boiling, baking and grilling also does the same thing.
2. The 5 Second Rule Keeps Food Clean To Eat
We've all been guilty of picking food up again from the table and eating it as long as it's within 5 seconds from dropping it. But it actually depends more on how clean the surface of where you drop your food is. The Mythbusters once put this to the test and found out that once your food hits a dirty surface, it would have been contaminated in milliseconds.
3. Milk Is Good For You
Milk has long been associated with strong bones and healthy teeth but according to the Medical Research Journal, high milk intake is also associated with a higher mortality rate among men and women and higher fracture cases in women.
4. Consuming Chocolate Gives You Acne
Chocolate has also long been known as a cause of acne. But a medical experiment posted in the Journal of the American Medical Association conducted showed that chocolate did not have an effect on zits. One group which was involved in the experiment was given candy bars with 10 times amount of chocolate and the other was given fake chocolate bars. The results showed that there was no increase in zits in the group given real chocolate as compared to the other group.
5. Eating An Apple A Day Helps Keep The Doctor Away
Apples are known for its vitamin C and fibre but according to research, an apple can do nothing to help if a bacteria or a virus gets into your system. Only a flu shot has a higher chance of protecting you.
6. Jumping After A Meal Doesn't Give You Appendicitis
You probably have always believed that jumping and running after a meal will give you an appendicitis which is the inflammation of the appendicitis. But research says that this is not true. An appendicitis is caused when a hard piece of stool obstructs the very small opening of the appendix which leads to swelling, inflammation and infection.
7. Take Vitamins To Stay Healthy
Multivitamins are a billion dollar business but scientists are now saying that they are virtually ineffective to reduce the risk of any diseases and could be causing more harm than good. According to a journal posted in Scientific American, clinical trials done on people taking vitamin E, high doses of Vitamin A and beta-carotene actually increases death rates.
8. Sugar Is Addictive Like Cocaine
Ever saw a parody when a guy goes sneefing sugar like it's cocaine and then goes on feeling "high"? In real life, most actually do believe that sugar can become addictive like cocaine but as research has shown us, although sugar lights up parts of the brain similar to when we are having sex or taking cocaine, there is no evidence yet to show that it is addictive. In fact, scientists haven't had a clue as to what addiction is like in the brain.
9. With A Lack Of Oxygen, Your Blood Turns Blue
This is absolutely untrue because blood will never turn blue. It only becomes dark red when it's not carrying enough oxygen. An article on Scienceline also tells us that you could also be looking at your blueish veins and also the color red could be filtered to become blue because there are so many layers beneath the skin of which you are looking through.
10. Eating Carrots Allows You To See At Night
Vitamin A is great for our eyes and carrots have an abundance of it but if you think that eating lots of carrots can give you great night vision, then you will be very disappointed. Apparently, this myth was created as propaganda by the British hoping to mask away the new development of the radar and in hopes to trick the Nazis by saying that carrots have helped the British to "see" German planes flying in.
11. Cracking Knuckles Can Give You Arthritis
Sorry, this is not true as well. A research posted in the Journal of the American Board of Medicine clearly shows that there is no co-relation between Knuckle cracking and Arthritis. Subjects who knuckle crack and subjects who don't were still getting arthritis for their age groups of 50 – 89 years old.
12. Diabetes Is Caused By High Sugar Intake
Sugar is definitely not the main cause for diabetes because the disease is such a complex one. However, The American Diabetes Association had stated that weight gain and consuming too much sugary drinks are associated with a higher risk. So there's not much to worry for people who eat sugar in moderation because there is simply no direct evidence to say that sugar causes diabetes and there is no need to completely cut sugar off from your diet.
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