How reliable is the health information we find online? The Web has become the US’s most powerful medical advisor: Last year, 61 million more Americans turned to it for health answers than consulted their doctors, and nearly 46 million changed their health decisions accordingly. About 28 million asked for a different treatment based on information they found online and 11 million challenged their doctor’s diagnosis.
While trustworthy websites like MedlinePlus and PubMed offer valuable resources to learn about medical conditions, some sites perpetuate misconceptions, half-truths or outright lies about health. To separate fact from fiction, a quirky new book, Don’t Cross Your Eyes…They’ll Get Stuck That Way! (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011), by Dr. Aaron Carroll and Dr. Rachel Vreeman, explores—and busts—75 medical myths with authoritative research. Here’s a look at five of the most surprising fallacies:
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1) Myth: Eggs give you high cholesterol.
Fact: An egg contains 212 mg of cholesterol (in the yolk; the white doesn’t have any), while the recommended daily limit is 300 mg. But there’s remarkably little scientific evidence that for most people, eating high cholesterol foods lifts blood cholesterol levels. A study involving 120,000 men and women found no difference in heart attack or stroke rates over a 14-year period in those who ate one or more eggs daily, compared to those who ate eggs an average of once a week.
The bottom line: Eggs can be part of a healthy diet, since they contain protein, vitamins and minerals, including substances that actually help prevent heart disease.
2) Myth: You should stretch before you exercise.
Fact: Anyone who works out has heard that it’s crucial to stretch, which is supposed to prevent sports injuries. However, a CDC review of 361 published studies found that improved flexibility from stretching did not reduce injuries from sports or fitness activities. Another review found little or no benefit for reducing muscle soreness from exercise. What’s more, some research suggests that stretching may actually have some negative effects, shocking as that sounds. It’s been linked to temporary decreases in strength, worse jumping performance, and reduced flexing strength in the ankles.
The bottom line: Stretching doesn’t prevent injuries, but warming up in other ways, such as walking, jogging or calisthenics, was linked to reduced injury rates in three studies, making it a better bet to help you exercise more safely.
3) Myth: Kids in daycare catch more colds.
Fact: While some studies show that kids who attend daycare have higher rates of respiratory infections, particularly during the first six months of attendance, that’s balanced by a dramatically reduced risk of colds when they are older. One study found that kids who go to large daycare centers have fewer colds than other children in later years when they’re in school, and miss fewer days due to illness.
The bottom line: Day care kids seem to build up immunities to common colds and viruses at an earlier age than do kids who are cared for at home, so overall, they don’t have more colds during childhood.
4) Myth: The door handle is the dirtiest object in a public bathroom.
Fact: Amazingly, the door handle—and the toilet seat—are usually the two cleanest objects in a public bathroom, according to studies by Dr. Chuck Gerba (aka Dr. Germ). By far the dirtiest surface is the bathroom floor, which often contains more than 2 million bacteria per square inch—a good reason to not put your handbag or briefcase on the floor. Bathroom faucets and sinks are also much dirtier than the door handle, because people don’t wash their hands before touching them.
The bottom line: Surfaces touched by many unwashed hands, such as elevator buttons, hotel TV remotes, ATM screens, and shopping carts, harbor more germs than bathroom door handles.
5) Myth: Carbonated soda makes your bones brittle.
Fact: While nobody would claim that soda is a health food, bubbles don’t weaken bones. This myth, the book explains, originated from an old study reporting that people who drank carbonated, caffeinated beverages (such as colas) had more calcium in their urine, suggesting that they were losing the main building block of bone. The same study, however, also found that later in the day, the kidneys compensated by reducing the amount of calcium excreted. As a result, the net loss was negligible. Newer studies report no link between non-cola carbonated drinks and weak bones. One study, however, found that the more cola women drank, the lower their bone density, probably because heavy cola drinkers in the study also had a lower intake of calcium.
The bottom line: Whether or not you drink carbonated beverages, adequate calcium and vitamin D are essential to protecting bone health.
source:yahoo.net
