Common Health Misconceptions

Modern medicine can be very confusing at times. Unless you're a doctor (and sometimes, even if you are), you've probably heard things said about health that sound true, but really aren't. With things like ads for prescription drugs on television, a new 'food warning' every day and pamphlets that appear to be written in another language, it's no wonder there are so many misconceptions out there. I'm not a doctor or anything, but here are some medical misconceptions I've heard, and the truth behind them.

Sugar makes kids hyperactive. There is actually no conclusive medical evidence supporting this. While there were some studies in the 1980s regarding hyperactive children and sugar, it wasn't clear whether the sugar was causing the hyperactivity or if hyperactive kids just tended to eat more sugar. The association (if any) wasn't clear or conclusive. However, there are more reasons to limit our children's sugar intake-cavities, empty calories leading to weight gain, etc.

Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis. Cracking your knuckles may be annoying, but it won't cause arthritis. It's the result of excess air in the fluid casing surrounding our joints, which has nothing to do with arthritis or swelling (the other rumor commonly heard). Sorry, you'll have to find some other way to get your daughter to stop doing that during church. :)

Fingernails and hair keep growing after death. Honestly, I have no idea why this one is still around. Seeing as the scalp and nail beds are made up of living cells that die as they get longer, there is no reason that they would continue living once the body they are part of has died. It could be that the hair or nails look like they've grown because of the way the skin shrinks after death, but they do not actually gain length.

Snacking in the evening makes you gain weight. This isn't quite true. Basically, you can gain weight if you take in more calories than you burn, period. It doesn't matter what time of day you ingest said calories; your body doesn't know the difference anyway.

High-fructose corn syrup is made by the devil and will eat a hole in your stomach. Okay, no one really says this...at least, I hope not! But my point is that, despite all the hand-wringing you've seen from your mother-in-law, high-fructose corn syrup isn't any worse for you or any more likely to make you gain weight than 'regular' sugar is. Sugar is sugar is sugar; your body can't really tell the difference. In fact, if you ask your mother-in-law exactly what is wrong with HFCS, I'll bet she won't have an answer. 

While some studies have shown a possible link between HFCS and increased weight gain in mice, we're not mice. Tests on humans have been inconclusive. The real problem here, though, is the fact that some form of sugar is in pretty much everything we find these days, even things that aren't normally sweet. It's the over-ingestion of sugar in general that contributes to a problem with obesity, not any specific type.    
 

I hope I've been able to shed some light on a few common medical myths. There are so many out there that I had a hard time deciding which ones should go into this article, so I may find myself writing a second article about this. Aren't you lucky? :)