Official News page 9

REAL LIFE NEWS: THINGS YOUR MOM TOLD YOU THAT AIN'T TRUE

by Hazed

I was shocked a few years ago to learn that there is absolutely no need to wait an hour before swimming after you've eaten a meal. It turns out that's an old wives' tale with absolutely no truth whatsoever, despite the fact that generations of children have been brought up believing it (see http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/hourwait.asp).

Now the British Medical Journal has published an article which debunks six more of those medical "facts" that everybody knows. Even doctors sometimes believe things about our bodies that turn out not to be true, says the article. The team trawled through medical literature and the internet looking for evidence on a range of commonly found beliefs.

They found that eating late at night does not make you put on weight any more than eating at any other time of day; sugar does not cause children to go all hyperactive; poinsettias are not all that poisonous; and you don't lose most of your body heat through your head, even if you are bald.

Shocking!

Head over to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7789302.stm to read the details on these and other medical myths that turn out to be absolute rubbish.

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