Health Myths & Misconceptions

A new research study, published in the journal Annals of Epidemiology, has found that smoking does not lead to weight loss in teenage girls and may stunt the growth of teenage boys.

Many girls pick up the smoking habit in their teenage years in the belief that smoking will keep them slim however this research suggests a link between smoking and weight loss, may in-fact be a myth.

A new study published by The Cochrane Library has placed doubt on both the safety of antioxidants, and their supposed health benefits by finding that several vitamins do not decrease mortality in healthy individuals and that in fact two vitamins, Vitamin A and E, may actually increase mortality.

The researchers, based in Denmark, analyzed the data from 67 clinical trials to determine the effects of five common antioxidant supplements on mortality. The supplements analyzed were vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, and beta carotene.

Sunscreens are known to prevent premature aging of the skin, sunburn, and the two most common forms of cancer: basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. To date however, no scientific study has shown that sun-screens can prevent the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma, which accounts for more than 75% of total skin cancer deaths.

The majority of studies to date on this issue have found that sun-screen use is actually associated with a higher risk of developing melanoma.

People diagnosed with HIV have very low life expectancies

As little as fifteen years ago, those diagnosed with HIV could expect to develop AIDS and die from the illness on average just five years after diagnosis. This was due to the late stage HIV was generally diagnosed at and the limited treatment options available.

These days, improvements in treatment and early diagnosis mean that people can on average expect to live for 24 years after being diagnosed with HIV. Younger people and those that take their HIV medication correctly can expect to live even longer that this with life expectancies close to those without HIV.

Many people avoid eggs because they believe the high amounts of cholesterol they contain causes heart disease. The vast majority of studies show that this is not the case and that even relatively high levels of egg consumption have neither a significant effect on an individuals cholesterol levels nor do they increase an individuals heart disease risk.

One study, conducted by researchers at Harvard Univeristy, followed around 120,000 individuals over a 14 year period. The study found absolutely no correlation between egg consumption and the risk of heart disease. Those who consumed two or more eggs each day were found to have almost exactly the same risk of heart disease as those who never consumed eggs at all.

Aspartame is an artificial sweetener that was approved for use in the united states in 1981 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Aspartame is around 200 times sweeter than sugar and is currently the second most widely used artificial sweetener behind sucralose (Splenda).

Aspartame critics claim that the sweetener causes everything from brain tumors and seizures to leukemia. Fortunately aspartame has been the subject of numerous studies of both humans and animals and has been shown to be safe at levels far beyond the acceptable daily intake (ADI).

A new study, published in the Journal “Reviews in Mutation Research” has shed light on some of the myths involving potential causes of cancer such as mobile phones, coffee, fluoridated water and artificial sweeteners.

The research study was carried out by Professor Brendan Stewart who is a cancer specialist at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Stewart analyzed numerous research reports and categorized various activities and chemical agents on their likelihood of causing cancer.

According to Stewart the research was carried out in order to give people some perspective on cancer risk, particularly in the case of low risk events that are often over-hyped in the media.

Many people believe that they must reduce or completely eliminate alcohol consumption once they have been diagnosed with diabetes. Many doctors will also tell you that long term alcohol consumption induces insulin resistance. Neither of these statement is true however as most clinical studies into the effects of alcohol on diabetes have found that:

1) The incidence of diabetes is much lower among light and moderate alcohol drinkers compared to those that abstain from drinking or drink heavily.

Some time during the 20th century cholesterol become the scape goat for the rapidly escalating heart disease rates that the western world was experiencing at the time. Despite what may be reported in the mainstream media about the importance of lowering cholesterol levels by limiting consumption of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat, the evidence from actual clinical trials and studies paints a different picture.

While it is true that high blood cholesterol (known as serum cholesterol) levels and a lower ratio of high density lipoprotein (HDL) to low density lipoprotein (LDL) are associated with a higher incidence of heart disease, many myths exist as to what actually increases cholesterol in the blood.