The now-defunct Australian news magazine, The Bulletin,
published a really interesting article where they explored 10
popular health claims and gave them a reality check. I shall
reproduce the article here. 
Myth Busters - We give 10
popular health claims a reality check.
by Katherine Fleming
Knowing what is good for you may
seem daunting, with the endless and every-changing stream of health
claims. It's hard to tell what will apparently give you
cancer, protect you against it, damage your heart, cleanse
your body, boost your immune system or help you lose
weight.
Some of these health messages have become folklore but do they
stack up? Some are just untrue, many are built on suspicions
since disproved, and all lack conclusive scientific results.
That said, anabsence of proof that somethin gis risky doesn't
necessarily mean it's safe.
The Bulletin canvassed the experts on 10 common health
claims.
1 Drink eight
glasses of water a day.
There's no scientific backing for this oft-cited rule, which has
seen the water bottle become a ubiquitous accessory. It's
such a popular myth it was endorsed by Kidney Health Australia
(KHA), until it reviewed the policy about five years ago and
discovered a "distinct lack of evidence.
The origin of "8X8" - eight glasses of eight ounces (240mls) -
is unclear, although a potential suspect is a 1974 book by American
nutritionist, Dr Frederick J Stare.
KHA Medical Director, Dr Tim Mathew, says the best rule is drink
when you're thirsty, and choose water. You can use the colour
of your urine as a guide - pale amber is good, darker means you're
dehydrated.
2 Foods like
grapefruit, vinegar and chilli burn fat.
No foods can burn fat. Talk of a fat-burning enzyme in
grapefruit, for example, isn't backed by evidence. Some
foods, like chilli and caffeine, increase your metabolic rate
briefly but no tenough to have any real effect, says Nutrition
Australia.
Grapefruit is a healthy food, so include it in your diet
(although it can interact with some medications) but any
single-food regime, like the Grapefruit Diet reportedly favoured by
celebrities such as Brooke Shields, is a bad idea.
3 Excessive mobile
phone use will give you a brain tumour.
There's no increased risk in people who have used their mobile
for less than 10 years, but the jury is still out on longer-term
use.
Cancer Council CEO, Prof Ian Olver, says inconsistent findings
for mobile phone use for over more than a decade mean that more
investigation is needed - a Danish study found no link to incraesed
cancer rates, but Swedish research suggested potential risk.
Results generally aren't broken down for heavy versus infrequent
mobile users, or for hands-free devices.
Proving such a link is difficult because it's likely most
cancers are caused by a combination of factors. Olver says
there's yet to be a convincing argument on how mobile phonen
radiation could cause the DNA disruption necessary for cancer to
develop.
4 Vitamin C stops
you getting a cold.
Despite widespread use of the vitamin for this purpose, a
Cochrane Review this year concluded that there's not much
point.
The results of 30 trials showed that taking Vitamin C
supplements (orally 0.2g+) makes almost no difference to whether
you get a cold, unless you're doing extreme exercise and / or in
very cold temperatures (marathon runners, skiers, soldiers on
sub-arctic exercises).
Taking Vitamin C before the cold can cut its duration, but after
you have symptoms it makes no significant difference.
Severity isn't affected.
5 Artificial
sweeteners are carcinogenic.
this concern arose when studies in rats found that high doses of
saccharin, the oldest artificial sweetener, caused bladder stones,
which can lead to bladder cancer.
But Dr David Thomas, an oncologist from the Peter MacCallum
Cancer Centre, says that most of the associations made between
sweeteners and cancer in humans have been technically flawed.
"There have been quite a number of reasonably powered
association studies, and overall I don't think there is any
evidence that any form of sweetener is associated with increased
cancer risk, " he says.
To Be Continued...
