Debunking Medical Myths

Many common beliefs about what is good and bad for you are untrue, and at times even doctors are taken in, claims a new article that examines the evidence behind seven common medical myths.

The seven beliefs held by members of the public and doctors selected for research and critical review, and subsequently resoundingly laid bare, are that:

People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
We use only 10% of our brains.
Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.
Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser.
Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight.
Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy.
Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals.

Conceding that their review was not systematic of all the possible myths around, or of all the evidence relating to them, the researchers did however find a large number of references to show that some of the myths had no supporting evidence, and that others even had evidence to disprove them. The article was published in the December 22, 2007, Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

"Physicians would do well to understand the evidence supporting their medical decision making,” concluded the authors, Rachel C. Vreeman, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis, USA), and Aaron E. Carroll, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Regenstrief Institute (Indianapolis, IN, USA). "They should at least recognize when their practice is based on tradition, anecdote, or art.


Related Links:
Indiana University School of Medicine
Regenstrief Institute