The reality behind health myths

Your mother – and her mother – said so. And it must be true – didn’t Abraham Lincoln ruin his eyes studying by firelight?

It’s more likely young Abe inherited a gene for myopia – nearsightedness, or difficulty seeing things at a distance – along with the gene for height. Parents often notice a direct link between nearsightedness and growth spurts. Sometimes the body grows so fast the eyes get out of proportion. When that happens, light hits the back of the eyes past the point where it would resolve into a clear image – just like an out-of-focus camera lens, so distant objects look fuzzy.

Reading or doing close-up work in poor light can make your eyes tired, but it won’t cause permanent damage.

This warning was probably invented by a frazzled parent who was tired of her children’s eye-crossing competitions. Strabismus – the medical name for crossed eyes – can be caused by nerve damage, problems in the control center of the brain, or genetics, among other things – but eyes won’t “stick that way.” In fact, doctors sometimes prescribe “eye push-ups” – getting patients to cross their eyes by focusing on a pencil or other small object as it moves toward the bridge of the nose – to train off-kilter eyes to align properly. Parents should be aware of any hint of crossed eyes because some rare pediatric cancers start with this symptom. If this is the case, parents should not hesitate to take their child to an eye doctor.

Speaking of feeding a cold, there’s some truth in the chicken soup legend, too. Chicken soup probably won’t make a cold go away faster – it doesn’t kill the virus. But whether it’s the broth itself, the vegetables in it, the steam that loosens congestion, or something else, scientists now believe chicken soup actually can relieve cold symptoms. They may debate forever about the exact reason, but who cares why, as long as you feel better?

Foods low in saturated or trans fats are better for your heart and arteries than fatty foods – but processed “low-fat” foods often are loaded with sugar and high in calories.

The only sure way to lose weight and keep it off is to burn more calories than you take in. The best way to do that is to control serving sizes and get active. Several online sources can help you track your calories, and some of them even include activities like housework and gardening in their “calories-burned” sections.

Rumor has it you use more calories chewing celery than it actually contains, so the net effect is “negative calories.” Not exactly. While celery has very few calories – about six per eight-inch stalk – you won’t burn more than six calories eating it. If you eat nothing but raw celery, there’s a chance you’ll use more calories digesting the stuff than you take in, but why would you want to do that?

Not necessarily. Some herbal medicines can be effective. Some form the basis for modern medications, like aspirin and digitalis, a powerful heart medicine. But think about this: In the wrong doses, aspirin and digitalis both can make you really sick – even really dead.

If you take herbal medicines or drink a lot of herbal teas, tell your doctor. Those herbs may duplicate other drugs you take, or they may interact dangerously with other drugs.

Oil causes acne – but not oil in the foods you eat. Your skin produces oil to keep you from being itchy and dry, but too much oil can clog hair follicles. That clog can turn into a blackhead or whitehead – or, if the follicle wall breaks near the surface, a pimple. When the pimple gets irritated, that’s acne. So what does make acne worse? Frequently, it’s direct contact with more oil – makeup, tanning oil, and hair products. Acne also can get worse with stress and hormonal changes. And squeezing or rough scrubbing can break bumps, irritate them, and turn them into – guess what? Acne! Your best bets for controlling acne:

This story comes around frequently, with one of two explanations: Either antiperspirants contain cancer-causing substances that get into lymph nodes through shaving nicks, or antiperspirants keep you from sweating out toxins. It might have started with women being told not to wear deodorant or antiperspirant when they have mammograms, but the reason isn’t that those substances are dangerous – it’s because they can look like abnormalities in the image.

The truth is that lymph nodes and sweat glands aren’t directly connected. And your system gets rid of toxins in many ways – not just through sweat. Controlled studies of both cancer survivors and women with no such history have found no link between cancer and antiperspirant use or underarm shaving. In fact, breast cancer rates have increased very little since the 1930s compared with antiperspirant use, which has grown dramatically. There’s a much stronger link between breast cancer and heredity, and breast cancer and oral contraceptives, than breast cancer and underarm hygiene.

You can’t believe everything you read on the Internet – or everything your grandmother told you. On the other hand, you can believe some of it.

If you’re concerned about health myths, the best thing you can do for yourself is to find out more. For more information, log in to MyHumana, your secure Website on Humana.com, or one of the other reliable sources below for accurate information about these and other health myths.