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Medical fact or fiction? 10 common health beliefs explained by a doctor
Study Finds ^ | February 19, 2025 | Dr. Faith Coleman

Posted on 02/19/2025 8:05:48 AM PST by Red Badger

Should you put ice on a burn? Will too much sugar give you diabetes? There is a lot of fiction masquerading as medical “facts.” Some of these “facts” just refuse to go away, despite plenty of solid research to refute them.

Here’s the truth about 10 popular health beliefs that patients often ask me about. I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to talk to your doctor before making a medical decision, especially when you’re simply going off passed-down folk wisdom.

1. Never apply ice to a burn.

Fact. Ice causes constriction of blood vessels and will make a burn deeper, because healing blood flow to the area burned will be restricted. You can also damage your skin by direct application of ice. Instead, immediately immerse the burn in cool water, or apply a cool, wet compress for at least 10 minutes. Then wash the area with soap and water, apply petroleum jelly or antibiotic ointment, and cover it with a dressing. Don’t break blisters – that’s an invitation to infection. If you see red streaking or redness spreading around the burn, you may have an infection and should see your healthcare provider. Read about caring for a minor burn.

2. Eating too much sugar will give you diabetes.

Fiction. Sugar becomes glucose in your bloodstream. In response, your body makes insulin to regulate blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes is a problem with insulin regulation, not sugar intake. Excessive sugar can lead to overweight and obesity, which are risk factors for type 2 diabetes. That makes eating a well-balanced diet, without a lot of added sugar, important for your health.

It isn’t possible to determine with certainty what specific foods or nutrients are increasing your risk for Type 2 diabetes. Read more about sugar’s role in the disease.

3. Eating carrots improves your vision.

Fiction. Carrots won’t improve your vision, but they’re good for your eyes as they’ll help improve overall good health. Carrots are orange because they contain beta-carotene, which your body converts into Vitamin A. The vitamin is important for vision. Give yourself half credit if you responded “Fact.” Read about foods with vitamin A.

4. A person having a seizure can swallow their tongue.

Fiction. A person having a seizure cannot swallow their tongue. Don’t put something like a spoon or tongue depressor in their mouth; it can lead to injury. Turn a person seizing on their side to assist breathing, help keep them from biting their tongue, and prevent them from breathing in vomit or excessive saliva. Use something like a pillow or folded clothing to cushion their head. Read more about first aid for seizures.

5. After a heart attack, you should usually return to your workouts.

Fact. Many people use a heart attack as their excuse to become less physically active. A lifestyle low in activity, however, may have contributed to the cardiac disease that led to a heart attack.

According to the American College of Cardiology’s Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Council, 20 to 30 minutes of daily exercise can contribute to strengthening your heart. With your doctor, create a safe, effective exercise routine.

6. You don’t need eight glasses of water daily.

Fact. There is no scientific evidence that you need eight glasses of water daily. Your requirement depends on a number of factors including body size, climate, and activity level.

According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine adequate fluid intake daily is about 11.5 cups (2.7 liters) for women or 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) for men. That includes food, water, and other beverages. We get about 20% of our water from food. Eight glasses of water usually refer to 12-ounce glasses, or 12 cups (2.84 liters.)

7. Sitting up straight can be bad for your back.

Fact. Sitting up straight for too long without a break can strain your back. When you’re sitting, keep your lower back supported and your legs uncrossed, knees at a 90-degree angle. It can also relieve back strain to sit with your knees higher than your hips. You can use a stool under your desk or in from of your chair on which to rest one or both feet.

8. Bar soap is covered with germs.

Fiction. You might leave germs on the soap when you’re handling the bar to wash up, but research has demonstrated that bacteria on a bar of soap die within minutes and are not transmitted to someone using the soap after you.

Another study in Epidemiology and Infection confirmed that bacteria transferred on soap are not transmitted by washing hands.

9. You cannot get the flu more than once a season.

Fiction. More than one flu strain is circulating every year. Being sick with one of them doesn’t protect you from the others. Also, not all the current circulating flu strains are covered by the flu vaccine – just the most prevalent strains. So, get your flu shot. Stay home when you’re sick. Wash your hands often with soap and water. Cover your mouth and nose with tissue when you cough or sneeze.

10. You should rinse the toothpaste from your mouth after brushing your teeth.

Fiction. If you’re using non-fluoridated mouthwash or water to rinse, you’re also spitting out the fluoride that’s protecting you from tooth decay before it can work. If you still feel that you need to rinse, use as little water as possible, swish, and spit out the foam, to keep as much fluoride on your teeth as possible. Studies show that leaving traces of toothpaste in your mouth can reduce tooth decay by up to 25%.

Did you learn or unlearn any facts or ideas? If you found one (or more) of the beliefs on this list surprising, then it’s likely others close to you might be just as surprised. Be sure to share this post with them so they too can make wiser decisions about everyday health.


TOPICS: Food; Health/Medicine; Military/Veterans; Society
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To: Red Badger

Beware the Dunning-Kruger effect. We all think we know better than physicians if we slept at the Holiday Inn Express. And the medical profession, with its loyalties to the Big Bucks, hasn’t done itself any favors.

PS: I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express for 9 years, excluding undergraduate studies.


21 posted on 02/19/2025 10:55:51 AM PST by JusPasenThru (We are Free to be Americans Again.)
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To: Flaming Conservative

IOLP.


22 posted on 02/19/2025 10:56:27 AM PST by JusPasenThru (We are Free to be Americans Again.)
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To: Flaming Conservative
How could an old guy’s vision improve like this if not for the carrot juice?

The eye injections?

My eyesight improved steadily from age 55 or so to age 70., so much so that I was able to wear soft contacts for the first time. Nothing to do with carrots or supplements. Then cataracts caught up with me so I got the lens implants. Now I can see very well, thank you.

23 posted on 02/19/2025 11:02:11 AM PST by JusPasenThru (We are Free to be Americans Again. )
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To: Red Badger

10. <— not correct.

You should definitely rinse a lot after a First Round of brushing your teeth, because there is a lot of matter that needs to be flushed - especially between your teeth . . . and vigorous swishing of water with some toothpaste in it, helps.

After that ‘processing,’ then you might - if you want - make a brief Second Round of brushing, to apply paste and rinse as you please: whatever you consider a light rinse - perfection not required.

Tip: Parodontax tooth brush is very effcient
https://www.parodontax.com/products/complete-protection-toothbrush/


24 posted on 02/19/2025 11:02:48 AM PST by linMcHlp
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To: Flaming Conservative
The eye injections?

No, those are for preventing the growth of abnormal blood vessels under the macula that leak fluid and blood that reduce vision.

He's been getting those since his 50s and the boatloads of carrot juice has been only in the last several years.

25 posted on 02/19/2025 11:04:32 AM PST by Lizavetta
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To: metmom
Converting ice at 32F to water at 32F takes far more heat than simply raising the water or ice by themselves. [???!!!]

Don't exactly understand what you were trying to say there at the end. But, indeed:

The enthalpy of fusion is the amount of energy required to convert one mole of solid into liquid. For example, when melting 1 kg of ice (at 0 °C [...]), 333.55 kJ [about 80 (kilo)calories] of energy is absorbed with no temperature change.
-Wikipedia

Thus, 1 kg of ice at 32 °F has a far greater cooling power than that same 1 kg of H2O at 32 °F in liquid form. Indeed, merely melting 1 kg of ice - without any temperature increase - would absorb as much heat from the surrounding environment (e.g., the burnt flesh) as would be required to then proceed to elevate the temperature of the resultant meltwater another 80 degrees Celsius (approaching boiling)!

If you want to cool a burn wound, ice would thus be more effective than ice-water - though solid ice would display little to no convection (one of the three ways heat can be transferred). In other words: Liquid water can transfer the heat away from the wound faster.

Light, loose powdered snow would probably be a better choice, but nevertheless, I think that I'd prefer ice-water - since the objective isn't to freeze the damaged tissue, but rather just to remove the excess heat left over from the actual burn event.

Once the burned tissue has been brought back to about 98.6 °F, there's no curative benefit to further cooling. The only benefit further cooling would provide would be to numb the pain (not to be underestimated!).

Regards,

26 posted on 02/19/2025 11:38:17 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: JusPasenThru
My eyesight improved steadily from age 55 or so to age 70., so much so that I was able to wear soft contacts for the first time. Nothing to do with carrots or supplements.

Were you, in younger years, myopic (near-sighted)?

Then it is quite possible that Presbyopia (the natural, age-related reduction in visual acuity most people start experiencing in their 40s and 50s; essentially a "stiffening" of the eye's lens) can lead to a slight shift in the focal point; the eye's focussing power changes, making distant objects appear clearer.

As a young man, I needed prescription glasses with -2.5 diopters. Now, in my senior years, I can "get by" with -2.0 diopters. (However, it is difficult now to focus on near objects.)

Regards,

27 posted on 02/19/2025 11:49:18 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Lizavetta
He's been getting those since his 50s and the boatloads of carrot juice has been only in the last several years.

Any side-effects?

Regards,

28 posted on 02/19/2025 11:53:26 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: metmom; MRobert
I know this sounds crazy, but when I have a minor burn I immediately run hot water over it—as hot as I can stand. This was told to me by a restaurant employee. I found that the burn rarely blistered when I did this and we owned a restaurant for 40 years.

I suspect that restaurant kitchen burns frequently involve hot grease or hot, greasy foods.

In such cases, it's probably important to flush / irrigate the skin in an effort to sweep away / rinse off foreign matter / contaminants.

Hot (not scalding!) water would probably be more effective to do this than cold water.

Cold water might cause the grease and oils to actually congeal in situ - thus worsening the healing.

So the hot water wouldn't help to cool the burn site, but it would at least be more effective in eliminating contamination of the wound.

Probably best to first clean with hot water, then switch to cold water.

Just my 2 cents!

Regards,

29 posted on 02/19/2025 11:59:31 AM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: alexander_busek

The only reason ice water is the better option is that it’s less likely to cause frostbite.


30 posted on 02/19/2025 12:41:03 PM PST by metmom (He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus)
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To: Red Badger

Think it on FreeRepublic where I learned you can heal fast
and remove the pain from minor burns with fluoride, or just
toothpaste with fluoride. Worked for me in less than 1 hour
likely depends how severe.


31 posted on 02/19/2025 2:01:55 PM PST by BrandtMichaels ( 1st Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins." )
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Whenever I burned myself, I always searched out a bag of frozen vegetables or an ice pack. If you do this quickly enough, a bad burn will turn moderate. A moderate burn will be almost indistinguishable from not being burned at all. Part of being burned causes inflammation, inflammation is lessened by application of ice, like for a sprained ankle.


32 posted on 02/19/2025 2:40:49 PM PST by Glad2bnuts
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To: Zuriel

I stopped drinking soda entirely about five years ago but was never hooked on it. Wife is a bit of an addict. I know people who swear by diet soda and go through cases of it every month. Stuff is horrible for you. I did not keep it in the house because it was too hard to monitor my daughter. She was rarely allowed a soda growing up.


33 posted on 02/19/2025 3:15:03 PM PST by OldGoatCPO (No Caitiff Choir of Angels will sing for me)
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To: alexander_busek

Exactly.


34 posted on 02/19/2025 3:33:25 PM PST by JusPasenThru (We are Free to be Americans Again. )
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To: Red Badger

11. Some foods are intrinsically “healthier” to eat than others.


35 posted on 02/19/2025 5:21:58 PM PST by Paal Gulli
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To: Red Badger

5. After a heart attack, you should usually return to your workouts.

Fact but you wont be able to. The quack overseeing your healthcare has put you on statins that cause your muscles, including the heart muscle that they claim to be protecting, to collapse, become weak, and be too painful to use.

They will claim that the loss of mental acuity you are experiencing causing you to nearly burn down the house and the kidney damage you suddenly also have are classic examples of nocebo effect.

Drop the medication and tell your doctor to GFY.


36 posted on 02/19/2025 9:07:32 PM PST by gnarledmaw (If you dont like my sense of humor, please let me know so I can laugh at you too.)
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To: Paal Gulli

There are only three ‘foods’: Proteins, Carbohydrates and Fats.

Everything else is indigestible, or poison...................


37 posted on 02/20/2025 5:09:35 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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