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7 Health Myths Debunked

I grew up eating carrots. Whether I liked them or not was of no interest to my mom; she prepared them chopped, cooked, cold, and pretty much any other way you can imagine because according to her, carrots would decrease my chances of needing glasses. I ate them without complaint—who wanted to be called four-eyes on the elementary school playground? After a little research, I found out carrots aren’t good for my eyes at all; it was just a lie—a big, fat lie.

Turns out the British Royal Air Force started the carrot tale in World War II to keep their newfound fighter pilots’ radar under wraps. They spread the rumor that their pilots were eating more carrots, and that as a result, their vision (and thus their aim) was drastically improved.

That got me wondering—what else did I believe without question that could be just an old wives’ tale?

1. Drink eight glasses of water a day.

While drinking eight glasses of water a day is a great idea, the truth is, lots of drinks—and even foods—have water in them. We can get liquid love from tea, juices, and fruits, too. Of course, drinking more water won’t hurt us, but there are other ways to get our recommended daily amount than just water alone.

2. Feed a cold, starve a fever.

Ah, the old adage of either overstuffing or starving ourselves to ward off illness—what choices! Sounds a little far-fetched to me; I’m pretty sure we’re not supposed to intentionally deprive our bodies of all those juicy nutrients food provides, fever or no fever.

The America Lung Association confirms that this is an old saying not grounded in much of anything. Our bodies need lots of fluids and healthy foods to get healthy, and it’s never a good idea to go to the extreme on either end.

3. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Now this one just may be true, at least sort of. Apples are a low-fat, low-calorie snack packed with antioxidants. Antioxidants help protect our bodies’ cells from damage. Some studies even suggest that they can help the body fight heart disease and cancer. There’s no guarantee that eating one apple a day keeps the doctor away, but there is some truth if you consider it one part of a healthy diet and exercise routine.

In fact, according to a 1995 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the best apple to keep the doctor away is the Red Delicious because it has more disease-fighting chemicals than other varieties of the forbidden fruit.

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