From Baptist Health South Florida
Nutrition
5 min. read
Remember your mom telling you to wait an hour before going swimming? Do you still follow this rule?
Speaking of water, are you drinking enough? Are you seeing more work colleagues walking around with water bottles, letting you know they’re on a special diet that requires more water intake?
That’s just two examples of common “facts” you might hear based on self-perpetuating health myths. (The truth about swimming after meals and water diets is revealed in the myths/facts section below.)
“It is very important that you consult with your doctor before accepting any health-related notion as fact, especially if it involves self-prescribed treatments,” said Rosendo Collazo, M.D., an internist with the Baptist Health Medical Group at Baptist Hospital.
Common health myths can run in families and across cultures for generations. Most primary doctors and family practice physicians are quite familiar with many of these rumored conditions, causes or treatments.
Here are five myths that Dr. Collazo often hears, so we’re exploring them a little deeper to de-mystify certain health-related assumptions:
Myth: Eating peanuts while pregnant can cause allergies in your child.
This myth is not entirely without basis, as there does seem to be some role for maternal transmission of peanut allergy when the mother is allergic to peanuts herself.
While there are a few studies that support the link between a mother’s peanut consumption and increased risk for peanut allergy in the baby, there are many more studies that have found that there is no such link. The prevailing school of thought is that peanut ingestion during pregnancy does not raise the risk of peanut allergy in the child, based on the results of most studies.
Bottom line: if you have peanut allergies and are pregnant, consult with your physician. If you don’t have such allergies, there is no evidence to suggest you’re child will acquire such an allergy from your eating habits.
Myth: Coughing Can Help Fend Off a Heart Attack.
Wrong, says the American Heart Association.
The rumor may have been influenced by the coughing technique known as “cough CPR” which has been used in hospitals by physicians to treat sudden irregular heartbeats in monitored patients during cardiac catheterization procedures. In these cases, a responsive patient who develops a sudden irregular heartbeat could possibly maintain blood flow to the brain and remain conscious for a few seconds if they cough vigorously – while being assisted by a physician.
Traditional CPR is not used to treat heart attack victims who remain conscious – but only if the heart attack if followed by cardiac arrest, the American Heart Association says.
Myth: Hepatitis B is a rare disease, so I am not likely to come in contact with it.
Myth: Drinking more water helps you lose weight?
Drinking water also helps maintain the body’s proper balance of body fluids. And it’s essential for replacing the large amounts of water lost each day.
But drinking more water is not a magic diet formula.
Myth: I have to wait an hour after eating before going for a swim.
However, there are limits. It is widely recommended to wait at least two to three hours after a normal meal before engaging in exercise to allow food to run its course through the stomach. But this depends entirely on the individual and how much was eaten.
Dr. Collazo says that while most medical myths are relatively harmless if followed, others like some of the ones above and many diet-related myths may not be, so it’s always best to check with a doctor to be sure.
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