Dec 18, 2008 5:56 pm US/Mountain
Study Busts Conventional Wisdom Myths
NEW YORK (CBS News) ―
For generations, mothers have doled out their own brand of medical advice, keeping their children bundled under hats in the winter, away from the fridge at night, and full of chicken soup when they're sick.
But a new study proves that many of those long-held medical truths aren't true at all, CBS News correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports.
"Sometimes they just get perpetuated, I think, because they come from people we respect -- from our parents, from teachers, and from doctors, and that causes us to believe they're true," says Indiana University medical professor Dr. Aaron Carroll.
Carroll and his colleague Dr. Rachel Vreeman took a scientific look at those popular beliefs for a report published today in the British Medical Journal.
Take the conventional wisdom about kids and sugar-that it makes them go wild for a couple hours.
The report found no connection between sugar and hyperactivity, and 12 highly scientific studies back that up. One of those studies concluded that "the differences in the children's behavior were all in the parents' minds."
Then there's the notion that eating at night is an invitation to packing on the pounds.
In reality, several studies have found "no link at all between eating at night and weight gain." Researchers have repeatedly found eating too much makes you fat, regardless of what time you have a meal.
And what about wearing a hat in cold weather?
Here's what the report found: "There is nothing special about the head and heat loss. Any uncovered part of the body loses heat and will reduce core body temperature proportionally."
"We look into this to try to, in a fun way, remind people that we should look at the science," Vreeman said.
Theirs is some good news in the report for this time of year. Despite the conventional wisdom suicides do not appear to increase around the holidays.
One other thing: Despite what you've been told, poinsettias are not poisonous. In almost 23,000 cases where people ate poinsettia leaves, only 4 percent needed some kind of medical attention.
Another piece of conventional wisdom shattered.
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