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Indianapolis, IN, USA. Mom knows best, especially your Media Ranger's mom. Professionals can scoff at the unsupported beliefs of amateurs, crediting their opinions to lack of information or outright incapacity. But what do we make of possibly mistaken beliefs that are held by professionals?
All of these beliefs are commonly accepted, not only by the general population, but also by many physicians. However, many members of the medical community believe in things that have little or no evidence.
A new study in the British Medical Journal explores seven of the most commonly held medical beliefs.
Medical myths. Rachel C Vreeman and Aaron E Carroll. BMJ 2007;335(7633):1288 (22 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39420.420370.25
The authors’ surprising findings, when they reviewed medical literature: all the beliefs were unproven or untrue. Media Ranger's confidence in unwarranted speculation has been shattered. How are we ever going to believe a media spokesman again?
People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
People only use 10 percent of their brains
Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser
Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals.
“Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true. But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false,” said co-author Rachel Vreeman, M.D., a pediatrics research fellow.
We didn’t set out to become myth busters,” said co-author Aaron Carroll, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of pediatrics and a Regenstrief Institute, Inc. affiliated scientist.
"We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients. And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media."
Water, water, every where ... let's drink some more. Drinking 8 glasses of water daily has been promoted as healthful as well as a useful dieting or weight control strategy. “When we examined this belief, we found that there is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water,” said Dr. Vreeman.
She thinks this myth can be traced back to a 1945 recommendation from the Nutrition Council that a person consume the equivalent of 8 glasses (64 ounces) of fluid a day. But an important part of the Council’s recommendation has been lost over the years — the large amount of fluid contained in food, especially fruits and vegetables, as well as in the coffee and soda people drink each day should be included in the recommended 64–ounce total.
Drinking excess water can be dangerous, resulting in water intoxication and even death, the study authors note. There goes the weight loss program (unless you include the weight of the soul leaving the body)!
As much as 10 percent? Dr. Vreeman and Dr. Carroll also explored the popular belief that we use only 10 percent of our brains. Frequently cited by everyone from physicians to comedians (Jerry Seinfeld) and erroneously credited to Albert Einstein, the authors found that there are a lot of ways to disprove this belief. MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas of the brain. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas.
Dr. Carroll and Dr. Vreeman think this myth probably originated with self improvement experts in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential. With the help of these self proclaimed experts (perhaps the nephews of snake oil salesmen), one could tap into the 90 percent of the brain supposedly not being used.
Finger nails and hair grow after death? Anything else? Most physicians queried by the study authors have initially assumed this belief was true. But when they thought about it, they knew it couldn’t possibly be valid.
This myth likely persists because of an optical illusion — and because it’s just so creepy. “As the body’s skin is drying out, soft tissue, especially skin, is retracting. The nails appear much more prominent as the skin dries out. The same is true, but less obvious, with hair. As the skin is shrinking back, the hair looks more prominent or sticks up a bit,” said Dr. Vreeman.
Shave the hair back. (After death?) The two researchers also explored another frequently held belief related to hair — that shaved hair grows back faster, coarser and darker. They found a 1928 randomized clinical trial which compared hair growth in shaved patches to growth in non-shaved patches. The hair which replaced the shaved hair was no darker or thicker, and did not grow in faster.
So why has this myth persisted almost 80 years after it was disproved and in the light of more recent studies which confirm the 1928 work? Again, optical illusions may be partially responsible, according to the study authors. When hair first comes in after being shaved, it grows with a blunt edge on top. Over time, the blunt edge gets worn so it may seem thicker than it actually is. Sun naturally bleaches hair over time, so hair that is just emerging after an individual has shaved seems darker, but actually is no darker than any new hair growth.
What does this say? Even before John Wilkes Booth told Abe Lincoln that reading in dim candle light was bad for his eyes, people believed that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. Generation after generation of parents have warned children (future physicians included) caught reading with flashlights under their blankets that reading in poor light ruins your vision.
Media Ranger dove under the blankets for another reason, but let's continue.
The study authors found no evidence that reading in dim light causes permanent eye damage. It is true, they say, that eye strain can occur in dim light, causing some temporarily decreased acuity, but after rest, the eyes return to their full potential.
Wake me when the ball game is over.A new performance-enhancing substance has emerged to plague Media Ranger's holiday enjoyment — an amino acid. Scientific evidence supports the idea that tryptophan, which is contained in turkey, can cause drowsiness.
MR always thought it conferred special advantages in the Major League Couch Recline event.
However, both Dr. Vreeman and Dr. Carroll admit that they believed that eating turkey makes one especially drowsy — thus, the advantage. But — to their surprise and ours — they found that turkey doesn’t contain an exceptional amount of tryptophan. In fact, turkey, chicken, and ground beef all contain about the same amount of tryptophan and protein sources like pork and Swiss cheese contain more tryptophan per gram than turkey.
The only winner here is Dagwood.
So why do people believe eating turkey makes them sleepy but never feel that way after a burger or pork chop? Again, this is a belief that the media, and other pop culture icons frequently repeat, popularizing the myth in spite of the easily accessible data on the percentage of tryptophan in various products. Most likely, according to the study authors, this myth gained credence because turkey is often consumed during large, heavy dinners. It’s the total content of the meal that makes one feel lethargic.
So, the only way Media Ranger can compete is to eat so much it is impossible to reach the couch before the coronary arrives?
Mobile phones in stationary hospitals? Again, Vreeman and Carroll found scant evidence to substantiate the myth that mobile phones cause significant interference with hospital equipment.
There goes my patriotic contribution. Media Ranger had planned to call Osama bin Laden's dialysis machine on Christmas!
The authors tracked down one journal article that listed 100 reports of suspected electromagnetic interference in medical equipment from mobile phones before 1993, which the Wall Street Journal made into front page news. After that, hospitals banned the use of mobile phones.
But there is little evidence to support this policy. In the UK, early studies showed mobile phones interfered with as few as 4 per cent of the equipment and only when within one metre, while less than 0.1 per cent showed serious effects. Rigourous testing at a number of other laboratories and medical centres have also come up with very small percentages and again only when within 1 metre of the equipment.
A more recent study carried out this year found no interference in 300 tests in 75 treatment rooms. In contrast, the authors give an account of a survey of medical staff where use of mobile phones to stay in touch with each other was linked to reductions in risk of medical errors and injury resulting from delays in communication.
* * * * * * * * * *
Envelope, please! Vreeman and Carroll concluded that "Despite their popularity, all of these medical beliefs range from unproved to untrue."
They concede that their review was not a systematic study of all the possible myths around, or of all the evidence relating to them. However, they did find a large number of references to show that some of the myths had no supporting evidence and others even had evidence to disprove them.
"Physicians would do well to understand the evidence supporting their medical decision making," suggested Vreeman and Carroll. "They should at least recognise when their practice is based on tradition, anecdote, or art," they said. "Speaking from a position of authority, as physicians do, requires constant evaluation of the validity of our knowledge."
Duh, did the taxpayers pay for this study? Anyone HBS-born knows that endocrinologists aren't up to date. Who is next? Our podiatrist?
Why do these myths have legs? And, how many? Dr. Carroll and Dr. Vreeman believe it’s because they are told by experts. “Until someone takes the time to question and look for evidence, medical myths will remain accepted beliefs. We have tried to show through science and research why certain widely accepted beliefs are untrue.
"To some extent this is what we do in our regular jobs every day, teaching medical students and residents (physicians in training) to question what they hear,” said Dr. Carroll.
Now, these good scientists have started another myth: that they can get students to actually listen!
Are you serious? Dr. Vreeman says "this study was meant as a light-hearted way to remind people that first they might believe things because they have heard them from other people, especially from experts; and second, staying current is not just a matter of adding new knowledge onto the things we already believe."
"Sometimes you really have to look back on things already in your head or things you already believe to be true and reinvestigate or investigate for the first time whether those things are true,” said Dr. Vreeman.
So was your mother correct when she said your chewing gum would stay in your stomach for seven years? Dr. Carroll and Dr. Vreeman, both pediatricians with Riley Hospital for Children, one of the nation’s leading centers of excellence in pediatric medicine, will let you know in 2008.
Unfortunately, that might not be soon enough. The chewing gum in Media Ranger's belly has been there a lot longer, and it appears to be growing.
Medical myths. Rachel C Vreeman and Aaron E Carroll. BMJ 2007;335(7633):1288 (22 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39420.420370.25
Abstract. Physicians understand that practicing good medicine requires the constant acquisition of new knowledge, though they often assume their existing medical beliefs do not need re-examination. These medical myths are a light hearted reminder that we can be wrong and need to question what other falsehoods we unwittingly propagate as we practice medicine. We generated a list of common medical or medicine related beliefs espoused by physicians and the general public, based on statements we had heard endorsed on multiple occasions and thought were true or might be true. We selected seven for critical review.
Media Ranger is a highly irregular columnist for the TS-Si website, speaking with an independent voice on a variety of topics. The Media Ranger's signed articles do not necessarily convey an official position of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates.
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... if women have a right to control their own bodies, even to the extent that they have the right to abort a fœtus then surely people have a right to change their bodies in terms of their secondary sex characteristics.
“Whenever we talk about this work, doctors at first express disbelief that these things are not true. But after we carefully lay out medical evidence, they are very willing to accept that these beliefs are actually false,” said co-author Rachel Vreeman, M.D., a pediatrics research fellow. 
We didn’t set out to become myth busters,” said co-author Aaron Carroll, M.D., M.S., assistant professor of pediatrics and a 
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