10 Health Myths People Still Believe.

Myth: Microwaves kill the nutrients in foods cooking food in the microwave can actually be one of the best ways to retain the vitamins and minerals in food.
This is because microwaving exposes fruit and vegetables to heat for a small amount of time. It also requires very little water, which allows the food to gently steam from the inside, preventing overcooking. Microwaving can even enhance the nutrition of some foods. It makes the antioxidants in tomatoes and carrots more available to our bodies, for example, while making the biotin in eggs more digestible.
Source: CNN

Myth: The five second rule
The five second rule states that food dropped on the floor is safe from harmful germs if picked up within 5 seconds. In a scientific study by Jillian Clarke, gummy bears were dropped on surfaces that were covered with bacterium E. coli. The study found that the E. coli contaminated the gummy bears within five seconds. It has also been discovered that just 10 cells or less of some strains of E. coli are enough to cause severe illness - or even death - in people with low immune systems.
Source: Discover Magazine, The Guardian

Myth: Carrots help you see in the dark The vitamin A present in carrots is good for eye health, but the myth that eating carrots can improve vision gained popularity during WW2.
During the war, the British government developed secret radar technology, which allowed Royal Air Force planes to pinpoint and therefore shoot down German planes before they reached England.
To keep the radar technology under wraps, propaganda was released stating that eating carrots enabled pilots and civilians to see in the dark.
Source: Smithsonian Mag

Myth: Orange juice is healthy
Nutritionally, store bought orange juice isn’t much better than soda. Despite orange juice being advertised as fresh, healthy, and packed with vitamins, it is in fact heavily processed, in order to maintain its shelf life.
Orange juice brands such as Tropicana preserve their juice by removing all of the oxygen from the freshly squeezed juice. However, this process also removes all of the natural flavor of the juice, which is then replaced with flavor packs engineered by perfumers. To further enhance this flavor, many popular fruit juice brands add more sugar than a serving of Coca-Cola, and studies have found that fruit juice is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Source: The Atlantic, The Guardian

Myth: Muscles turn into fat when you don’t exercise
The idea that unused muscles turn into fat is impossible, as muscle and fat are two distinct tissues that never convert into each other. When people stop exercising, muscles begin to shrink, creating more space for the body’s fat to grow into.
Usually when people stop exercising, they continue to consume the same amount of calories as when they were training. This means that rather than using up the excess stored energy, the body transforms energy into fat, giving the illusion that a six-pack has literally turned into a flabby belly.
Source: NY Times

Myth: Sugar makes children hyperactive
After eating sugary foods, children are thought to experience a ‘sugar rush’, which makes them hyperactive. However, psychologists believe that the ‘sugar rush’ is in fact just the natural high spirits of children when they get together. It is merely a coincidence that many events in which children are hyperactive happen to include cakes and sweets. Because of the ‘sugar rush’ myth, many parents interpret their children’s behavior as being hyperactive after eating sugar, because they believe the myth to be fact.
Source: New Scientist

Myth: We should eat like cavemen
The Paleolithic diet is based on the idea that the human digestive system is unable to cope with a odern diet, and therefore we should only eat the meat, fish, nuts, and berries that were available to our hunter-gatherer ancestors. However, biologists argue that humans are constantly evolving. One such relatively recent genetic change found in humans is the development of lactase persistence, which has enabled modern adults to tolerate milk. Meanwhile, studies have found that those who follow the Paleolithic diet struggle to reach the recommended daily amounts of calcium, iron and fiber.
Source: BBC

Myth: Carbs make you fat
When people cut out carbs from their diet and lose weight, this can be attributed to the high-calorie ingredients that are often mixed in or eaten with the carbs that have also been cut out, such as butter, cheese, cream, sugar, and oil. Gram for gram, carbohydrates contain fewer than half the calories of fat. Weight gain is determined not by having a diet high in fat or carbs, but by consuming too many calories.
In reality, eating carbs can actually help people lose weight, as the high fiber found in carb foods help to bulk out a meal and make you feel full.
Source: NHS

Myth: Fasting rids the body of toxins
There is no medical basis to support the idea that prolonged fasting and detoxing diets can cleanse our bodies of environmental toxins. Our liver, kidneys, skin, and lungs are constantly working to eliminate environmental toxins from our body on their own. There is currently no known way to improve these bodily functions in an already healthy body. Studies have shown that prolonged fasting is actually damaging to the body, leading to vitamin deficiency and weight loss.
Source: Huffington Post, The Guardian

Myth: Multivitamins help you live longer
Almost half of the US population take vitamin supplements, with multivitamins being the most popular.
However, research has shown that if you are healthy, taking multivitamins and high dose antioxidants may actually be killing you. Taking vitamins and minerals as supplements can essentially cause our cells to overdose and prevent them from absorbing the minerals they actually need.
For example, an excess amount of vitamin A is linked to increasing lung cancer in smokers, while excess zinc is linked to reduced immune system function.
Source: BBC, Forbes