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Ed BMJ Sleighs 6 Medical Myths

I can forgive the pun, but I thought I was going to see a thread about Bob Jones University, not the British Medical Journal.

It is an interesting article; I'd suspected the sugar thing was a myth, but was genuinely surprised to learn that poinsettias aren't poisonous. Now I can perform Christmas miracles for those who still don't know...
 
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While technically accurate, the hatless one is just silly.

Logically, if you've got warm shoes/boots, gloves, a scarf, etc.... on in the winter, then the heat loss will be from the only unexposed place, your head if you don't wear a hat.

The debunking of the "head as heat drain" is probably ultimately good, but the original study, while mis-stating the conclusion of X% of heat loss or greater heat loss from the head, did come up with the right one: Wear a hat if you want to be warmer, because if that's your uncovered area, that's where you'll lose heat.

To me, a debunking of that myth would be that you'll be just as warm without a hat (or warmer), and that's not what it really comes down to.
 
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Regarding pointsettas, yes they are not poisonous but it's not a good idea to rub the sap in your eye(s) or eat them. There are also relatives which are toxic.

In the United States and perhaps elsewhere, there is a common misconception that poinsettias are toxic. The origin of this could be found in the fact that most plants of the spurge genus are indeed toxic and also because the name of the plant seems to refer to the word poison. This misconception was spread by a 1919 urban legend[8] of a two-year-old child dying after consuming a poinsettia leaf. While it is true that the plant is not very toxic, those sensitive to latex may suffer an allergic reaction and it is therefore not advisable to bring the plants into the home of sensitive individuals.
In a study in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine 22,793 cases of poinsettia exposures were electronically analyzed. 98.9% of the exposures were accidental with 93.9% involving children. 96.1% of the exposed patients were not treated in a health care facility and 92.4% did not require any type of therapy.[3] If eaten, poinsettias may sometimes cause diarrhea and vomiting in animals and humans.[9]If the sap of the Poinsettia accidentally gets into a human's eye, it can cause temporary blindness.[10] Even dry sap has an effect on the eye.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poinsettia
 
joobz said:
Sorry for the bad hoiday pun, but I thought the article interesting.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/dec17_2/a2769

Seems funny to see that the Sugar makes kids crazy thing is an example of observational Bias.
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I recently did a pubmed search to see if the "sugar high" hypothesis had any empirical evidence to back it up. It never made sense to me based on my knowledge of glucose metabolism. To my surprise, I found out (as your article shows) this claim has been tested multiple times in multiple different ways.

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=4186095#post4186095


It seems like this is just one more example skeptics can point to where the vast majority "know" something is true eventhough it most probably is completely false.
 
Foolmewunz said:
While technically accurate, the hatless one is just silly.

Logically, if you've got warm shoes/boots, gloves, a scarf, etc.... on in the winter, then the heat loss will be from the only unexposed place, your head if you don't wear a hat.

The debunking of the "head as heat drain" is probably ultimately good, but the original study, while mis-stating the conclusion of X% of heat loss or greater heat loss from the head, did come up with the right one: Wear a hat if you want to be warmer, because if that's your uncovered area, that's where you'll lose heat.

To me, a debunking of that myth would be that you'll be just as warm without a hat (or warmer), and that's not what it really comes down to.
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Well, as someone who comes from a cold climate, I know tons of people who would wear relatively light clothing in winter, but then put on a hat, because "40% of heat loss is through the head", and as long as they keep their head warm, the rest of the body will be fine. So yes...for those who are already dressed up warmly, putting on a hat will make a difference (particularly in keeping the ears warm). But for those who don't, plopping a hat on top of the head isn't going to magically keep them warm.

Personally, I've found that as long as I keep my feet, hands, and ears warm (thick socks, warm gloves, and a hat), I don't feel cold at all (and I'm one of those who doesn't wear very heavy clothes during the winter). Its got nothing to do with "keeping the heat in"...its the simple fact that those are the parts of my body that get cold the easiest. If they feel cold, I feel cold. If they feel warm, I feel warm.
 
I think having a hat on is as warm as having a jumper on.

My hat is similar to the ones the Japanese wore in WW2. One that covers the ears and neck. I do agree that a baseball cap or anything similar would not be very good for keeping warm.

That is the trouble, no-one has said what type of hat people are talking about.
 
I would love to show the sugar myth to one of the teachers at the school where I work. She will not let her students take chocolate milk because it has more sugar in it than white milk (22 carbs for chocolate milk vs 14 for white milk). She's sure her kids, kindergartners, are more hyper if they have chocolate milk with lunch.
 
Wolfman said:
Well, as someone who comes from a cold climate, I know tons of people who would wear relatively light clothing in winter, but then put on a hat, because "40% of heat loss is through the head", and as long as they keep their head warm, the rest of the body will be fine. So yes...for those who are already dressed up warmly, putting on a hat will make a difference (particularly in keeping the ears warm). But for those who don't, plopping a hat on top of the head isn't going to magically keep them warm.

Personally, I've found that as long as I keep my feet, hands, and ears warm (thick socks, warm gloves, and a hat), I don't feel cold at all (and I'm one of those who doesn't wear very heavy clothes during the winter). Its got nothing to do with "keeping the heat in"...its the simple fact that those are the parts of my body that get cold the easiest. If they feel cold, I feel cold. If they feel warm, I feel warm.
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Well depends on if your worry is frost bite or hypothermia. The latter might be possible if you were out for long enough with little enough activity.
 
I had a friend who used to go hyper when she had too much sugar, but then she had some sort of medical condition.
 
Wolfman said:
Well, as someone who comes from a cold climate, I know tons of people who would wear relatively light clothing in winter, but then put on a hat, because "40% of heat loss is through the head", and as long as they keep their head warm, the rest of the body will be fine. So yes...for those who are already dressed up warmly, putting on a hat will make a difference (particularly in keeping the ears warm). But for those who don't, plopping a hat on top of the head isn't going to magically keep them warm.

Personally, I've found that as long as I keep my feet, hands, and ears warm (thick socks, warm gloves, and a hat), I don't feel cold at all (and I'm one of those who doesn't wear very heavy clothes during the winter). Its got nothing to do with "keeping the heat in"...its the simple fact that those are the parts of my body that get cold the easiest. If they feel cold, I feel cold. If they feel warm, I feel warm.
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I used to wear shorts in the winter. With a winter coat, gloves, and a hat.

My legs don't usually feel cold. My arms do, and my ears, and my hands. So those are the things I cover (I look dumb in earmuffs, so I wear a hat)
 
What about the "swimming is dangerous after a meal" myth ? I've heard many doctors propagating this.
 
I've always been told that if you're working too hard on digestion, you're more likely to get cramp. But then again, they eat during the 10km marathon swimming, so it can't be that bad.
 
Lisa Simpson said:
I would love to show the sugar myth to one of the teachers at the school where I work. She will not let her students take chocolate milk because it has more sugar in it than white milk (22 carbs for chocolate milk vs 14 for white milk). She's sure her kids, kindergartners, are more hyper if they have chocolate milk with lunch.
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The sad thing is that I bet if you showed it to them, they would still not believe it.
 
The article is on seasonally-oriented myths (it says so in the introduction), so no mention of water and swimming on a full stomach.

Extremities feel the cold for a couple of reasons - there are more skin sensors in those regions (stands to reason, I'd think) and because blood circulation is more marginal there. The normal reaction of the skin when the cold sensors fire is to clamp down on the blood capillaries in that region, allowing he skin to get still colder, but protecting the core temperature (temperature at which the liver, kidneys, heart and digestion operate at). You could theoretically warm your hands and feet, ears and some other skin areas and still freeze to death, and perhaps not even being aware of what is happening.

Incidentally, the reverse is exactly what happens when you "take a nip to stay warm". The alcohol opens the capillaries up, producing common flushing skin tones, and the fingers and feet don't notice the cold as much. In a cold environment it may feel good, but it allows the core temperature to drop faster, and that could be deadly.
 
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