There are many traditional parental truths that we grow up just knowing. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that breast milk is better than formula when a child has green mucus they are sick or that spanking is generally not a good idea. Yes, there will always be parents on the outliers who do not care about facts, but in general, most parents try to raise their kids the right way. However, many common sense things are not always accurate. Do you know which example we gave above is incorrect? Go right now to the Facebook page and tell us your guess, then find out if you were right. Besides the example above, here are four common health myths we all too commonly believed.
Can't Catch a Cold From Cold
For years people have believed you can catch a cold from being out in the cold. This is false. A cold is a virus, not a change in the body, so in order to catch a cold, it has to come from the virus entering the body. There is no amount of exposure to cold weather that can cause a cold.
That said, the belief comes from people catching more colds during cold weather because cold weather does in fact, cause a reduction in immunity and the Rhinovirus tends to thrive better in cold weather. However, the direct link of simply being cold causing a cold is false.
Vaccines Cause Autism or Other Illnesses
This is one of the more dangerous beliefs that continues to be believed is that vaccines cause autism. This is a dangerous and irresponsible belief that many continue to believe for various reasons. The vaccine/autism link has been fully debunked since immediately after it was claimed, but the belief persists. Another more reasonable believe is of the dangers of vaccines. Yes, there can be some negative side effects of vaccines, some even deadly. But they are incredibly rare. The positives strongly outweigh the negatives. It is akin to spending your entire life indoors to avoid the possibility of sunburn.
Multivitamins
Multivitamins do not work. For some people with specific ailments that can cause vitamin deficiencies, vitamins are beneficial. But for the most part, you are ingesting processed synthetic vitamins that do little to no good for your body at all. Your body gets all the nutrients it needs from a well-balanced diet. Using multivitamins for children, and adults is just literally flushing money down the drain. In addition, vitamin pills cause your kidneys to overwork, which can cause kidney stones, dehydration, and other more serious problems later in life.
Sugar and Hyperactivity
There have been several studies done over the years all over the world that continue to conclude there is little to no correlation between sugar consumption and hyperactivity. One popular reason is times of sugar consumption often correlate with times of increased excitement, such as parties and game time. This came about from a study in the 70’s that advocated removal of artificial additives such as dyes from children's diets, sugars were lumped into the common acceptance even though the report never mentioned sugar. To this day, the myth persists. This is not to say sugar is safe, there are a host of other health problems sugar causes, but hyperactivity is not one of them.
There is nothing wrong with some false assumptions in parenting, it is bound to happen to the best of us. But it is always a good idea to remember, that if you cannot recall where you heard something or if it did not come from an authoritative source such as a doctor or government department, it is always a good idea to double check. In the days when anyone can write a blog and make any claim they want, it is important to make sure information is grounded in sound science when applying it to your children's health. As always, if you are not sure of what to believe, please call our office and we can help.
Can't Catch a Cold From Cold
For years people have believed you can catch a cold from being out in the cold. This is false. A cold is a virus, not a change in the body, so in order to catch a cold, it has to come from the virus entering the body. There is no amount of exposure to cold weather that can cause a cold.
That said, the belief comes from people catching more colds during cold weather because cold weather does in fact, cause a reduction in immunity and the Rhinovirus tends to thrive better in cold weather. However, the direct link of simply being cold causing a cold is false.
Vaccines Cause Autism or Other Illnesses
This is one of the more dangerous beliefs that continues to be believed is that vaccines cause autism. This is a dangerous and irresponsible belief that many continue to believe for various reasons. The vaccine/autism link has been fully debunked since immediately after it was claimed, but the belief persists. Another more reasonable believe is of the dangers of vaccines. Yes, there can be some negative side effects of vaccines, some even deadly. But they are incredibly rare. The positives strongly outweigh the negatives. It is akin to spending your entire life indoors to avoid the possibility of sunburn.
Multivitamins
Multivitamins do not work. For some people with specific ailments that can cause vitamin deficiencies, vitamins are beneficial. But for the most part, you are ingesting processed synthetic vitamins that do little to no good for your body at all. Your body gets all the nutrients it needs from a well-balanced diet. Using multivitamins for children, and adults is just literally flushing money down the drain. In addition, vitamin pills cause your kidneys to overwork, which can cause kidney stones, dehydration, and other more serious problems later in life.
Sugar and Hyperactivity
There have been several studies done over the years all over the world that continue to conclude there is little to no correlation between sugar consumption and hyperactivity. One popular reason is times of sugar consumption often correlate with times of increased excitement, such as parties and game time. This came about from a study in the 70’s that advocated removal of artificial additives such as dyes from children's diets, sugars were lumped into the common acceptance even though the report never mentioned sugar. To this day, the myth persists. This is not to say sugar is safe, there are a host of other health problems sugar causes, but hyperactivity is not one of them.
There is nothing wrong with some false assumptions in parenting, it is bound to happen to the best of us. But it is always a good idea to remember, that if you cannot recall where you heard something or if it did not come from an authoritative source such as a doctor or government department, it is always a good idea to double check. In the days when anyone can write a blog and make any claim they want, it is important to make sure information is grounded in sound science when applying it to your children's health. As always, if you are not sure of what to believe, please call our office and we can help.
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