February
2008
Top 10 True Old Wives’ Tales
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We spent last Tuesday explaining why the top 10 health myths were…well…myths. Today we present you the top 10 health-based old wives’ tales that actually are true.
1. The Tale: An apple a day keeps the doctor away
And you thought Mark’s Daily Apple was just a kitschy name! Turns out, we were actually onto something! While some experts say the only way an apple will keep a doctor away is if you throw it at them, several recent studies have suggested that the high levels of phenolics contained in apples work as a potent antioxidant that can reduce the risk of breast and colon cancer. In addition, a recent study from researchers at Ithaca, NY-based Cornell University suggests that apples may also stave off Alzheimer’s disease.
2. The Tale: Seizures are brought on by a full moon
In a study conducted by researchers at the University of Patras Medical School in Greece of 859 patients treated for seizures, there was “significant clustering of seizures” around the time of a full moon. How come? Well…that has yet to be determined!
3. The Tale: Gain a child lose a tooth
As nice as children are, the bad news is they are actually bad for your chompers! In a New York University College of Dentistry analysis of 2,635 women aged 18 to 64 who had borne at least one child, the researchers found that pregnancy raises the risk of developing the gum disease gingivitis, with women who had repeated outbreaks of gingivitis increasing their risk of developing periodontal disease. Although researchers have yet to determine the cause behind the link, they hypothesize that mothers may be snacking on the junk food they give their children!
4. The Tale: Draino can help determine the gender of your unborn child
Even passing along this piece of folklore makes us nervous - please know that we DO NOT ENDORSE this experiment (although midwives swear it is highly accurate), but if you must, do this in a well-ventilated area or preferably outside. For the…uhh…experiment, you’ll need a glass jar, a cup of fresh urine (they recommend cultivating it from your morning pee) and a cup of Draino. Pee in the jar, take it outside (for the ventilation), add a cup of Draino and wait 15 seconds. If the concoction stays blue, you’re having a girl. If it turns tea color, it’s a boy! Dashing out to pick up some Draino? Don’t bother - the company in recent years has changed the liquid from blue to yellow, so the experiment won’t work anymore! (By the way - Who was the first odd person to discover this?)
5. The Tale: Don’t drink the water that comes out of the hot tap
According to an article in the New York Times, “[H]ot water dissolves contaminants more quickly than cold water, and many pipes in homes contain lead that can leach into water.” So what’s the deal with too much lead? It can lead to brain and nervous system damage, especially among children. But what if you boil? According to Environmental Protection Agency officials, “boiling water does not remove lead but can actually increase its concentration.”
6. The Tale: Eat your crust - it’s good for you
Although the benefits of eating your bread crust varies depending on your mother - with some saying consuming crusts will give you curly hair, put hair on your chest or just make you big and strong - there is some truth to this old wives’ tale. Although we don’t advocate chowing down on bread, a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests that the crust of the bread actually contains eight times the antioxidants of any other part of the bread, so if you must, go for a crusty loaf and opt for the ends!
7. The Tale: A bar of soap in the bed prevents nighttime leg cramps
If you’ve ever woken in the night - even once - with a charley horse, chances are you’ll do just about anything to prevent a repeat episode! Turns out keeping a fresh bar of soap under your bottom sheet near where your legs are actually works to reduce the frequency of charley horses and is also much buzzed about in online patient forums as a “cure” for restless leg syndrome. However, users agree that the bar must be kept relatively fresh and recommend that you replace it at least every six months. As for brands, users swear that just about “anything but Ivory” will do the trick!
8. The Tale: Don’t let a person with a head injury sleep
For years, it was recommended that people who have sustained a decent head injury - specifically one that led to a loss of consciousness - should be kept awake, when in reality, sometimes a nap or a good night’s rest will make them feel better. What the experts do continue to agree on is that the person should be checked on frequently to make sure they remain arousable and their condition is not worsening.
9. The Tale: Heartburn during pregnancy means a hairy baby
Of all the old wives’ tales out there, most pertain to pregnancy. Whether it be about how you carry the baby (high for a girl, low for a boy) or that wearing a Hawaiian lei can choke the baby (it can’t, nor can raising your hands above your head!) one that is freakishly true is that mothers who experience heartburn during pregnancy tend to have hairier babies. In an analysis of 64 pregnant women (granted, not a very large study) conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers, women that experienced the most heartburn while pregnant gave birth to babies with average or above average newborn hair coverage. Exactly how it works is not clear, but researchers speculate that it is less a case of one causing the other and more that they share a common cause.
10. The Tale: Chicken soup is good for the soul (and the odd cold too!)
The trouble with old wives’ tales and urban health myths? There’s a ton of conflicting research - so even though we last week suggested that this was a myth, there is actually a grain of truth to the old saying! According to a study published in the journal Chest, chicken soup can help mitigate the inflammatory response associated with colds and other upper-respiratory infections. Under further examination, the researchers determined that the vegetables and chicken included in the soup each individually had inhibitory activity, although they note that the potency of the effects determined very much on how the soup was made, with commercial soups differing the most in their inhibitory activity. (Thanks to Ari for the heads up!)
We know some of these old wives’ tales sound way too wacky to be true. We’d love to hear you weigh in with your personal experience and anecdotal evidence, or by simply refuting any of the top 10 as utter nonsense. Hit us up with a comment!
fernando, Fort Photo, Kaptain Kobold, mag3737, *Kitto, ulterior epicure, picalogue, Mrs. Maze, sergis blog, * Sandra * Flickr Photos (CC)
Further Reading:
Dumb Little Man: How to Spot Myths or Old Wives’ Tales from a Distance
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Technorati Tags: myth, old wives’ tale, fact, fiction, apple a day
Interesting. I had terrible heartburn with my second child, and he was definitely my hairiest (although all three had lots of hair, and I had lots of heartburn with all 3).
Pregnancy has also wreaked havoc on my dental health. Although I haven’t lost any teeth, I’m about to spend a ton of time and money on dental care. I don’t think it’s junk food, though - chasing after little ones and finding yourself falling asleep while putting them to bed (or whenever they wake up and you have to help them back to sleep) leaves me forgetting my own dental care. I’m in the middle of flossing and I hear kids yelling, so I stop, and forget to finish. Or I pass out with the kids before I wanted to go to bed, so I don’t get to brush my teeth before bed.
Interesting about the full moon. I *swear* my mood changes and I go a little nuts around the full moon. My husband will agree.
About losing teeth during pregnancy, it’s explained pretty well in “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration”. Preindustrial groups living on a nutritious diet had excellent dental health, despite making no effort at dental hygiene in most cases. Women in these groups didn’t lose teeth when they had children.
It has to do with the fact that pregnancy depletes nutrients from the mother. These preindustrial groups had special nutritious foods they would give to pregnant women and women of childbearing age before pregnancy. They were especially rich in fat-soluble vitamins A and D, minerals and probably other things we haven’t identified. These are the same nutrients that promote dental health by affecting mineral metabolism. Modern Moms shunt their limited nutrients to the child, and become deficient themselves.
Some of these foods were grass-fed, full-fat dairy products (also associated with fertility in recent studies), eggs including fish roe, organ meats like liver and seafood (especially fatty fish). As you can see, there are different ways to get the same nutrients. These groups also got lots of vitamin D from sunlight, or from animal sources if they lived further from the equator in the winter.
Hairiness & heartburn! Definitely true for me in all 4 pregnancies. But about a month later all my babes lost their prolific hair & were baldies until about age 2, so I guess the effect doesn’t last;)
Sasquatch - I’m very interested in your comment - do you have a study to cite? I don’t really know (never having researched it) but it seems to me that pre-industrial people a) did have worse teeth & oral health based on how many seemed to be missing teeth and anecdotal evidence in period literature and paintings and b) since pre-industrial people lived significantly shorter lives perhaps they just didn’t have as much time to lose their teeth?
Anyhow, my husband has restless leg syndrome - I’m SO trying the bar of soap thing. Can’t hurt! Thanks Mark & Co.!
Hi Charlotte,
Yes you are correct, some preindustrial groups had bad teeth. The problem is with the word “preindustrial”, which is not very specific. What I meant was people living more closely to how we evolved, mostly hunter-gatherers. Weston Price referred to them as “primitives” in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (1930s), but that’s a dirty word now. He had a very deep respect for them even though he used that word.
The groups Weston Price studied were all over the world. They were racially and ethnically diverse, and they had different diets and lifestyles. But what they had in common was excellent dental health throughout life (and no they didn’t all die in their 20s), despite little or no dental hygiene. They were virtually immune to cavities, had perfectly straight teeth (due to wide dental arches) and their wisdom teeth came in without any trouble (again the wide arches). This is consistent with the archaeological record for pre-agricultural humans.
These same people, when they were “civilized” and put on a European diet of white flour, sugar and canned goods, developed rampant cavities, and the next generation had crooked teeth and cavities as well (just like we do in America). A lot of this data was published in respected peer-reviewed journals at the time, but has been all but forgotten since.
If you want to learn more, I recommend reading “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston Price.
Hi Sasquatch, I remember having the teeth discussion with you over on the forum. I’m curious about your opinion on something. If an adult has crooked teeth do you believe they should just live with it? Or maybe get those clear braces or something like that?
I don’t think braces with all that metal in your mouth are a good idea, and I’ve read that they are not as effective for adults as they are with children. Why I don’t know, I just read that before.
What’s your opinion?
Hi Jerry,
I don’t know the answer to that. I suppose it depends on your preference; it’s just an aesthetic thing really. I’ve heard that braces are more effective in children than adults. Unfortunately, you can’t straighten your teeth through diet since crooked teeth are developmental.
Thanks Sasquatch - I’ll look up that book (going to the library today actually!). It sounds really interesting. You are right, I was confused what you meant by “preindustrial.”
Apples are so good, but my favorite reason to love them is because of their weight-loss capabilities! They’re low calorie, high fiber, and purportedly raise metabolism and stave off appetite. Apples rock.
Sasquatch-
There is another explanation for the pregnancy/tooth loss correlation that applies regardless of the woman’s nutritional status. When a woman becomes pregnant, her immune system is suppressed so that her body doesn’t reject the growing child. This is well know among women with autoimmune disease who experience significant remission during pregnancy.
Immunosuppression increases the chance of bacterial overgrowth, leading to gingivitis and loss of teeth.
Regarding hairy babies: progesterone, and perhaps other hormones in pregnancy, relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, allowing stomach acid to rise resulting in heartburn. As these hormones are also contributing to the growth of the baby, the correlation is not at all freakish: I would predict that the hairier babies probably also had a higher birth weight.
I’d like to add another wives tale that works. Vicks salve rubbed daily on a fungus infected nail will eliminate the fungus entirely. New growth will be seen within a months time. I have treated homecare patients with their consent and they were delighted with the results,especially a man with fingernails heavily crusted with fungus. It takes several months to really see healthy results as the new nail grows in.
Hi Mark-
Daily reader here.
“And you thought Mark’s Daily Apple was just a kitschy name!”
I find it ironic when comparing at the name of your website, and how you say that eating fruits should be done sparingly
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Keep the good info coming.
Ryan
Yes, It’s True! - I saw that just last week on “Ask This Old House.” One home did show contaminants in the bottom of that home’s hot water heater.
[...] Top 10 True Old Wives’ Tales [...]
[...] Top 10 True Old Wives’ Tales [...]
About the pregnancy and tooth decay… Well, it was certainly the case with me.
My theory, and one no one else seems to mention, is that it is because the baby “drains” the nutrients from the mother during pregnancy. If they breast feed, even more so. After child birth, you need more nutrients too, because the odd schedules babies keep make you feel rundown all the time. But since most new moms are concerned more with losing the pregnancy weight, they are not concerened with their nutrition. Naturally, the body will feed on itself. We should be eating better, not less at this time. I think this is the main cause women loose their teethe during their bearing years.
I hate to double post like this, but I forgot to mention one other thing:
I don’t know why people are so down on old wives tales. They are really more “tried and true tales.” Just because they don’t work for everyone doesn’t mean they will not work for you. Tylenol works for some folks and others it doesn’t phase! Does that mean we should laugh it off too? No. Why some of the things we say doesn’t apply to one-in-a-million-johnny, or two or even three, probably has some differential basis. For instance, I can tell you I took aspirin all of my life for pain and fever and it always helped. But if I take it now, you will be taking me to the emergency room for a panic attack. The difference? I don’t know. Neither do the doctors. But it is the truth. And I am not about to tell people to not take an aspirin., just because I am having a bad reaction with it now. I know it works great for pain. A more scientific person would say “well, it was never working if that is what it is doing to you now,” like they do with the old wives tales. But you see how silly that soundds?
On the chicken soup thing,
Most off-the shelf chicken noodle soups are actually quite terrible for you, loaded with fat and sodium and very little nutrition at all.