Your food is lying to you
The grocery store is stocked with fresh produce and lies. Find out what your favorite food is hiding from you.
Milk makes your bones stronger
A Harvard study done over 25 years with over 72,000 women found that “Women who drank milk twice a day were just as likely to fracture a bone as women who drank it once a week.” Without Vitamin D the calcium never finds its way to the bone, thereby leaving it weak. To get the full effect of milk in the body, combine the calcium in milk with the Vitamin D in egg yolks or fatty fish instead
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2. Gum stays in your stomach for seven years
This myth was originally invented to prevent kids and adults from swallowing gum. While gum is naturally very sticky, it will not stick to the inside of your intestinal tract or stomach. In anywhere from 30-120 minutes, the gum will pass through your system, just like any other food.
3. Carbonated drinks are bad for you
While carbonated drinks like Coke, Pepsi, or Sprite are in fact bad for you (loads of sugar and increased likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes, to name a few reasons why), its close cousin seltzer water or tonic water are fairly harmless. The carbonation itself has no side effects on the body, except for some unpleasant extra gas maybe; as the saying goes, the devil’s in the details. Pure carbonated water is safe, but as soon as you add citric acid or sugary flavorings, that’s when it turns into soda and can harm you.
4. Vitamin C wards off colds
For people in the general population, vitamin C doesn’t ward off colds. But among people under intense physical stress, such as marathon runners, those who took vitamin C supplements were about half as likely to get colds as those who did not, according to an article from LiveScience.com. So unless you’re training to climb Mt. Everest or swim across the English Channel, taking Vitamin C supplements won’t prevent a cold any better than a placebo pill would.
5. Margarine is better for you than butter
The butter vs. margarine debate has been quite long-lasting, and back in the 80s, margarine was declared the winner. The “War on Fat” targeted butter for its high cholesterol and saturated fat levels, but recently margarine was identified as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Boasting super high trans fats amounts, this “plastic fat” is arguably worse than shortening; just know the nutritional facts of each, then make an educated decision.
But what about the other food myths and misconceptions? Maybe it’s best to take it from our very own Mrs. Lauri Berry, Culinary Arts teacher here at SJHS.
“Food myths are hard to debunk because information on nutrition tends to be manipulated by food companies in order to sell products,” said Mrs. Berry. “It is best to research something before you take overall diet and food advice at face value.”