carrots improve your eyesight and other health myths

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  • 8/18/2019 Carrots Improve your Eyesight And Other Health Myths

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    Carrots Improve your

    Eyesight And OtherHealth Myths

    Myths about food, nutrition and health characterize thefood habits of a number of people. Some people,especially girls, avoid eating dark chocolate because it isbelieved that it causes acne. Others start consuming garlicin the hope that it will prevent cancer. Sadly, both of thesefacts are actually myths! Therefore, it becomes essentialto know the truth about a number of such widely heldbeliefs.

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    Let us debunk some popular health myths!

    1. Carrots increase eyesight

    Carrots are a rich source of vitamin A. This leads to theassumption that they help in increasing eyesight. This is,however, not true. Vitamin A is very important for healthyeyesight but it doesn’t increase it. This myth gainedground during the World War 2, when the British Armyspread the rumor that carrots had helped their men to besuccessful. The British had done this to prevent theGermans from knowing their actual techniques.

    Beta-carotene found in the vegetable helps in reducingrisk of cataract, but it must be noted that the doses ofvitamin A were extremely high for this experiment. It wouldgenerally not be possible to consume so many carrots byan individual to get this benefit.

    2. Citrus fruits for flu prevention

    Photo by inspiredimages via pixabay.com

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    Citrus fruits are rich sources of vitamin C. Vitamin C isbelieved to be effective against flu and common cold.There is not much proof to back this claim up. In a study,

    undertaken in July 2007, researchers set out to ascertainwhether consuming 200 milligrams or more of Vitamin C isgoing to help in flu prevention. The results were found tobe largely negative. Studying 60 years’ worth of clinicalresearch, it was concluded that vitamin C doesn’t help inpreventing flu. When taken on a daily basis, it mightreduce the chances of catching flu very slightly: by 8% inadults and by 14% in children.

    3. Cranberry for urinary infections

    There are a lot of myths surrounding the cure of UrinaryTract Infections (UTIs). The popular one being thatcranberry helps in treating urinary infections. According tourologist Courteney Moore, there is an active ingredient in

    cranberries that can prevent the attachment of bacteria tothe bladder wall. But, according to most studies, juices andsupplements do not possess enough of this ingredient. 

    There are many conflicting studies regarding the benefitsof cranberry for urinary infections. For instance, a 2012Cochrane study held that cranberries may not necessarilyhelp in urinary infections but cranberry juices can surely

    help. And a 2013 study held positive results for both.Hence, there is conflicting evidence on the efficacy ofcranberries for treating urinary infections.

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    treating burns. This is, however, not true. There is NOscientific research available to back this claim. Its varioussupposed benefits like treating sunburns, mild burns and

    treating radiation burns are all false claims. In fact, apopularly perceived benefit, i.e treating radiation burns,has been proved to be misleading advertisement as well! 

    Hence, we can conclude that aloe vera does not help intreating burns.

    References 

    1. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270191.php

    2. Ibid.

    3. http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/carrots.asp

    4. Ibid.

    5. http://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2008/4/Newly-Discovered-Benefits-Of-Vitamin-

    C/Page-01

    6. http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/vitamin-c-for-common-cold

    7. http://health.clevelandclinic.org/2015/10/can-cranberry-juice-stop-uti/

    8. http://www.webmd.com/women/tc/cranberry-juice-and-urinary-tract-infections-topic-

    overview

    9. Supra note 7.

    10. Ibid.

    11. http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2014/03/24/dont-believe-the-hype-10-

    persistent-cancer-myths-debunked/#superfoods

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