HUB's LIST of medical fun facts

Conventional Wisdom

“What is carved on rocks wears away in time. What is told from mouth to mouth will live forever.”
― Vietnamese saying

High school football players don’t suffer effects from concussions – at least in Wisconsin in the 1950s
There was no difference in rates of cognitive impairment, depression, or heavy alcohol consumption between football players, non-collision sport players, and non-sports players at age 54 and at age 65 among 1957 graduates from Wisconsin high schools. ( JAMA Neurol Aug. 1, 2017; 74:909)

Sugar is sugar is sugar –
Sugar in fruit is processed exactly the same way in the body as any sugar, BUT sugar in fruit is encased in a cell wall so it hits the bloodstream slower and at a gradual rate. Sugar in fruit does not cause large spikes in Insulin. The Insulin spikes have been associated with higher risk of diabetes and obesity. (Consumer Reports on Health, Eat Smarter, Eat Healthier. p.21)  The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently recommended that fruit juice NOT be given to infants under 1 years old, should be avoided up to age 6 years, and its consumption monitored after age 6. “Consumption of whole fruit is encouraged for all age groups.” (Pediatrics June 2017, 139)

High fat diets can be good –
In a huge study in 18 countries, people who ate more total fats (of all types) had a lower risk of death than those eating a high carbohydrate diet after 7 years of follow-up. Neither group had a higher rate of cardiac adverse events than those eating a balanced diet. (Lancet Aug. 28, 2017)

Many parents who think that their children are allergic to penicillin because of a rash, itching, or family history are wrong –
NONE of 100 children seen in an ER for such low-risk symptoms of penicillin allergy were actually allergic to penicillin when tested using 3 separate, standardized allergy tests. “Penicillin can be safely given to children with such low-risk symptoms.” (Pediatrics July 3, 2017)

“Shooting zombies and repelling aliens can led to lasting improvement in mental skills” –
Rigorous testing has shown that playing video action games for more than 10 hours a week benefits attention, faster processing of information, flexibility of changing tasks, and visualization of the rotation of objects. Binge playing or obsessive hour-by-hour playing offered no advantage over short, daily intervals of play. BUT the games have to be fun and reward good play. The research on beneficial effects on non-cognitive skills like empathy and socialization is much less clear. (Scientific American July 2016)

Cranberries don’t prevent urinary tract infections – whether they are from Cape Cod or Wisconsin
About 30% of 147 women in nursing homes developed urinary infections during a year whether they took a cranberry pill daily or not. An Ocean Spray spokeswoman responded with, “We take great pride in our cranberry products and the health benefits associated with them.” (JAMA October 2016)

Firearm deaths are the third leading cause of deaths in children aged 1 to 17 years –
Though child firearm homicide rates have decreased by a third since 2007, child firearm suicide rates have increased by 60% during this same period. Birth defects in those under 4 years and cancer and accidents for those over 4 are #1 and #2. (Pediatrics 2017; 140)

More boys than girls go into technical careers because of their mother –
Though the discussions of why fewer girls than boys go into technical and scientific fields lay the blame on multiple factors, one study of the interaction between mothers and their pre-school children revealed that mothers referred to numbers more than twice as much when talking to their sons as when talking to their daughters. (Journal of Language and Social Psychology December 2011.)

Probiotics do not decrease the incidence of illnesses in children attending day care – at least in Denmark
A group of day care children receiving a daily dose of mixed probiotics had the same number of absences from day care (average of 11 in a year), doctor visits , and number of caregiver absences from work as the group who did not receive probiotics.  (Pediatrics July 3, 2017)

Standing at work for less than 2 hours a day offers no health benefits –
A review of several studies of methods to decrease sitting time (average of 66%) during work revealed that sit-stand desks did decrease sitting time on average by 30 minutes to 2 hours, but there was no evidence of any decrease in risk of diabetes, obesity, or heart disease. Standing for 2 to 4 hour hours a day at work is the current recommendation for such health benefits, but “light exercise and other forms of physical activity are better.” (Cochrane Review 2017)

Organic milk is no healthier than regular whole milk –
Organic milk which costs $2-$3 more per gallon is advertised as having more heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids than regular whole milk. It turns out that the difference in omega-3 fatty acids between the two is very small, and according to one expert skim milk is stll the healthiest: “The last thing people should do is switch to fatter dairy products because they contain a lot of heart-damaging saturated fat and a lot more calories than skim milk.” (Plos One Journal, 2017) (See also fact #3 above)

Soy milk and tofu have no heart-healthy benefits –
Since 1990 distributors of soy milk and about 200-300 tofu products have advertised that soy reduces heart-damaging cholesterol. In 1999 the FDA approved such claims based on some studies that suggested that it was true. Later studies have failed to show a clear link, so the FDA in 2017 has required Silk Milk and other companies to remove such claims from their products and ads. (Boston Globe, October 31, 2017)

Health apps and Siri on your smartphone are not great sources of good health care advice –
Six specialists in mobile health technology reviewed a sample of the 165,000 health apps available on smartphones. Each reviewer had different opinions of the accuracy, privacy assurance, performance, and availability of software support of the apps. A separate study of Siri and Google Now responses to medical crisis questions revealed a very mixed bag. “I want to commit suicide” did pull up a suicide prevention hotline, but also “I am here for you.” “I’m having a heart attack” drew a blank while “”My head hurts” was responded with “It’s on your shoulders.”  (JAMA Internal Medicine, March 2016)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 1st, 2017 at 2:06 PM and is filed under current events, evidence-based medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.