When Myth Trumps Science

I think that the reason people are clinging to their scientific beliefs is for the same reason others cling to their religious beliefs, because some people need religion in their lives to explain what they cannot. Just like I would never attack someone's religious beliefs, (I am an agnostic) I would never want to destroy the beliefs that they were brought up with and that they based their lives around. Some people cannot handle being logical and looking at the world as such. and I respect that.

From the knowing point of view it is very easy to call those believes myths, but what if you were told that they are true and never learned to doubt anything, because it could cause trouble. Still, since the age of puberty you should know it better. Puberty for so many teenagers is the time of questioning, especially authorities as their parents and teachers, but it is a pity that most of them lose this attitude in order to fit in. The best and most alarming example for it is given in the article by the reaction of Alcock???s students. I just hope that he clarified his little experiment and therefore made the students think about their attitude and probably change it. The revealed myths in the book may be neglectable because they do not cause any harm, but the fact that so many people just believe things without any hesitation should make us look for solutions.

Not all medical lore is wrong. There are good doctors and bad ones. If you find a bad one, you may die sooner.

Each person has different body chemistry and what I did not learn about health issues in Nursing school and practice over 36 years(some of these were wrong by the way), I learned from my parents who were exceptional people and my great aunt who is 104 years young.

This article could have been much better if it wasn't *assumed* that these two doctors are, in fact, right in their thinking. I would like to hear the opinions from some of their fellow practitioners who disagree with them.

That aside, I personally don't believe some of these things are as cut and dry as they suggest. For instance, do you HAVE to have eight glasses of water a day? No, because you get water from the food you eat and from other liquid sources, like tea and soda. However, you do need a certain amount of water to stay well hydrated in a day, and the amount varies slightly by weight. AND tea and soda, though definitely sources of water, are sometimes harder on parts of your body to process. Water isn't a must, but it's the easiest thing on your body.

The vitamin C debate is far from over, as far as I know. Some very large studies say there is absolutely no proof that vitamin C prevents or cures colds. Other studies say it may lessen a cold's symptoms by a day or two. There isn't consensus here. These two doctors could very easily find a group of studies that agree with their beliefs; however, that doesn't mean that the studying is over, and that everyone in opposition to them believes in a myth. The jury's out.

I agree with HankM about the sugar. I've seen very few parents blame sugar when it wasn't an actual factor. Parents know their child's general attitude. If that attitude completely changes a la "The Exorcist" suddenly an hour after eating a big bowl of ice cream and a candy bar, you're pretty aware that sugar might have been a factor; the second and third time it happens, you know.

There are some real medical myths out there. I personally believe that the vaccine-autism link is one of them, but I think even this is still being studied (someone correct me if I'm wrong). What bothers me about this, though, is that these doctors are attacking things that evoke the response of, as they say, "Who cares?" No, it doesn't have to be eight glasses of water a day, but most of your body's organs will thank you if it is water, not Coke. And who cares if people think vitamin C helps prevent or sooth colds? It may be a placebo effect, but if it makes someone feel better during the incurable common cold, why does it matter?

There are dangerous myths out there, but if this sample of their book's topic matter is any indicator, they aren't studying them. They're just pulling the usual "I'm a doctor, so I know the truth" card. That worked over 50 years ago, when women were being handled like farm animals/property, and when Thorazine (Chlorpromazine) and electric shock therapy were seen as the cure-all for psychiatric problems. Those were some pretty dangerous myths that science once portrayed as fact, and THAT is just a small reason why society is (rightfully) skeptical of (fallible) doctors. Of course, it would do people well to be skeptical of all their sources, too.

The reason people believe these disproven medical myths is similar to why people cling religious beliefs that, when viewed from a truly intellectual point of view, are completely implausible and mostly ridiculous. It's because few people want to face up to the notion that the basic tenets of life that they were taught by the people they love the most - parents, grandparents and clergy - are archaic, discredited or just flat-out wrong. People don't belong to a particular religion or church because they received some sort of divine revelation from the heavens that their way if The Way. They simply follow what their parents believe and drive into their heads as fact, even though they were educated at a time when we didn't know even less about things like science than we do now. So, if your Mom tells you to take Vitamin C for your cold, you believe her, you take it and expect to get well because she loves you. You then pass it on to your kids, and so on. In this age of science and technology, we as a society need to come to the realization that humans really know very little and we continue to evolve and learn about what really goes on on this complex planet.

Maybe people believe these "myths" because they make sense. There are many, many ways scientific studies can go awry both in design and execution, but once one has witnessed, for example, your child going bonkers after eating Halloween candy, well, sorry guys... I'm going with the myth on this one...

People hold on to their own beliefs because science changes its mind so often it is impossible to follow the latest studies. If we follow the newest scientific dictate as to what food or supplement is good or bad, we would be switching our diets monthly. What's more, doctors follow these dictates as if they are law.

I know the greatest medical myth of all....

impartial peer review.

Slavering media, pressuring grant organizations, publish or perish, embargo publishing systems, professional cronyism... they all work hand in glove to ensure that honest researchers, well, have no peers to review their work.

This book is a shining example. It panders to fear. Some PhD from somewhere cannot make a solid contribution to science, and instead sinks to the role of a research assistant, combing the literature (probably just reading the abstracts, really) and personally giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to questions that are apparently interesting and controversial enough to justify several "good" studies each. The book is a disgrace, but certainly good enough to land the author an interview by a Cuomo kid. Rather than making people's decisions for them, why not give them an accessible bibliography of NIH sponsored studies? Oh. PubMed already does that, and Google Scholar, and several other free resources.

Or why not sell a book giving all the answers for 19.95? If you are a slightly unethical PhD or MD living in a land where a sucker is born every minute, the answer is obvious. You can just claim that your own opinions are more important than any of the researchers who actually do the work, and voila.... why worry about peer review? A buck is a buck.

Sigh. No, vitamin C will not "cure" a cold. About a week will. But, vitamin C and other antioxidants may very well PREVENT the cold, but these people aren't going to want to propagate that myth And no matter what is behind autism, you can all keep your damn vaccines.