farmdoc's blog post number 625

Today I write of medical myths. Here in Farmdoc’s Blog’s final post for 2008, I wrote of the medical myths that were debunked in articles in the 19 December 2008 and 22 December 2007 issues of the British Medical Journal. I searched for a further myth-debunking article in the 2009 pre Xmas BMJ issue. But none appeared – either in that issue, or any other since 19 December 2008. I’m not sure why not. But I suspect it’s because following on from their two papers, the authors – Drs Aaron E Carroll and Rachel C Vreeman of the Indiana University School of Medicine – have been busy on a book of medical myths. The book, published in mid 2009, is titled Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health. In it the authors debunk the many medical myths including these: Chewing gum stays in your stomach for seven years. Men with big feet have big penises. Men think about sex every seven seconds. Flu shots can cause the flu. And you swallow eight spiders a year. The message from all of this remains as before, i.e. be aware of when advice and conclusions are and aren’t supported by evidence – because only by investigation, discussion, and debate can we reveal the existence of myths and move the field of medicine forward. The book’s published by Penguin. It deserves to sell well.