This week's compendium

Here’s this week’s compendium. This week…

1. the Australian parliament got hung, courtesy of voters [1]. At least it wasn’t hanged.

2. for his ignominious burnout [2a] F1 driver Lewis Hamilton was fined A$500 but not convicted [2b]. His contrition was without conviction. I wouldn’t expect anything more from someone earning his living from F1.

3. Victorian Police’s Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, who last March was detected carrying bullets on to a commercial plane [3a] was labelled careless (by the Office of Police Integrity (!)) but otherwise exonerated [3b]. As per s.23(2A) & (2B) of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 [3c] it’s a strict liability offence. Mr Overland should be imprisoned for 2 years.

4. the BMJ reported that increasing the daily intake of green leafy vegetables significantly reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes [4]. Maybe the reduced risk’s due to less junk food rather than a direct positive effect of the vegetables.

5. Get-It-Done Guy discussed ‘How to Make Hard Decisions’ [5]. Scenario Decision Making sounds a good method.

6. following my two posts on medical myths [6a, 6b], House Call Doctor wrote of three more [6c]. The more, the better.

7. Sotheby’s announced that next 23 September it’ll auction baskets of heirloom vegetables for US$1,000 each [7a]. It’s for two fine cause, though [7b].

8. Artist as Family [8a] did a marvellous interview about the Food Forest, on 702 ABC Sydney [8b]. Fantastic, AaF.

Finally, I wish you, dear Farmdoc’s Blog readers, a wonderful week.

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.

farmdoc's blog post number 255

Last Saturday, within the framework of Myths and Symbols, I wrote about symbols. Today I’m writing about myths. Medical myths. This article in the 19 December 2008 British Medical Journal debunks the following myths: Sugar causes hyperactivity in children. Suicides increase over holiday periods. You can’t mix alcohol with antibiotics. More heat is lost through the scalp than through any similar area of skin elsewhere. Nocturnal feasting puts on more weight than eating the same food at other times. And you can cure a hangover. A year earlier, this article by the same authors in the 22 December 2007 BMJ debunked the following myths. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day. We use only 10% of our brains. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker, or coarser. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy. Mobile phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals. The authors’ message? Be aware of when evidence supports our advice, and when we operate based on unexamined beliefs. Only by investigation, discussion, and debate can we reveal the existence of myths and move the field of medicine forward. I reckon the same goes for non-medical myths. Finally I’m not mythologising when I wish each Farmdoc’s Blog reader a healthy, safe and fulfilling 2009.