EVEN DOCTORS BELIEVE SOME HEALTH MYTHS

Well, whaddya know?

By Frank Greve McClatchy Newspapers 21 December 2007
Even doctors believe some health myths

WASHINGTON — Just because your doctor tells you to drink eight glasses of water daily doesn't mean you should, according to researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Doctors often fall for the same health myths that their patients do, Drs. Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll report in the Christmas-New Year's issue of the British Medical Journal. Among seven myths they cite is the eight-glasses-of-water one.

"There is no medical evidence to suggest that you need that much water," Vreeman concluded after their intensive review of medical research on the subject.

She and Carroll trace the misperception to a 1945 recommendation by the Nutrition Council that Americans consume the equivalent of eight glasses of fluids daily. Lost over the years, they concluded, was the council's note that the 64 ounces called for included water contained in coffee, soda, fruits and vegetables.

No wonder we're over-fluoridated. Doctors and dentists are also trapped by the fluoridation belief system, too, but more and more are realising the importance of the new science.

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