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ELEVATE YOUR
Medical Wisdom o
Parents, teachers and even early morning talk show guests
spout off well-known medical “facts” all the time. How do
these claims hold up when addressed by physicians?
CLAIM: EATING CARROTS WILL IMPROVE YOUR VISION.
Verdict: Fiction (mostly)
“A well-balanced diet is important to good vision, but that doesn’t mean that
eating carrots all day will give you awesome vision,” says Monali Sakhalkar, MD,
ophthalmologist at Ophthalmology, Navicent Health. “It’s less about carrots and
more about just eating a balanced diet for full-body health.”
The reason this myth is passed around is because
carrots contain vitamin A, a fat-soluble nutrient
that’s stored in the liver. This vitamin helps
maintain teeth, soft tissue and skin, as well as
promoting good vision. However, vitamin A is
found in several other foods, such as eggs, cereals,
milk and many vegetables.
CLAIM: COTTON SWABS SHOULDN’T CLAIM: DON’T SWALLOW GUM! IT WILL
BE USED IN THE EARS. STAY THERE FOR YEARS.
Verdict: Wisdom Verdict: Fiction
“Cotton swabs should never be “It’s pretty common for a child to
used to clean inside of the ear,” says swallow gum,” Dr. Mansoor says. “Very
Tooba Mansoor, MD, pediatrician seldom is it something to worry about.”
at Pediatric Emergency Center,
Navicent Health. “Ear wax protects Chewed gum doesn’t stick to the
ears to some degree and will often wall of the stomach like it does to your
come out on its own. Attempting to fingers or the bottom of your shoe. Just
remove it with a cotton swab could like other foods you eat, gum should be
push the wax deeper into the ear or out of the stomach between 30 and 120
damage the ear drum.” minutes after swallowing it. It will be
passed through the rest of the digestive
Rather than turning to a cotton system at the same rate as other foods.
swab to clean your ears, Dr. Mansoor
recommends using a bit of water or Worth noting: sugar-free gum can
over-the-counter eardrops to get the cause nausea, diarrhea and headaches
job done. if swallowed in large enough quantities.
So, while it may be harmless, it’s still a
12 navicenthealth.org | WINTER 2017 good idea to spit it out.
