People Dispel Common 'That's Bad For You!' Myths That Folks Still Believe

According to the American Psychological Association (APA) article "What psychological factors make people susceptible to believe and act on misinformation?," several factors may increase our susceptibility to misinformation.

People are more likely to believe misinformation if:

• it comes from in-group sources rather than out-group ones
• they judge the source as credible
• it appeals to emotions such as fear and outrage
• it paints opponents in a negative light
• it's repeated, even when it contradicts their prior knowledge

As a result of multiple studies and recognition of real world consequences, the APA adopted the Resolution on Combating Misinformation and Promoting Psychological Science Literacy in February of 2024.

The introduction stated:

"APA encourages psychologists, educators, researchers, and policymakers to actively engage in efforts to raise public awareness about the psychological mechanisms underpinning the creation and spread of misinformation."

"APA will promote understanding of the psychological factors influencing the acceptance and rejection of health information, and the development of effective interventions to mitigate the impact of misinformation including efforts to restore and maintain trust in science."

For most of us, that unhinged relative that spouted conspiracy theories was annoying, but harmless.

But during the global pandemic, the United States was 15th out of 154 countries and 1st by a wide margine out of the world's superpowers when it came to COVID-19 deaths. The belief in and spread of health misinformation and the disregard for real science over people "doing their own research" via YouTube and social media killed many more people than it needed to.

And a significant portion of the population continues to fall for lies from a conman—and convicted felon desperate to stay out of prison—with a well-documented history of lying about everything, all the time. Some of those gullible sycophants even staged a violent insurrection then denied it happened despite mountains of evidence it did.

Still, despite the extreme recent cconsequences of believing bull excrement, some health or safety misinformation is more annoying than deadly.

Reddit user Beepbeepboopb0p asked:

"What’s the most annoying 'that’s bad for you!' myth that drives you crazy because people still believe it?"

Sticky Situation

"If you swallow gum it will stay in your stomach for 7 years."

~ ComfortableService8

"I got in trouble for questioning my teacher about this as a kid."

"I was thinking like... Wouldn't that cause a clog? Why isn't this a warning on the gum?"

"Guess who never was curious in class ever again..."

~ Anko_Dango

Cold 🥶 = Cold 🤒

"My Asian parents have a grudge against cold foods and drinks."

~ Environmental_End548

"My Latina mother-in-law also believes that eating or drinking cold things is bad for you and will make you sick."

~ trickybritt

"I live in Taiwan, and no matter what problem I go to the Chinese medicine doctor with, everything is always caused by me drinking cold water. Last time it was acne."

~ meimeixinka

"As a teenager, I went with my father to Mexico, where he hadn’t been in over 20 years after having emigrated to the US. A group of wait staff at a restaurant saw him ask for a cup of ice in which he poured his drink and immediately told him 'you can’t have that much ice! You’ll get sick!'."

"And I’ll never forget the mocking laughter from my dad and the confusion of the wait staff."

~ Then-Shake9223

"This is something I endure with my Asian in-laws constantly."

"Got a sore neck today? 100% certain it's from that bottle of water you drank last week."

"But watermelon should be kept in the fridge, the juice doesn't count."

~ BricksFriend

Danger Drafts

"My Asian family won't let anyone open the window on a crowded bus on a summer day because the draft will make you sick."

~ International_Bet_91

"My mother, eastern European, also has a strange fear against drafts."

"She'll complain about it being hot at home in the summer, but opening windows on both sides of the house?"

"Absolutely not because drafts are dangerous!"

~ Netaro

"In Romania this is known as 'current' and is believed to be the cause of many illnesses.

In the dead of summer my in-laws will keep all the windows closed. Plus they wear socks 24/7 and will put socks on my kids, too."

~ Frank_Frankman

Up In Flames

"All meat increases your internal fire, and all vegetables reduce it."

"Doesn't matter what other ingredients they're with or how they're cooked."

"It's unclear to me what internal fire is, but any problem you could think of is due to an imbalance of it."

~ BricksFriend

"I actually dug a bit into this topic. 'Internal fire' as referenced by Chinese medicine kinda equates to inflammation as understood by western medicine."

"Certain foods could increase or decrease inflammation and cause all sorts of reactions in the body."

"Of course, a lot of superstitions/old wives’ tales get mixed into folk health practices, and unfortunately gives a quack reputation to the legitimate parts of Chinese medicine—which has internationally published scientific papers from plenty of universities to back it up."

~ uniquethrowaway54321

"Sounds a lot like the four humors theory that held in Western medicine from the Middle Ages to the 19th century."

"Any/every health problem was due to an imbalance, which usually had to be fixed through bleeding or purging—forced vomiting via emetics or diarrhea through laxatives or enemas."

~ Ginsu_Viking

"Except it didn't end in the 19th century in Western medicine. The quacks just changed the names for purging and blood-letting."

"They call purges cleanses and colonics now. And some gullible idiots even do dialysis with perfectly healthy kidneys to 'clean their blood of toxins'—like their kidneys and liver already do for free."

"Are there legitimate health benefits from fasting, liquid diets, enemas and dialysis? Yes, when they're necessary for treatment of a legitimate issue. But the fad usage of them is just an example of fools and their money being parted."

~ LakotaGrl

We Need Better Reproductive Education

"When I was pregnant, I was grocery shopping, and I reached up to get something."

"Some lady said, 'Stop! If you reach up, the umbilical cord will wrap around the baby's neck."

"What?"

~ Smart-Top3593

"My mother actually told me when I was pregnant not to take a bath because my baby would drown. 100% serious."

"Still to this day, I have no idea where she got that information from. And she had had 4 kids."

~ IJDWTHA_42

"A woman working at a health fair told me I would miscarry because my pants were too tight."

"This is after I told her I'd had two miscarriages before and was worried about it happening again."

~ Ravenamore

"When I was pregnant, another woman I worked with insisted that I wear a safety pin on my clothing on Friday the13th, saying if I didn't the baby would be born deformed."

"I laughed and refused to wear the safety pin. She became genuinely angry, saying it would be my fault when the baby was born deformed."

"Baby was born just fine, of course."

~ scherster

"People who seem to be relatively up-to-date on other subjects seem to inexplicably believe so many strange, superstitious, non-scientific things about pregnancy and childbirth…"

~ squeakyfromage

"Almost all advice regarding pregnancy has changed in the last generation because of research finally being done on women's health."

"This phenomenon was a daily annoying occurrence when I was pregnant and my female coworkers in the 40 to 60+ age range would badger me constantly about how I was being pregnant wrong."

"Like one quick example was their horror when I drank coffee."

~ bagelsanbutts

Decreased Melanocytes, You Mean

"Pulling a gray hair will cause 2 more to sprout up."

~ randomfactaholic

"In my culture, we say 7 more. Way scarier."

~ Leocoolcoolcool

"Pull a grey hair and 8 will come to its funeral said my hairdresser."

~ auntynell

But It's Natural

"'Because it’s natural, it is 100% safe/healthy' ~ some random woman."

"Lady, please dont accidentally eat the wrong type of wild mushrooms."

"Drinking an ancient herbal supplement can actually harm the liver/kidneys, etc..."

~ fritosfeet

"This one drives me nuts."

"Hemlock is natural. Poison ivy is natural. Botulism is natural. Cyanide is natural. Arsenic is natural."

"And I'm not in a hurry to ingest any of those!"

~ WakeUpWobblyOddrey

"I saw a post earlier about dudes claiming they don't need to support women during pregnancy because 'it's natural'."

"Guess what else is natural?"

"Death."

~ Neon_Owl_333

Chemical-Free? How‽‽

"'It doesn’t contain chemicals' so it's healthy."

~ catsaregreat78

"Too many people don't know what that word means. There's nothing on Earth that doesn't have a chemical formula."

"Distilled, purified water—trace elements removed—is made up of H2O, the chemicals Hydrogen and Oxygen in a 2-1 ratio."

"Oh no! Not dihydrogen monoxide!"

~ LakotaGrl

Unprocessed Foods

"I want to add the fear-mongering surrounding the word 'processed'."

"You can go outside and pick oranges from your tree and juice them, and that juice is processed. You can pick strawberries from your garden and reduce them in a pot on the stove with some raw honey to make a compote, and that compote is processed."

"I know most people usually are referring to things like goldfish and oreos, but even then, you’re still safe when you consume that stuff in moderation."

~ DeafCricket

Fresh, Never Frozen

"That frozen vegetables aren’t good for you."

"Just because they’re easy and cheap doesn’t make them unhealthy."

~ FoghornLegday

"I’ve even heard an argument that frozen fruits and vegetables might even be better, because they are snap frozen shortly after being picked/dug up etc... whereas 'fresh' fruits and vege are losing quality during the time that they are packed, transported, stocked etc..."

~ beers_n_bags

"Similar vein, I've acquired the understanding that frozen produce are picked and frozen when ripe (given the opportunity to ripen on the plant that grows them), whereas 'fresh' are picked before ripening and then shipped and possibly gassed into ripeness."

~ prettyy_vacant

Cause Of Death

"Some South Koreans still believe that sleeping in a closed room with an electric fan on could kill you. There’s absolutely no science behind it, but they take it very seriously."

~ an_edgy_lemon

"The explanation I've heard was when someone offed themselves—because it's taboo to talk about—fan death was used as a replacement."

"I guess not everyone got the message and it was taken literally until some people actually believe in it."

~ FivePercentLuck

"It's because it was the official policy of the south Korean government. It's speculated it was started by the South Korean government in 1970 to reduce energy usage since the power grid was struggling."

"The largest Korean fan manufacturer includes warnings about fan death with every fan they sell."

"When it's the official policy of the government and the person who made your fan it's not crazy people believe in it."

~ other_usernames_gone

Made Up Reasons For Compliance

"Cracking your knuckles was the cause of arthritis. I remember my grandma told me that, and I had just read about a study saying it was false."

"Everyone yelled at me to not backtalk her and that she used to be a nurse."

"I still crack my knuckles constantly."

~ PostNutNeoMarxist

"I think people continued/continue to perpetuate this one because they don't like listening to other people cracking their knuckles. In fact, that's probably how it got started in the first place."

~ ivanhoe_martin

"This, like so many myths, seems to have started simply as a way to dissuade annoying behaviours in children."

"It's weird that some grow up believing it to the point of passing on the myth instead of ever questioning it."

~ Dontbeajerkdude

Black Is Beautiful

"I saw someone on the cats subReddit whose landlord wanted her to get rid of her cat only because it's black."

"I can't believe people still think like this to this extent. Unreal."

~ strawberrdies

"It’s very difficult to shake superstitions that have been ingrained into you from a young age."

"My mother was extremely superstitious, and would always have me touch wood when I put forward a bad hypothetical situation. Even though I know it’s complete bullsh*t and am not superstitious in the slightest, I still have to touch wood even to this day."

~ beers_n_bags

"I had a friend that refused to come inside my house because I have cats. Her reasoning: cats are evil."

"Well, they are, but I love mine. She claimed all cats are familiars—witchcraft. She said every evil person that has died, has come back as a cat."

"Yeah....she isn't my friend anymore."

~ Which_Reason_1581

Fat = Fat

"Fats—any kind of fat—was bad for a long time. Now, as an example, avocados are 'good fat'."

"Which—yum—I agree with."

~ waistingtoomuchtime

"This is why McDonald's changed their fry oil in 1994, and the world has been worse for it ever since."

"Bad science concerning food caused hysteria, and bland french fries are the result."

~ camelslikesand

* McDonald's originally used beef tallow to fry their fries because the supplier couldn't afford vegetable oil. The tallow gave the fries a richer, meaty flavor according to consumers.

Great Gluten Scare

"Gluten is the latest evil food component."

"Unless you are gluten intolerant, have an allergy, or a diagnosed disorder like celiac or phenylketonuria, gluten-free is not the inherently healthier choice."

~ shroom_in_bloom

"And often is exactly the opposite of healthier as many manufacturers substitute ungodly amounts of starches and other carbohydrates to get close to the texture gluten has."

~ bynaryum

"Also a waste of money. Gluten-free products are so overpriced."

"Mostly companies taking advantage of misinformed people."

~ poggerooza

What would you add to the list?