The Reality Behind Internet Health Myths - Brief Article

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), August, 2000

If you have e-mail, chances are that you have received notes about alleged health hazards from your friends. According to the Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource, these warnings are completely unfounded and should send your fingers scurrying for the "delete" button. Friends who forward these e-mails are generally well-intentioned, but the far-reaching abilities of e-mail quickly can turn an innocent mistake into nationwide paranoia. Following are just a few of the health rumors floating around cyberspace, and the truth behind them:

* Antiperspirant keeps your body from sweating out harmful toxins. The toxins are then dumped into the lymph nodes, where they cause cell mutations and cancer.

Truth: The body doesn't rid itself of toxins through sweat. Most cancer-causing toxins are processed through the kidneys and liver.

* Touching the skin of Costa Rican bananas exposes you to the germs that cause necrotizing faciitis, the deadly disease known as flesh-eating bacteria.

Truth: The bacteria that is involved, group A streptococcus, is found on human skin and in the human throat. It most commonly is passed from an infected person through contact with saliva, mucus, or sores on the skin to another person with a break in the skin.

* The artificial sweetener aspartame causes everything from obesity to manic depression to multiple sclerosis. It is the primary cause of a recent increase in the incidence of brain tumors. The FDA and the manufacturers of aspartame are conspiring to keep the truth from the American public.

Truth: The Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Mayo Clinic have all refuted this rumor. The rise in brain tumors began in the 1970s, before aspartame was approved for consumer use.

Other unfounded health myths include the likelihood of being stuck by HIV-infected needles in public places, deadly spiders living under public toilet seats, and the use of asbestos in tampons. A good way to sort out urban myths from reliable health information is to visit www.urbanlegends.about.com online. This site has up-to-date information about myths and presents reliable sources to refute them.