Health Myths Busted! :D

Hello there, readers. Thought I might provide you with a useful article this week. I provide this service so that you people that believe everything you hear will think again and be enlightened. =] I’ll go through some common health myths and reveal them to be common misconceptions… or not. Don’t ask me where they come from, cos hell if I know. :P Enjoy! 

Butter Vs Margarine Arguments: Constant updates on these two foodstuffs confuse the public, particularly because of the comments contradict what was said a few years before. Naturally, the more we investigate food, the more we know about them and the benefits/dangers of consuming them. This argument, however, is starting to drag. Allow me to make it easier for you to decide.

• Firstly, both of them are bad for you in excess. Both contain roughly the same amount of calories. Both contain fats, they’re just different types of fats in each. Butter contains dairy fat, whilst margarine contains vegetable fats. Reducing the amount consumed of both of these products is the healthiest option. =] 
• Butter is a natural product, only containing a few ingredients (ideally only milk and salt). The fats in butter are therefore completely natural, and not hydrogenated like some margarine is (see below for more on this). Some would argue that it tastes better, too. I wouldn’t know, I don’t touch either. 
• On the negative side, butter has higher cholesterol levels and high levels of saturated fats, which can raise low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol levels. 
• Margarine, however, is cholesterol free, and is lower in saturated fats than butter. It also contains low levels of mono- and polyunsaturated fats, which are healthier than saturated fats. 
• On the negative side, in order to make the product semi-solid at room temperature, the margarine goes though a process called hydrogenation, where hydrogen atoms are added to the molecules of the vegetable fats. This produced ‘trans-fats’, which the body treats as saturated fats. This makes margarine just as fatty as butter, really, and just as unhealthy. 
• Thankfully for margarine, some manufacturers make non-hydrogenated products, such as Flora.proactiv and Benecol, which not only have no trans-fats, but also contain stanols or sterols which block cholesterol absorption by the body. Olivio is made with olive oil, which contains essential fatty acids (good for you :D). 

To conclude, both are bad for you, and both are good for you. Eat them in small amounts, and you won’t die early of heart disease. I’m talking to you, the one that smothers their toast with butter or marg? Quit it. :P 

Re-using plastic water bottles causes cancer: I know exactly where this came from. It started with a student at the University of Idaho writing a Master’s Thesis. Yeah, this was a hypothesis, and now it’s all over the place. Didn’t even get peer-reviewed. Allow me to shed some light on the subject.

• The idea is that over time, a chemical found in plastic that they make plastic bottles from will break down and contaminate your water, causing cancer in the drinker’s body. This break-down is accelerated when it’s kept in a warm environment (e.g. in the car). 
• The plastic they make the bottles from (Polyethylene terephthalate or PET) doesn’t contain the supposed carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemical (Diethylhydroxylamine or DEHA). It is not used as a raw material in it’s production.
• Even if it were present, DEHA is not carcinogenic, and has been cleared by several health organisations.

One health concern with re-using plastic bottles is bacterial and fungal growth. Bottles should be washed out and cleaned thoroughly between uses. ;)

Boiling water in the microwave - Bad idea? Here’s the myth. Placing water in a container and popping it in the microwave to boil results in an eruption of superheated water when picked up, and scalding of the skin of the holder. Let’s look into this. 

• Water boils at 100C, which water can easily reach in a microwave. If the receptacle (container) the water is in has no scratches/imperfections to act as a nucleation point (an area that bubbles will be produced), the water will reach and pass the 100C mark without boiling, and is therefore “superheated”. This superheated water will, once disturbed or agitated, boil as it normally would, normally in an explosive manner. 
• As I have mentioned, this will only happen if there is nowhere for the bubbles to form (nucleation point). This means that if there are any imperfections in  the container, it won’t happen. If there are impurities in the water, this won’t happen. Basically, it will only happen with distilled/purified water in a non-scratched container. 

 So, to conclude, if you want to boil some distilled water you have lying around in a container with no imperfections or scratches on the inside, then I would advise against it. However, heating up gravy or milkshake or anything like that should be fine. 

That’s all for now, folks. I may well do more of these in time. Please comment or click on the “Your Two Cents” link at the top to ask for verification on other health myths. 

Good day to you all.

Dan - Sh1n0bi14