Sarah Kliff, writing for Newsweek, takes a look at the efforts of two Indiana University pediatricians to use well-established research to debunk popular medical myths and the popular outrage generated by their scholarly assault on cherished principles like the need for eight glasses of water a day and the link between sugar and hyperactivity in children.
Kliff takes the opportunity to explore just what makes folks cling to these outdated myths in the face of substantial bodies of scholarly research. One man was even so upset over the debunking of the eight-glass myth that the researchers’ administrative staff sought a restraining order against him.
Medical myths usually stick around because no one’s on a public-health crusade to set the record straight. Of all the battles to pick in health care, chances are convincing Americans that they don’t need to have eight glasses of water is nowhere near a top priority. And if parents restrict their child’s sugar intake because they’re worried about hyperactivity, is it really all that bad?
