Medical Myths in Movies and Culture
Do doctors ever really stab people in the heart with a syringe? Does chocolate really cause acne?
Filed under Health, Urban Legends
| Skeptoid #78 December 11, 2007 Podcast transcript | Listen | Subscribe |
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When I first thought of this episode it sounded like a great idea, because the way TV and movies abuse our understanding of medicine and the human body has always bugged the hell out of me. But now that I've put in the research and checked out all the facts, I realize that I'm merely being a huge party pooper. If you've enjoyed believing in some of these fancies, you're probably going to be mad at me. Or better yet, just proclaim that I'm on the payroll of corporate interests, ignore everything I have to say, and go on believing that eating chocolate causes acne.
And that's as good a starting place as any. Folk wisdom tells us that eating chocolate causes acne, or that the oil from cheap greasy food like cheeseburgers or french fries will ooze right out through your skin and cause pimples. Fortunately, numerous trials have been done, and we've learned that groups eating the suspect foods don't get any worse acne than the control groups eating healthy food. So you can keep right on chowing down. The true causes of acne are heredity, hormonal changes associated with adolesence, stress, and bacteria, though some recent studies have found minor correlations with consumption of foods high in iodine. So don't drink iodine if you're pimply.
If you enjoy the taste of chocolate, you've probably also heard that taste buds are arranged on the tongue in different regions, and each region is sensitive to a particular taste. Bitterness is sensed on the tip of the tongue, sweetness on the edges, and so forth. Turns out this is another myth too. Every taste bud senses all flavors. This explains why it never works when you try to test that old story by squeezing lemon onto just little dots of your tongue, and find that it's pretty horrible no matter where you put it.
So long as we're talking about food and the senses, let's mention the old tip of improving your vision by eating carrots. As it turns out, the only connection between carrots and eyesight is the vitamin A that your body derives from the beta-carotene in carrots. You can eat all the vitamin A you want and it won't improve or otherwise affect your vision at all. If you have a severe vitamin A deficiency, it can lead to one cause of blindness. It's not quite clear how this story got started, but one source says it was a misinformation campaign by the Royal Air Force in World War II to explain the effectiveness of their night fighter pilots — the actual classified explanation being their new radar system.
Another food that's said to help is orange juice and cookies to replenish your blood sugar after you give blood. The problem with this is that there's no reason your blood sugar would be any lower or require replenishment after donating. Giving blood just sucks a safe amount of your blood reserve out of your body; it does not change or weaken the blood that remains. Nor is the rest of your body dehydrated after giving blood, so there's no more reason that you would need to rehydrate than there might otherwise be. Some people might get nervous or faint from the process, and the refreshment might help to relax them; but there is no medical need for juice, cookies, flowers, kind thoughts, or anything else.
While we're on the subject of blood, let's talk about one of my pet peeves from Hollywood. In Pulp Fiction, John Travolta stabbed Uma Thurman with a syringe full of epinephrine directly into her heart to cure a drug overdose. In The Rock, Nicolas Cage does the same thing to himself to counter the effects of poison gas. Wow, makes for a dramatic movie scene, doesn't it? And now, since it was such an exciting scene, practically every TV and movie writer thinks it's real and puts it into about every other show. Well I'm sorry to burst your epicardium, but according to emergency room doctors, there is no actual medical treatment that involves the dramatic stabbing of a huge needle directly into the heart — certainly not through the breastbone or in any kind of violent or forceful manner. The way to get any medication into the heart is to simply inject it into a vein. No driving musical soundtrack required.
Of course, if you did accidentally kill your friend by stabbing them in the heart with a syringe, you might get to test the old story that their hair and fingernails will continue growing after death. There's no truth to this either. Metabolism stops at death, so there is no possible mechanism by which new hair or fingernails could be created. This rumor probably got started because a dead body's soft tissues dry out and shrink and pull away, exposing more of the hair and nails. Egyptians didn't really look that creeped out in real life.
Neither does hair grow any thicker or darker after it's been cut. Everyone's been told this, but nobody seems to believe it. Hair is made of dead cells. There is no metabolism or living nerves in hair, thus no mechanism by which the tip of a hair follicle could communicate that it had been cut back to the root to stimulate additional growth or the development of new hair follicles. Some people have longer hair and some people have shorter hair, both on their head and on their bodies, and the speed of growth and the lifecycle of the follicles is determined by your genes. It can't be changed, certainly not by anything as simple as cutting. A cut-off tip of hair is more visible than the finely tapered natural end, which probably explains why so many people still believe this; but that cut hair will never be as long as the natural hair.
Here's a good one, and it's a personal favorite because it happened to a friend of mine. He staggered up out of the water in Cancún with a Portuguese Man-o'-War stuck to his shoulder, tentacles glued all over his torso, and collapsed on the beach writhing in agony. While someone called for help, some gringo SCUBA divers on hand offered to help the way they knew best: All six of them unzipped and hosed him down liberally. Sadly for my friend, the old home remedy of urinating on a jellyfish sting only makes things worse. While vinegar will in fact block any remaining stinger cells from firing, urine contains ammonia, which causes the stinger cells to fire. Let's just say it was a bad day for my friend.
On a less painful subject, who among us does not have a mom who has whacked us with a ruler for cracking our knuckles? Folk wisdom says knuckle cracking leads to arthritis or joint enlargement. As a lifelong knuckle cracker, I can confidently attest to no ill effects. Nor should I expect any. The crack you hear is simply the popping of bubbles within the synovial fluid as the ligament is stretched, as hard to believe as that sounds. It causes no problems and has no cumulative effects. While the popping itself is harmless, the repeated stretching of the ligaments can lead to, well, stretched ligaments, but this too is unrelated to either arthritis or enlargement. Never pay attention to your mother. I'm pretty sure my own mom's not listening, so I can say that.
Have we had enough of these yet? How about one more?
Remember in Beverly Hills Cop, when Judge Reinhold said to Sgt. Taggart that the average person has five pounds of undigested red meat in their bowels? Urban myths like this one are largely responsible for the popularity of colon cleansing in holistic medicine. The hose enters through the exit and some solution is pumped in to rinse out the daily output of your digestive system. This is based on a wholly erroneous assumption, that you have old junk or "toxins" built up in there. You don't. The digestive system is an active, working, one-way conveyor belt. Nothing stops and stays in there. If it does, that's called a blockage, which is a serious medical emergency. Unless you are in the emergency room right now with an intestinal blockage, there is nothing in your intestines older than about 24 hours, other than bacteria which live safely tucked away in the walls. If you've ever had a colonoscopy, you know that all you have to do is stop eating and drink water for a day or two and your bowels will be as clear as a Smurf's conscience.
Whenever you hear a story or a rumor about the human body that seems unusual or doesn't make any obvious sense, be skeptical. It may be true after all — the body is a fascinating machine that's full of surprises — but it's always best for your health to follow a skeptical process and determine the facts for certain.
You should follow me on twitter here.
© 2007 Skeptoid Media, Inc. Copyright information
References & Further Reading
Curtin, C. "Fact or Fiction: Urinating on a Jellyfish Sting is an Effective Treatment." Scientific American. Nature American, Inc, 4 Jan. 2007. Web. 11 Jan. 2010. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-urinating>
Farnsworth, D., Jewett, D.L. "What's the crack? (The last word)." New Scientist. 8 Mar. 2008, Volume 197: 57.
Hayes, D., Laudan,R. Food and Nutrition. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporations, 2009. 21-22.
O'Connor, A. Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths About our Health and the World we Live in. New York: Times Books, 2007. 61-62.
Vreeman, R.C., Carroll, A.E. "Medical Myths." British Medical Journal. 22 Dec. 2007, Volume 335, Number 7633: 1288-1289.
Reference this article:
Dunning, Brian.
"Medical Myths in Movies and Culture." Skeptoid Podcast. Skeptoid Media, Inc.,
11 Dec 2007. Web.
6 Sep 2010. <http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4078>
Discuss!
Remember, you should always read with skepticism the comments of anyone too lame to put their real name & city.
I said "about" 24 hours which is an average. There is certainly variance of as much as several days in many cases. The point is that nothing stops and stays there for long periods of time. It doesn't work that way.
Brian Dunning, Laguna Niguel, CA
December 11, 2007 2:12pm
Here's another common one I recently discovered was completely unfounded.
I spent most of my summer quite sick, and eventually found out that I had had an ulcer. My doctor made a big deal out of point out that stress, in fact, does not cause ulcers. (He brought up the subject in fact, not me). It is actually often caused by bacteria. And if you do have an ulcer, eating bland food does not help. Instead, use antacids.
Bailey Meeker, Geneva, NY
December 12, 2007 6:04am
Hi, patients are ALWAYS coming to me with "Old Wives Tale" explanations about their symptoms and what they have tried in order to help themselves. I try to explain to them that just because one in a thousand old wives tales is actually true- does NOT mean that the other 999 are true.
Wrapping up/"sweating out a fever" someone with a high temperature actually harms and can kill people! It is utterly illogical but I've lost count of the times I've seen jittery, twitching kids with high temperatures being literally cooked under piles of blankets and in front of fires- by well meaning but unthinking parents or grandparents (the worst culprits).Brian- keep on spreading the truth- please!
Dr Mike Clemons, UK
December 19, 2007 5:30am
I'm not sure that what you wrote here about direct injections in heart (intracardiac injections) is really truth. As I know, when heart stops beating the way how to make it work again is a direct injection of adrenalin in heart. Putting adrenaline in vein wouldn't be effective in this case, as blood is not pumped anymore. So this way of treatment exists indeed.
Dima Halfer, Lviv, Ukraine
December 20, 2007 3:28am
<i>Putting adrenaline in vein wouldn't be effective in this case, as blood is not pumped anymore.</i>
<p>
Provided CPR is being done, chest compressions will ensure the circulation of the blood if epinephrine (adrenaline) is injected into a vein. It is done this way all the time by American EMS (Emergency Medical Service) providers. Injecting directly into the heart is unnecessary and dangerous, at least in a field emergency setting.
Dan, Texas
December 20, 2007 8:26am
The myth about the tongue only being sensitive to certain tastes at certain points has an interesting history and a touch of truth to it. Research on this subject was originally done by a German scientist and when his work was translated into English a small mistake was made. He had defined tongue regions that were preferentially activated by certain tastes. The translation falsely said that these regions were the only parts that could sense these tastes. In reality, the regions of the tongue known (ie tip = sweet, back = bitter, etc.) are accurate in that those areas are preferentially tuned to those tastes. This does not mean, however, that they can't sense any other tastes.
Steve Loeffelholz, Iowa City, IA
December 20, 2007 12:34pm
Saying "there is no actual medical treatment that involves the dramatic stabbing of a huge needle directly into the heart" is a really disingenuous without revealing that intracardiac epinephrine injection was used historically, and may still be used occasionally (in OR settings, specifically) as one way to get epinephrine into the heart.
Although it is not seen very often any more, it still is a valid administration route for this drug for reversing cardiac standstill. Not sure exactly what drug overdose or poison gas attack it would be helpful against, however.
See:
Beck C, Rand H III. Cardiac arrest during anesthesia and surgery. JAMA. 1949;1230–1233.
Gerbode F. The cardiac emergency. Ann Surg. 1952;135:431.
BB Oros, DO, Philadelphia PA
December 21, 2007 12:55pm
Can you quote the source of your info about blood sugar and what not?
Sam, Baltimore
January 02, 2008 3:20pm
I don't know what YOU drink before a colonoscopy, but what I drank sure wasn't water. Not exactly a gentle cleansing ;-)
a listener, aliso viejo, ca
January 04, 2008 1:59pm
Funny thing about surviving a poison gas attack. The military has these scary looking spring-loaded needles that you jab into your thigh or buttocks. You WILL receive the adrenaline if you hit muscle. It doesn't matter what muscle. The preferred place would be those meaty parts of the body with the most surface area to receive the drug. Nowhere in the field manual does it recommend stabbing your buddy or yourself in the chest to hit the heart. The obvious result of stabbing someone with a six inch needle full of what is essentially poison into the heart would be death.
C. Sherrill, Ft Bragg, NC
January 13, 2008 7:08pm
I listen to your podcast and I was glad to hear this on medical myths. I was going to make 2 comments. The first has already been made; in the past we used to inject adrenalin directly into the heart during a code. Sometimes we would also squirt the adrenalin down a traqueal tube. The best choice, however, is a vein; as you mentioned. It is not used to reverse poisons, but it makes for great action movie scenes.
Regarding prep for a colonoscopy, we use a clear fluid diet combined with a laxative (several options). The fluids alone usually do not clean the colon enough for good visualization during a colonoscopy. Keep up the good work!
E Martins, MD, Foster City, CA
February 07, 2008 5:46pm
Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue famously received two injections to the heart from the paramedics when his heart stopped due to a drug overdose. The injections are widely described as adrenalin, but whether that is epinephrine or norepinephrine I don't know. In any case, it is a little disingenuous to say that it's a medical myth that such injections exist merely because they are nowadays considered risky and not best practices.
Your blood donation explanation is another one I have skepticism about from first-hand experience. Your arguments that the body is not dehydrated after donation and that blood donation is safe don't have a lot to do with whether someone could feel light-headed after losing a pint of blood. First, I have never heard of blood loss being described as dehydration -- the term is "hypovolemia" or in its severe form, "shock." Second, regardless of whether blood donation is safe for someone of a certain size, that says nothing about whether the person might feel a little light-headed afterwards. I think that's rather obvious that someone could very well feel light-headed after losing a unit of blood and I can say with first-hand experience that it was the case. I had to sit and wait at the blood center for several hours afterwards drinking fluids before I felt well enough to drive away afterwards.
Steve Lindholm, Palo Alto, CA
February 11, 2008 11:03pm
*sigh* This is long dead item (I'm just now listening to archives) so I'm sure no one will reply...but here goes.
The taste bud thing...really? Here's why I doubt it--or think there's more to it than that: I used to be not just skeptical but cynical in regard to the idea of quality of wine glass vs. difference in taste of wine.
Until I tried it myself using 4 different glasses from water glass to Riedel crystal designed exactly for that type of wine. I went in thinking this was going to be bunk, so I don't think confirmation bias is at play, but there is a very marked and significant difference between shapes of glass, their opening, and thickness. (Although NOT between quality of crystal or price, it seems. Just shapes, etc.)
Everyone I've tried it on confirms the differences in taste based on glass, with similar unprompted descriptions of the differences.
Research indicates the shapes and features of the glass present the wine in different places on the tongue with various intensity and flow thus causing different tastes.
Yeah, that sounds silly to me too--but personal experience (remember, starting out completely negative on the idea and with no money invested in the glasses at the time of the test) seems to bear it out.
Maybe, since so much of taste is smell, the glass shapes also affect scent, and maybe the shape affects liquid flow in the mouth such a way as to affect the smell from the nasal passages, thus affecting taste. That seems plausible.
Still...*shrug*
Liam, Springfield, MO
March 12, 2008 12:09pm
Concerning the heart injection myth: While I have not worked in human medicine, I have been a veterinary technician for years. When an animal comes in and is near dead, a last-ditch effort to save them (after manual CPR) is made by injecting the heart with epinephrine. This is standard procedure with many veterinary practices.
Also, when performing a euthanasia on an animal with especially low blood volume, injecting sodium pentobarbital into the heart is the only viable option.
Kate, Seattle, WA
March 14, 2008 11:53am
I cant believe it I was taught that your tongue is divided into sections (sour, bitter, sweet...) By teachers in year 3 they even showed me a diagram of the different sections like bitter on the sides.
Anonymouse, Anonymouse Town
April 27, 2008 2:24am
You need to check your facts jack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckle_crack
The physical mechanism is as yet unproven, but suggested theories include:
1 Cavitation within the joint—small cavities of partial vacuum form in the fluid then rapidly collapse, producing a sharp sound. This explains the popping that can occur in any joint, such as during spinal manipulation. Synovial fluid cavitation is the most likely theory and substantial evidence exists in support of it. (Discussed in detail below.) [3]
2 Rapid stretching of ligaments.
3 Intra-articular (within-joint) adhesions being broken.
The taste buds all being the same is supposedly true.
mario, ca
June 16, 2008 3:53pm
Wow Mario, thanks for posting that correction, giving the exact same explanation Brian gave in the episode! You're a marvel.
Eric Schulman, Corona, CA
June 16, 2008 4:00pm
I've heard on a similar podcast that emergency medicine does occasionally use the epi to the heart protocol- if you can call it that- but only in situations where the patient is almost certainly dead and with little or no blood pressure (as the vet above indicated).
Then again, in that same podcast the anecdotal reports indicated it had never worked...
eric thorn, Seoul, ROK
June 22, 2008 7:00pm
Regarding the myth of cut hair growing back thicker (please note that I'm not saying this is real but if I've heard it then others surely would have too and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it):
An explanation I've heard is that cut har only looks thicker. When hair is weathered over the weeks and months since its last cut it becomes smoother at the ends -- perhaps rounded like the tip of a bullet. When the hair is cut then it's given a flat end, and perceivably the ends look like thicker hair.
Anyway, that was an explanation I had heard years ago, perhaps as a child. I don't particularly believe or disbelieve it but I'd be interested to know whether there was any truth to it.
Matthew Holloway, Wellington, New Zealand
June 29, 2008 10:40pm
um, mario, i have some bad news for you..
wikipedia isn't fact. it's what the majority of people who care to edit and vote on the particular subject agree it is.
ty, chandler, az
June 30, 2008 2:15pm
Ammonia in urine? Heavens, I hope not. Urea, yes, ammonia, no.
PC
Peter Camper, Glendale
August 03, 2008 10:15am
Your podcast makes me feel better, especially when "alarming the public is not hard to do". Thanks.
I don't know if this was the podcast where you discounted chiropractic therapy, but I have as many doubts about "real M.D.'s" as I used to about Chiroprators. I've had to contend with the pain of several "permanent" injuries for several years. I went to medical doctors for solutions and all they ever did was prescribe muscle relaxants, pain killers, and ice packs--all of this after a terse session of poking and prodding. However, when I was introduced to Chiropractic, many of the injuries I was told nothing could be done about were corrected permanently, with no pain killers. When I pinch a nerve in my neck, my chiropractor can fix it immediately. If I go to an M.D., I get pain killers and no corrective treatment. When the prescription is done, the pain returns. I'm a born skeptic and appreciate everything you do for us, but on this one subject, I have to disagree...with the utmost respect.
Steve Jones, O'Fallon, MO
August 22, 2008 7:48am
I just wanted to note that "clear as a Smurf's conscience" is my new favorite phrase. I am desperate to drop that one in casual conversation.
H. Tiberius Miser, Toronto, Ontario
January 13, 2009 1:26pm
Taste buds are in fact more sensitive to certain tastes at various parts of the tongue. This CAN be easily tested - but not by lemon: since all taste buds register all tastes, only at different intensities. You can compare this to the differing sensory intensity of a touch on your back compared to a touch on your face near your mouth.
It is an evolutionary fact, I dont know why Brian went against it...
dr Akos cserhati, Germany
February 08, 2009 6:33am
I think Brian was trying to dispel the myth that certain regions of the tongue can ONLY sense specific tastes. Not only was that a common misconception for a long time in the states, it actually made its way into text books due to a poor translation of the original German study. Just a poor choice of words on his part.
Steve Loeffelholz, LeClaire, IA
February 08, 2009 9:16am
In episode #78 you said there is no medical treatment that involves directly injecting the heart with epinephrine. However I just read the following in the Michael Jackson autopsy report.
"There were also four injection sites found above or near to Jacko’s heart. They appeared to be the result of attempts to pump adrenaline directly into the organ in a failed bit to restart it.
And Michael’s doctor has confirmed the dying star was given an adrenaline shot to the heart.
Dr Conrad Murray has claimed paramedics at the scene administered the jab of epinephrine as Jacko lay unconscious on a bed in his LA mansion."
This looks to me like injecting epinenephrine directly to the heart is used by paramedics.
Jerry, Jacksonville, IL
July 01, 2009 7:45am
Injecting epinephrine (adrenaline) directly into the heart used to be used some time ago (first time in 1904) for patients in cardiac arrest. It has been shown to be inferior to intravenous administration. Paramedics tend to use the latest guidelines so it is unlikely to be caused by them.
Scott Stewart, London, UK
July 28, 2009 12:17pm
Man o' Wars aren't jellyfish - don't know what the cure is for their stings - vinegar is supposed to neutralize the venom from jellyfish. I did hear about the pee cure from my scuba instructor but have never seen it done!
Mark Bellis, Canada
August 10, 2009 2:11pm
Scott Stewart: Injecting adrenaline (epinephrine) into the heart directly is sometimes done when all other attempts to restart an arrested heart have failed. The idea is to get the drug to the heart muscle (myocardium) quickly but it is generally a last ditch attempt to restart a heart that has not responded to other intereventions and rarely succeeds. By contrast, intravenous injections are useless: during a cardiac arrest the heart does not beat effectively, so there is no pulse and any drug injected into a vein will only reach the heart by simple diffusion - which is too slow to be useful.
Peter Balfour, Manchester, UK
January 18, 2010 9:03am
Question: Regarding hair, is it true that a strand hair essentially stops growing when it has a split end? I hear of this from my parents constantly that I need to cut my split ends, and it will stimulate growth.
Or does my hair simply stop growing when it reaches a certain length (like, at my waist?)
Andariel Halo, Miami, Florida
January 22, 2010 6:37am
You hair will stop growing if the follicle stops extruding cells. There is no connection between what happens at the the root of the hair on top of your head and its other extremity.
Think of the follicle as a continuous meat grinder. What you do with the meat once it has come out has no effect on what's still inside the grinder.
Short of using techniques that affect the root of the hair at the follicle (like chemicals, for instance), nothing you do on the hair will have any effect on its growing capability. As soon as it leaves your scalp, it's already dead tissue, and it will not call home (i.e. the follicle) with instructions to grow or stop growing.
Pete Routhier, Canada
February 08, 2010 9:18pm
Actually, carrots DO improve vision.
It is easily demonstrated by observing rabbits, who are, it is a well-known fact, big carrot consumers: have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?
No.
There. I proved it.
;-)
Jean-Yvs, Bangkok, Thailand
February 15, 2010 4:18am
The real reason not to crack your knuckles is that it's super annoying to other people. Your mom should've just told you that.
Tim, Chino Hills, CA
February 25, 2010 11:13pm
But Tim, that's WHY I crack my knuckles ;)
Tom Wester, San Angelo, TX
March 13, 2010 4:27pm
I would like to point out that the most overused medical myth is Defibrillation for asystole. You left it out of this podcast but needs to be here. Everyone remembers the scene from the movie the abyss where the female lead is Shocked several times in an attempt to restart her heart. It is a common hollywood ploy. You only shock for certain heart issues. Asystole better know as flatline is not one of them. You may have covered this in another Podcast that I missed. Still it is the one that always makes me laugh. We are not oldsmobiles and we don't jump start our hearts. I forgive the movie something about mary because it is a comedy, and that scene with the dog is hysterical. I wonder how many dead dogs have been set on fire electrically since that movie?
Stephen Propatier NP, Providence RI
March 23, 2010 9:49am
I read this one with interest. I thought it would be interesting to note that it's not only movies and popular culture that has some medical myths. Even medicine has some odd things.
A recent one that I became aware of is the well known Heimlich manouvre. Apparently, the manouvre hasn't been properly scientifically tested and this is the reason why it has never been accepted practice in Australia.
If you're interested in listening to a radio documentary about it (it's from the ABC, Australia's version of the BBC) try the following link:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2010/2768800.htm
David J. Hilt, Canberra, Australia
April 04, 2010 7:10pm
Regarding orange juice after giving blood: It might be a case of a useful placebo. Their shock of losing blood has been "treated", and they'll feel better about it. A short delay before leaving (time enough for a drink), and distraction (taste and activity) might be helpful, too.
John M. Długosz, Dallas, TX
June 15, 2010 4:07pm
Chocolate might not cause acne (the condition) per se, but I've pretty much given up eating chocolate because I get pimples practically every time I eat it. Someone suggested once that the zits are caused by the sugar, but I eat sugar in lots of other things, and I only get pimples after eating chocolate. My conclusion is drawn from 30 years of observation.
Julie, British Columbia
June 17, 2010 3:23pm
The reason I have been given as to why people who give blood recieve cookies and/or orange juice is that it replenishes blood sugar reserves or keeps the blood sugar level from dipping significantly. When your body replaces lost blood it does so largely plasma first. This causes your blood sugar level to drop since plasma is very watery. The cookies and orange juice simply place more sugar in your system to help offset this.
William, Laurel, Mississippi
August 01, 2010 2:13am
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I take issue with your last comment about 24hours and the colon.
Not to be too gross, but I only rarely eat steamed corn. And most times, I don't successfully chew each and every kernal. This results in an interesting experiment. I have noticed that I have had a kernal of corn turn up in my "output" up to 4 days (+96hrs) after my eating event (with no corn eaten between).
And corn is not the only thing that makes it through my digestive track with a unique and distinguishable color showing up in my output. Again, while in general I would say 12-24 hours is the average more than 80% of the time, there are instances where I have definitely observed a notable lag between input and output to be in excess of two days (48 hours).
And I was not constipated prior to or following these events. In fact, I am very rarely constipated.
Since your claim is it's a medical myth there is residue left in the digestive tract for more than 24 hours, specifically the colon, would you care to explain how I might be directly experiencing these things? I find it very difficult to find your assertion credible when I have direct experience which appears to debunk it.
Jim O, Richardson, Tx
December 11, 2007 2:09pm