When mother didn't know best

Published on Wednesday 17 December 2008 20:51

EACH year the British Medical Journal, that doyen of medical research papers, is seized with the Christmas spirit and publishes something a trifle frivolous. Given the state of the world, that is to be welcomed. Last year, the BMJ offered us seven common medical myths which needed debunking. These included the notion that we should drink at least eight glasses of water a day to be healthy – all that does is send you to the toilet more often.

We also learned that fingernails don't go on growing after death, shaving does not cause hair to grow back coarser and reading in a dim light does not ruin the eyes.

This year the BMJ is back with another bumper bundle of exploded myths you learned at your mother's knee. The head does not lose heat any faster than the rest of your body, giving the children lumps of sugar to eat does not make them hyperactive, eating last thing at night does not make you any fatter than eating at any other time and poinsettias are not poisonous to humans.

We can't wait to read next year's Christmas edition of the BMJ (probably in a dim room full of poinsettias). What other common myths will we discover are unreliable? Should we just disbelieve everything Mum told us on principle, and stride out into the rain with a bare head while munching a sugar cube? How long before they tell us that Santa doesn't exist?