The Popular Food Myths Revisited

Consider these:

• I am a foodie
• I am inquisitive
• I can use Google properly

So, I decided to uncover the truth behind certain popular beliefs!

Kurkure contains plastic:
Yeah, right. So you must have eaten that once in your life? How did you digest it if it contained plastic? If you managed to digest it, you must be from outer space, right? In fact, I know a guy who practically lives on Kurkure (Link to his profile)- he must be Darth Vader himself! People who believe this argue about its similarities with burning plastic. However, Graphite and Diamond produce the two same compounds on burning, but do you know how different they are?

Fish develops your brain:
Being a Bengali, I have been told this since time immemorial. Considering the faith of so many people in this fact, I decided to check how true it is. Surprisingly enough, including fish in your diet has been linked to the health of the brain, in particular the aging brain, reducing the risk of Alzheimer's. However, as contrary to the popular belief, not all kinds help in this regard, but a very specific range.

Sugar free food is low calorie:
Beware if you are a sugar free maniac! How do you think the sugar free stuff end up tasting pretty much good, but without the sugar. Have you ever bothered about the substituents used in making them? You would be surprised to know having the sugary counterpart would probably have harmed you less.


Excess salt increases your blood pressure:
This is a myth that originated in the 1940s when a professor used salt-reduction to treat people with high blood pressure. Science has since found out that there is no reason for a person with normal blood pressure to restrict their salt intake. However, if you already have high blood pressure, you may become salt-sensitive in which case you should reduce salt or increase your potassium intake as it is the balance of the two that really matters. Furthermore, people who suffer from hypertension should be careful with salt as it can have an impact there. Ultimately, eating more potassium is probably more important than reducing salt. Potassium rich foods are spinach, broccoli, bananas, white potatoes and most types of beans. (via listverse.com)

Adding Salt to water cooks food faster:

Technically it does, as adding salt alters the boiling point of water, causing the food to cook faster, but let' look at it closely. How much salt would you add? One or two tablespoons? It would eventually lead to your food being cooked roughly a few seconds earlier! If you want the time to come down significantly, the amount of salt you would end up adding would make it the worst meal of your life.

No meals after 10 PM:
This is true probably for someone who sleeps by 10.30. How about people who are awake till 3 AM. How are they supposed to survive without food till then? Food taken after 10 can't magically turn into excess fat, or can it?