Food Hoaxes: A Guide Helps Spot Them 

The hoaxes about food account for 54% of the fake news detected by the doctors who have participated in the I Study on Health Hoaxes, edited by the #SaludsinBulos and Doctoralia Institute.

These are information that lack scientific basis and evidence but that end up permeating society, such as supposedly carcinogenic foods, the demonization of fruit sugar or the myth of “superfoods”.

These are some of the hoaxes about feeding:
Should we discard whole milk on a weight loss diet?
The European Guidelines for Obesity Management in Adults include among their recommendations replacing low-fat dairy products with whole dairy products, as a strategy for managing obesity by taking into account the satiety it causes.

Does the fructose in fruit upset children?

The alleged relationship of sugar intake to childhood hyperactivity is a myth that dates back to the 1970s.

Due to the metabolic pathway of fructose, its intake in the form of added sugar is related to various adverse effects such as alterations in glycemic control, hyperuricemia and elevated triglycerides, but these do not appear when consumed from whole fruits such as it is collected in recent systematic reviews.

Among the harmful effects of consuming fructose as added sugar is not the alteration of children’s behavior.

Can I eat fruit with diabetes?

Yes. The European Commission considers that the dietary advice for people with diabetes should be the same as for the general population, based on a healthy diet and taking into account their individual needs.

Does lemon juice purify?

Neither debug nor do we need it to. We have three organs in the body that are in charge of our “purification”: the liver, the kidney and the lungs.

Lemon has a significant amount of E-330 but it can also be found in many other foods. There is no nutrient in it to justify any cleansing effect on the body.

Should we eat less chicken if we have a hormonal problem?
DO NOT. Europe banned the use of traditional anabolics, hormonal products and ß-agonists as growth promoters in all productive species. Another one of the hoaxes on feeding.

Is it necessary to add a drop of bleach to clean the vegetables?
To wash them it is necessary to keep them under the tap, rubbing each sheet separately. With this it would be enough with the products that we buy in the supermarket.

But if they come directly from the field or we want some more guarantee, you can add a teaspoon of bleach suitable for disinfection of drinking water in 3 liters of water, leave for 5 minutes and then rinse.

In bagged lettuce, it would not be necessary because it is already offered completely clean.

Is the Eco product healthier than the conventional one?
No. Products with the ECO seal are not healthier than conventional ones.

The ECO regulation focuses on the environmental point of view. Both one and the other have authorized phytosanitary products (neither of them are in the food) and, in the case of animals, neither of them has antibiotics or hormones.

Is it healthy to eat canned legumes or frozen vegetables?

In the case of canned vegetables, they may have additives to improve the appearance, but that does not make the product worse, the additives are safe and this is a very simple way to facilitate processing.

The same happens with frozen vegetables, before freezing it is given a previous blanching that makes it easier to fix some nutrients (and reduce some, yes) but in no case justifies that they cannot be eaten. They are a great fast and healthy alternative.

Is drinking watermelon or melon at night indigestible?
This is another one of the hoaxes on feeding. These are fruits to take at any time. Always keep in mind that the main component in both is water, so if you drink a large amount of these at dinner, you may have to get up to the bathroom in the middle of the night.