Busting the 7 most common health myths

1. First-year students put on the "freshman 15."
It is a popular belief that undergrads gain 15 pounds in their first year of university, but a new study from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, sets the record straight. A research team from the department of nutritional sciences at Rutgers' Cook College weighed 67 volunteer students in the fall and spring semesters and found that the average weight gain was seven pounds. "We found that the first year of university is a period in which weight and fat gain may occur," says Daniel Hoffman, principal investigator of the study, but the weight gain is less than 15 pounds, and it's not universal." Nevertheless, an alarming three-quarters of the students in the study did gain weight, possibly as a result of consuming too many calories -- breakfast and lunch at all-you-can-eat dining facilities and fast-food joints and increased alcohol intake -- combined with not getting enough exercise."In theory," adds Hoffman, "if this level is maintained through four years of university, these students have the potential to gain 28 pounds by graduation."

2. Cooking with aluminum leads to Alzheimer's
According to Health Canada, despite a number of studies on the subject, scientists have yet to find a clear link between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease. What they do know is that brain cells of Alzheimer's patients can contain up to 30 times the normal concentration of aluminum, but it's unclear whether this is a cause or result of the disease. "The disease may develop from a combination of risk factors, including genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors," says Dr. Jack Diamond, scientific director of the Alzheimer Society of Canada. "Aluminum pots, pans and foil contribute only very small amounts of aluminum to foods that are cooked in them. The amount does increase when the food is acidic -- like tomatoes or rhubarb -- but there's no proof that this plays a significant role in the development of Alzheimer's."

3. Soy prevents heart disease
Many companies claim that soy products reduce the risk of heart disease, but soy's health benefits may have been overestimated, says the Nutrition Committee of the American Heart Association (AHA). Recent clinical trials by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Boston failed to confirm that soy protein improves cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure or raises high-density lipoprotein, or "good," cholesterol levels. But you're still better off eating a soyburger rather than a cheeseburger, says Alice Lichtenstein, chair of the AHA's Nutrition Committee. "Heart disease is a major problem, so eating soy instead of animal protein is a win."

4. Cellphones cause brain cancer
The results of a three-year study published in the British Medical Journal this January will, no doubt, reassure all cellphone addicts out there. Researchers from the University of Leeds, The University of Nottingham, The University of Manchester and The Institute of Cancer Research in London collected data on cellphone use from 1,716 healthy people and 966 individuals with gliomas, the most common and fatal type of brain tumour. They concluded that the use of a cellphone is not associated with an increased risk of gliomas on a short- or medium-term basis.

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