|
||||||||
Home > Healthy Living
> Health Myths
You may be making health decisions based on incorrect or outdated information. Make sure that your sources for health information are current and accurate. Also, check with your health care provider if you have any questions about living a healthier life. You CAN take simple steps everyday to protect yourself against illness and disease. It is important to get appropriate health screenings to find potential problems early and get proper treatment to prevent more serious problems later. Know that the health choices you make can also impact the health of others. Below are links to health-related myths and rumors you may have heard from others or the internet. Click on a health topic for related myths, facts, and links to more information. LINKS
ON THIS PAGE Myth: Cancer cannot be prevented. Fact: Scientists estimate that as many as 50 percent or more of cancer deaths in the United States are caused by social and environmental conditions and unhealthy choices. These conditions and choices can result in an unhealthy diet, obesity, or unhealthy human behaviors such as smoking and physical inactivity. We now know more about how to prevent many cancers including cancers of the lung, cervix, colon, rectum, and skin. In general, the factors that can help prevent cancer include:
Breast Cancer
Cervical Cancer
Colorectal Cancer
Lung Cancer
Skin Cancer
Breast and
Cervical Cancer Screening: Free or Low-Cost Mammogram and Pap Test
Contacts
Cancer
Prevention and Control
Cervical Cancer
Screening
Colorectal
Cancer: Basic Facts on Screening
Lung Cancer
Skin Cancer
and Melanoma Awareness
Skin Cancer:
Preventing America's Most Common Cancer
Skin Cancer
Primary Prevention and Education Initiative
Smoking: The
Health Consequences of Smoking: Surgeon General's Report, 2004
Smoking:
Secondhand Smoke
About the National
Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Cancer Information Summaries: Prevention http://www.nci.nih.gov/cancertopics/pdq/prevention/ (Non-CDC site)
Steps to a Healthier You Myth: There's nothing you can do to prevent type 2 diabetes. Fact: Diabetes prevention is proven, possible, and powerful. Studies show that people at high risk for type 2 diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of the disease by losing 5 to 7 percent of their body weight. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, losing only 10 pounds could make a difference. You can do it by eating healthier and getting 30 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week. Type 2 diabetes, formerly called adult-onset or noninsulin-dependent diabetes, is the most common form of diabetes. People can develop type 2 diabetes at any age, even during childhood. This form of diabetes usually begins with insulin resistance, a condition in which fat, muscle, and liver cells do not use insulin properly. More than 18 million Americans have diabetes, and 5.2 million cases are undiagnosed. An estimated 41 million U.S. adults aged 40–74 have prediabetes—that is, their blood sugar level is elevated but is not high enough to be classified as diabetes. People with prediabetes are at high risk for developing diabetes. Diabetes can cause heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, pregnancy complications, lower-extremity amputations, and deaths related to flu and pneumonia. Heart disease is the leading cause of diabetes-related deaths, and death rates are about 2–4 times higher for adults with diabetes than for those without the disease.
Diabetes &
Me: Prevent Diabetes
Diabetes
Prevention
Am I At Risk for Type 2 Diabetes?
Myth: You can't prevent spreading illness on a cruise. Fact: Each year millions of U.S. citizens enjoy cruise vacations. According to the Cruise Line International Association, in 2003, approximately 8.3 million passengers embarked from North American ports for their cruise vacation. Traveling on cruise ships exposes people to new environments and high volumes of people, including other travelers. Although an infrequent occurrence, this exposure creates the risk for illness, either from contaminated food, water, or - more commonly - through person to person contact. Follow these tips to help prevent the spread of illness:
Cruising
Tips
Handwashing
Tips and Techniques Myth: Adults don't need immunizations unless they are traveling outside the country. Fact: Vaccines aren't just for travelers and kids. Far too many adults become ill, are disabled, and die each year from diseases that could easily have been prevented by vaccines. Thus, everyone from young adults to senior citizens can benefit from immunizations. Vaccines help prevent infectious diseases and save lives. Vaccines are responsible for the control of many infectious diseases that were once common in this country, including polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). Vaccines for adults include:
Adolescent
and Adult Immunization Quiz
Adult
Immunization Schedule
Vaccine-Preventable Adult Diseases Myth: Birth defects cannot be prevented. Fact: Approximately 3000 pregnancies per year in the United States are affected by serious birth defects of the brain (anencephaly) or spine (spina bifida). Up to 70% of these defects can be prevented if a woman consumes the B vitamin folic acid daily before pregnancy and through the first trimester. The U.S. Public Health Service recommends that all women who can become pregnant consume 400 micrograms of folic acid daily to help prevent these serious birth defects. Since half of all pregnancies are unplanned, it is important to take folic acid every day!
Folic Acid Myth: If you don't have any symptoms, you don't have a sexually transmitted disease/sexually transmitted infection (STD/STI). Fact: Many STDs/STIs are asymptomatic- without signs or symptoms- while serious damage is being done to a woman's reproductive organs. The only way to know for sure if you are or are not infected is to be tested. If you suspect you have a sexually transmitted infection or if your sexual partner has symptoms, you can go to your doctor or health department for testing. Talk with a knowledgeable health care provider or counselor both before and after you are tested. The surest way to avoid transmission of sexually transmitted diseases is to abstain from sexual contact or to be in a long-term mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who has been tested and is known to be uninfected. The following STDs may be asymptomatic:
Bacterial
Vaginosis
Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
Human
Papillomavirus (HPV)
Pelvic
Inflammatory Disease (PID)
Syphilis
Trichomoniasis Myth: Low-tar or light cigarettes are not as harmful as regular cigarettes. Fact: There is no safe tobacco product. The use of any tobacco product can cause cancer and other adverse health effects. This includes all forms of tobacco, including cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and spit tobacco; mentholated, "low-tar," "naturally grown," or "additive-free." The poisonous ingredients in cigarettes aren't just limited to tar and nicotine. A typical cigarette contains lead, ammonia (a household cleaner), arsenic (used in rat poison), benzene (used in making gas), butane gas, carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas), DDT (a banned insecticide), and polonium 210 (cancer-causing radioactive element). To reduce your risk for lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, and reproductive health problems, avoid all tobacco products and exposure to second-hand smoke.
Light
Cigarettes Myth
Women and
Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General Myth: Rape doesn't happen very often. Fact: Rape and attempted rape happen more often than you may think. According to the National Violence against Women survey, 1 in 6 women and 1 in 33 men in the United States have experienced an attempted or completed rape at some time in their lives. In 8 out of 10 rape cases, the victim knew the perpetrator. The first step in preventing sexual violence is to identify and understand vulnerability factors. A vulnerability factor is anything that increases the likelihood that a person will suffer harm. Vulnerability factors for sexual violence include: young age, drug or alcohol use, prior history of sexual violence, multiple sex partners, and poverty.
Sexual
Violence
Sexual
Violence: Prevention Strategies and Links
The Truth
about Rape
This site contains documents in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader
to access the file. If you do not have the Acrobat Reader, you may download a
free copy from the
Adobe Web site.
Home | Site Map |
Contact Us
This page
last reviewed
August 11, 2006 US
Department of Health and Human Services |