The Sunday News
Stanford Chiwanga
WE have heard them all before and because we grew up being told about them over and over again, we ended up believing they were facts. What are we on about? We are talking about beliefs about food that are completely unfounded and downright laughable.
Here are a few:
Canned foods become poisonous after opening
Whatever container food is in, it becomes infected with germs and may cause food poisoning if it is not in sterile conditions.
But food in opened tins is no more susceptible than fresh food and there is nothing about the cans themselves which could cause food poisoning.
Food in damaged tins, however, may have become contaminated by germs entering through cracks or splits.
Brown bread is better than white bread Nutritionally, there is no difference between brown bread and white. White bread is simply made from flour from which the bran and outer coating of the wheat have been removed. Whole-wheat contains the bran and wheat. Both contain the necessary vitamins, nutrients, minerals and carbohydrates.
There is one school of thought that considers the roughage in whole-wheat bread beneficial to people with bowel problems.
Eating fish is good for the brain
No particular food contributes specifically to the brain or any other part of the body. The tissues take what they require from the materials absorbed into the bloodstream during digestion. A balanced diet will satisfy all the requirements of the cells and lack of some types of food may result in deficiencies.
The belief that fish is good for the brain grew in the 19th century after German philosopher and physician Freidrich Buchner on learning that the brain contained phosphorus, declared that “without phosphorus, there is no thought”. French chemist Jean Dumas confirmed that fish are rich in phosphorus. The Swiss naturalist Jean Louis Agassiz connected the two ideas and suggested that fish is good for the brain.
In fact, because of its abundance in rocks and minerals of the earth, varying amounts of phosphorus are present in most foods.
It is easy to tell a mushroom from a poisonous fungus
There is no simple method of distinguishing between the two, because neither edible mushrooms nor poisonous fungi such as toadstools have any one common feature that is not found in the other. The idea that edible mushrooms are white, or have a ring at the foot of the stalk is a fallacy. The fungus amanita virosa has both these characteristics, but is inedible. Nor is a mushroom that has turned bluish necessarily poisonous. The edible boletus edulis, when bruised, can turn dirty brown, light or deep blue, green, red, purple, violet or even inky black. But it is still edible. The colour changes simply mean that a fermentation process is taking place.
Several kitchen hints about distinguishing between the two are also erroneous. One is the fallacy that edible mushrooms, unlike toadstools, can be peeled. The idea that soaking or cooking poisonous fungi in vinegar will make them edible is also false. It may neutralise poisonous or indigestible species slightly, but dangerous and deadly fungi are never truly safe to eat.
The best way to identify mushrooms and other fungi is by use of one of the many illustrated guides available. But the ultimate rule should be: if in doubt, do not eat.
Brown eggs are more nutritious
This belief is a myth. Eggs are not designed to be eaten by humans. They are to provide nourishment for the developing chick. The colour of the shell, which is a late stage in the development of the egg, depends merely on the breed of the hen, and by the time the shell is formed the nutritional value is already established.
White or brown, an egg is an egg. The difference is in colour only.
Eating seeds causes appendicitis
Few medical reports have ever recorded the presence of seeds in appendices that have been removed. But among the objects that have been found are gold tooth fillings, toothbrush bristles and the end of a thermometer.
This article was written after research from internet sources and The Reader’s Digest Book of Strange Stories and Amazing Facts.
