Welcome to the third episode of our exciting collaboration between Health on Air and Farzi, focused on dismantling the barriers of fake news. Fake and Misleading health information goes beyond mere misinformation. It poses a significant risk to our well-being. In this episode, we discuss four topics: the myth that very active people don’t experience heart attacks, the belief that eating carrots improves eyesight, auto-brewery syndrome, and the notion that raw vegetables are better than cooked ones (find out the facts). Join us each week as we dive into the complexities of health misinformation, offering comprehensive answers, context and empowering insights to aid you in making informed decisions. The truth often lies in the details, and your resource for debunking health myths will be available every Wednesday.

Very active people don’t have heart attacks! Fact or Fake?

False, Not Always: Engaging in regular, moderate exercise is good for your heart health. But it does not entirely eliminate the risk of heart disease. You may have heard of marathon runners experiencing cardiac arrest after a gruelling/challenging race. This can happen sometimes because extreme physical exertion can put too much strain on the heart, causing cardiac arrest – a life threatening situation. When a person has an undiagnosed heart condition, the risk of this happening increases more. If you are about to start a physical challenge, such as training for a marathon, it is a good idea to see a cardiologist.

Eating lots of carrots will improve your eyesight! Fact or Fake?

False, Not Always: Carrots contain beta-carotene which the body converts into Vitamin A to use for vision, bone growth and maintenance of healthy skin. The truth is, while eating lots of carrots could make you turn orange from the excess beta-carotene, lots of carrots won’t improve your eyesight. One effect of Vitamin A deficiency is night blindness, which perhaps is where the myth originated. While carrots can help prevent Vitamin A deficiency, eating lots won’t help you to see better. Even though they won’t give you x-ray vision, don’t leave the carrots off your plate – they are a nutritious, tasty and affordable vegetable.

Raw vegetables are always better than cooked vegetables! Fact or Fake?

False, Not always: The amount of nutrients you get from vegetables can differ for several reasons, such as how long you store them and how (or if) you cook them. Although cooking vegetables can lose nutrients, cooking can sometimes increase the amount of nutrients available to the body. An example of this is the antioxidant lycopene in tomatoes. Cooking tomatoes releases more lycopene than is available in raw tomatoes. Loss of nutrients can occur in cooking because some vitamins, like Vitamins B and C dissolve in water. Some can be lost if the vegetables are boiled for too long. Steaming or stir-frying helps retain the vitamins when you cook vegetables. The fact of the matter is vegetables are powerhouses of nutrition, no matter which way you eat them. Whether raw or cooked, three to five servings of vegetables a day are recommended in a healthy diet.

Auto-brewery syndrome causes someone to feel drunk and hungover without drinking alcohol! Fact or Fake?

FACT: Most of us only experience drunkenness and the ensuing “rough morning” after having had a few stiff drinks. While the alcohol may give us a pleasant “high” at first, the hangover is a harsh reminder that our bodies do not appreciate heavy partying all that much.

There are, however, people who experience intoxication (drunk) and hangovers without drinking a significant amount of alcohol, or even without ingesting alcohol at all. These people have a rare condition called auto-brewery syndrome or gut fermentation syndrome, in which pure alcohol (ethanol) is produced in a person’s gut after they have eaten carbohydrate-rich foods. An excess of Saccharomyces cerevisiae — a type of yeast — in the gut is the main culprit, which leads to the fermentation process that produces ethanol.