Ever wonder if eating chocolate really causes acne or if going outside with wet hair really causes a cold? These and similar adages have been passed down from generation to generation as old wives’ tales. Some have been around since 7000 B.C., but are they true or simply myths?

Osteopath Steven M. Takacs, owner of Newbury Family Practice, and neurologist Deborah A. Reed of American Migraine Center separate fact from fiction.

Feed a cold, starve a fever

FALSE
“I have no idea where that one came from,” Takacs says. “But I can’t think of a good reason not to eat.”
When people have an illness, they usually don’t have much of an appetite. Proper nutrition is important to maintain the immune system.
“I don’t think that there is any basis on which you can support this. Feed the patient and use acetaminophen or ibuprofen for the fever,” he says.

Wait an hour after eating before swimming

FALSE
“The idea would be if you’re eating, you have more blood going to the gut and then less blood going to the muscles. Supposedly, you’re going to get cramps,” Takacs says. “But from a scientific basis, that shouldn’t happen, although you probably shouldn’t swim right after eating when you’re likely to have less stamina if you want to swim a long distance.”

A migraine is just a bad headache

FALSE
“No, there’s definitely a difference,” Reed says. “(There are) physiologic changes happening with the migraine — the changes in the blood vessels, the neurotransmitters released and the electricity in the brain.”
Migraines are a neurological disorder. There is no cure for migraines; however, there are prescription medications for the symptoms, such as Imitrex.

Too much loud noise can cause hearing loss

TRUE
The repetition of loud noises can cause sensory hearing loss. The louder it is, the quicker it can cause damage.
With people who are truck drivers for a long time, the left ear almost never hears as well as the right ear, Takacs says, “because the left ear is the closest to the window, hearing all the traffic and engine sounds.”

If you go outside with wet hair, you’ll catch a cold

FALSE
“Three things are necessary for an infection: adequate amount of virus, an acceptable host and a root of transmission,” Takacs says.
People have more colds in the winter because they’re in more closed spaces and there’s more exchange of respiratory droplets, he says.
“We’re back to that acceptable host. If you’re well-rested, well-fed and your immune system is operating at a high level, you’re good. Someone who is a smoker and an alcoholic,
they’re more likely to get sick.”

Chocolate causes acne

TRUE AND FALSE
“That one you learn in medical school,” Takacs said. “Supposedly it doesn’t.”
But in practice it seems the doctors see a lot of people where there’s a correlation.
“If a person feels like it’s making things worse, I wouldn’t hesitate to say, ‘OK, stay away from chocolate.’”

Spicy foods cause ulcers

FALSE
Bacteria or increased acid can cause an ulcer, Takacs says, and stressful situations and acidic foods can aggravate it. He says people often confuse spicy foods with acidic foods, which is where this myth may have come from.
“I think probably part of it is people just think, ‘Oh, if it’s spicy, it must be irritating,” he says. “Because if you touch a hot pepper and touch your eye, it’s going to irritate it so, therefore, it must do the same thing in your stomach.
“The truth is that milk could potentially cause
more aggravation of an ulcer,” Takacs says.
“People drink milk to coat the stomach, but the
calcium in milk increases the production of acid.”