True or false?

True or false?

By Jeanine Tan Cracking knuckles leads to arthritis This is a common bad habit and the sharp sound that comes when the knuckle is cracked is really the bursting of the air bubble that forms in the synovial fluid, which lubricates the joints, whenever the space between the joints widens as finger bones are suddenly stretched apart. There is no evidence to show that habitual knuckle-crackers are more prone to arthritis. On the other hand, it doesn't mean that they shouldn't stop the habit. Dr Chin points to a study done in 1990 which shows that those who frequently crack their knuckles are more likely to have swollen hands and reduced hand strength. "Nature did not intend us to repeatedly stretch the ligaments of the finger joints," says Dr Chin. "So don't crack your knuckles!" Drinking milk causes phlegm There's some truth in this, so drink less milk when you have a cold. According to Dr Chin, fat in dairy products can thicken phlegm, the thick, sticky mucus that drips down the back of the throat when one is hit with the common cold. "Although drinking milk may make phlegm thicker and more irritating to your throat than it would normally be, milk doesn't cause your body to make more phlegm," he says. "However, those who are allergic to milk products have a different reaction. Ingesting milk products when one has an allergy to them will actually cause the body to produce phlegm and mucus." Sweat your fever out Fighting a fever by covering yourself with a blanket to sweat it out is apparently not an old wives' tale at all. Dr Chin explains that by keeping a fever-stricken body warm, the cause of the fever - the virus - can be "sweated out". "Many bacteria and viruses die at higher than normal body temperatures," says Dr Chin. "And if you increase your body heat enough that you are sweating, you will be killing off those organisms faster than you would otherwise. "The aim is to increase the temperature by a small amount, say 0.2 to 0.5 deg C, and not for long periods of time. Overheating the body has detrimental effects, hence the need for anti-pyretics such as paracetamol. "Effects of overheating the body include fits and even brain damage, but this only occurs during prolonged high temperatures. 'Blanket therapy' does not do this. However, I would not recommend a sauna or 'hot yoga' as a treatment." Sexually transmitted diseases from toilet seat This could possibly happen in theory but in practice the risks are very low since most viruses and bacteria die immediately once they leave the body of the infected person. "The infected person would have to leave behind some sort of bug and then pretty much immediately another person would have to sit on the toilet with broken skin or the wet skin of their privates touching the same spot," says Dr Chin. "But even then, the germs would already be dying." Starve a fever, feed a cold In theory, this makes sense. During a fever, a body needs to fight viruses in the system and eating heavily deprives the body of much-needed energy to do this as the energy will be diverted to digesting the food. On the other hand, a cold, since it usually lasts longer than a fever, will need extra 'fuel'. So it is important to feed yourself to fuel antibody production. "In practice, however, it is important to reduce stresses on your body when sick. Both starving and overeating produce unwanted stress. So, eat moderately to maintain your strength in either case," says Dr Chin. This story was first published in Health & You, The Straits Times, on July 2, 2008.