Old Wives’ Tales: Fact or Fiction?

Everyone has heard an old wives' tale in some form or another. Did your Mom ever tell you that if you crossed your eyes, they would stay that way? Or perhaps one morning when you weren't in the best of moods, you were accused of "getting up on the wrong side of the bed."

Old Wives' Tales have been around, and passed down, since the beginning of language itself, and are still being told today. An old wives' tale can be used to dissuade children from a certain behavior and it can also be used to encourage behavior, as with the ‘eat your carrots and it will improve your eyesight' tale. Looking at some of the common tales will show that all are not without merit.

The old carrot theory is partially true. While eating an overabundance of carrots will not greatly increase your vision, carrots are high in vitamin A which has been proven to help maintain healthy eyesight.

This longstanding tale was actually believed to have started during World War II, when British intelligence spread a rumor that the reason for their pilot's remarkable night vision was because of their intake of carrots. They wanted to keep the Germans from finding out about their use of RADAR.

It was once believed that eating potatoes with garden peas would act as a contraceptive. That wives' tale may well be the reason behind the baby boom!

How about ‘eat your fish, it will make you smart'? This one has some truth to it. Fish is high in omega 3 fatty acids which help in brain development.

When you were pregnant, how many of your relatives predicted the gender of your baby by unconventional means? Perhaps you were made to endure the old ‘swinging the ring suspended from a string' over your belly. If it were to swing side to side, it was a girl; if it went in a circle, a boy. Or the constant visual scrutiny , looking to see if you were carrying high or low (high-girl, low-boy) or all out front (girl) instead of weight around the hips and bottom (boy). An ultrasound is certainly was more accurate.

The ‘cranberry juice will prevent urinary tract infections' tale has been sworn to by thousands of people over the past century, but was never able to be proven scientifically. The manufacturers of cranberry juice were frustrated because they were not allowed to make the health claim about their juice. However, in 1991, a group of Israeli scientists proved that cranberry juice, as well as blueberry juice, keeps a bacterium that is a common cause of infections from clinging to the walls of the bladder, thus preventing urinary tract infections. A recent study at the Harvard Medical School supported the claim.

The old tale of not being able to swim until an hour after you've eaten has been classified as false by the American Red Cross. They do suggest, however, that you do not eat while in the water, as it may cause choking.

And was Mom right when she said loud noise and music would affect your hearing? Just 15 minutes of listening to loud, pounding music, machinery or other noise can cause temporary loss of hearing. It can also cause a ringing in the ears, medically known as tinnitus. Even though temporary hearing loss usually disappears in a day or two, constant exposure to loud noises can result in permanent hearing loss. Turn down the iPod and save your hearing for another day.

And the old adage ‘feed a cold, starve a fever' has been refuted time and time again. We all know that colds and fevers cause loss of fluid, which if not replaced can lead to dehydration. Missing out on precious nutrients can only make it worse.

Ironically, after being subjected to scientific scrutiny, some of the old wives' tales turned out to be more than slightly true. Are the majority of old wives intuitive, or have they just been around a long time and been able to observe and learn? Have advances in science simply changed the tale's validity in some cases? The answers are down the road of life.