The Taste Bud: Food Myths People Actually Believe are True

Got lactose intolerance? Wikimedia Commons/NIAID

Raise your hand if you grew up being force-fed the idea that milk helped make your bones grow stronger and that it was one of the most healthful liquids you can put into you body.

Yeah, me too. But the truth is that few, if any, other mammals drink milk produced by other species of mammal. I mean, it doesn’t make sense. Let’s face it, a cow produces milk for one express purpose, and that’s to feed her young until they wean off the liquid and onto plant material. (Boy, do I feel sorry for those kids in the 1970s and ’80s who were undiagnosed lactose intolerant.)

But 22 different states apparently have named milk as their official drink. This, according to a new study by Boam, a restaurant-industry technology company. Boam’s study surveyed people to find out how many of 10 popular food myths they would believe, and the results show that not only are human beings still gullible, all those “Got Milk?” ads we watched ad nauseum for decades actually work.

According to the study, 63% of those surveyed by Boam believe that drinking milk will, in fact, make their bones stronger. Now, it does contain calcium, which can help with bone density, but milk alone ain’t gonna do it. If you’ve got weak bones due to genetics, you can empty a cow a day and it isn’t going to help. But at least the federal government was successful in making sure the dairy industry wasn’t going to go anywhere.

Another big one: 45% of those surveyed believe that eating turkey makes you sleepy. Triptophan, baby! But according to Boam, which is maddeningly logical at times if you’re part of that 45%, the most likely reason you get sleepy on Thanksgiving is that you eat a gigantic meal filled with starches and gravy and the like, and because you also probably drink alcohol. Heck, and if you don’t like football, you might just fall asleep due to boredom.

But Boam reports, “A study by Sleep Foundation found that the average American actually loses 11 minutes and 14 seconds of sleep on Thanksgiving, which is the time when people typically consume the most turkey.”

D’oh.

My favorite one, though, is this gem: 29% of respondents actually believe the five-second rule is legitimate. You know the rule: You drop food on the floor, and as long as you retrieve it within five seconds, it’s completely safe to eat. Never mind the cat hair on the underside of your last bite of brownie, it’s fine. Chomp away, pal.

“The 5-second food drop rule is an unhygienic myth,” Boam says. “Some bacteria can transfer to fallen food in under a second.”

A few other good ones: 22% believe that if you accidentally swallow your gum, it will take seven years to digest; 24% believe you burn more calories eating and digesting celery than the vegetable has in it to begin with, the suggesting being if you eat an all-celery diet, you will starve to death no matter how much you eat; 20% actually believe eating carrots can help you see in the dark; and 6% of people somehow believe that if you eat seeds from a fruit, then that seed will germinate and grow a plant or tree in your stomach.

No, really. And only 10% chose “None of the above” when asked which myths they believe to be true. Yes, 10%. So, when the end comes, there’s your zombie fighting force. That 10%. Everyone else is off limits.