Researchers Debunk Holiday Medical Myths

Everyone seems to become a doctor during the holidays, doling out medical advice for friends and family.  'Don't eat too late at night, or you'll gain weight'.  'Keep the kids away from the sweets or they'll be hyperactive.'  Cure for a hangover?  'Just pop an aspirin!'

And while most of the advice is well-intentioned, it may also be ill-informed.

That's the message from two researchers, who have set out to debunk holiday medical myths.

Dr.'s Rachel Vreeman and Aaron Carroll of the Indiana University School of Medicine published their findings in the British Medical Journal.

Among their discoveries, some of which seem fairly hard to believe:

• Poinsettia plants, long thought to be poisonous, in fact aren't.
• Sugar from sweets and chocolate don't actually make kids hyper. 
• Eating late at night does not actually cause weight gain.
• Most of the body's heat doesn't actually escape through the head
• There's no known cure for a hangover, except moderation. 

The two myth-busting Dr.'s have a book coming out titled, "Don't Swallow Your Gum: Myths, Half-Truths and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health."

The duo made headlines last year by dispelling the notions that we need up to eight glasses a water a day, that we use only one-tenth of our brains, and that our hair and fingernails continue to grow after we die. 

All things we can accept, but no cure for a hangover?  That hurts.