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Long-Time Health Myths Debunked


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Posted by: animal56

An article I found...thoughts? (I know we already discussed the water issue, but it was part of the same article. My focus is the stretching bit.)

Long-Time Health Myths Debunked
03-Sep-2002



Scientists have debunked two long-held health beliefs: stretching before exercise and drinking 8 glasses of water a day.
Australian researchers now feel that stretching before and after vigorous exercise does nothing to reduce soreness or injury. They studied army recruits in basic training and found that stretching prevented an average of only one injury every 23 years. The rate is even lower for the rest of us, who don't exercise that hard.

Researcher Rob Herbert says the belief that stretching reduces injury was first put forth in the 1960s. The theory was that muscles were more likely to spasm and cause pain if they were suddenly put into vigorous action. He says, "It sounded like a good idea, and the timing was perfect— around the time we were learning that physical activity reduced risk of heart disease, so recreational exercise was becoming very popular. But like many good ideas, the muscle spasm theory of muscle soreness was wrong and has since been discredited, but the practice of stretching before exercise persists."

Scientists also say that drinking eight glasses of water a day doesn’t do anything except make you run to the bathroom and spend a lot of money on bottled water. Dr. Heinz Valtin of Dartmouth Medical School says, "After 10 months of careful searching I have found no scientific evidence that supports '8x8' [drinking a glass of water every hour of the 8 hour day]." He says people forget that the food they eat also contains water. “…I find it impossible to believe that evolution left us with a chronic water deficit," he says.

If a person gets low on fluid, the body compensates by bringing fluid back out of the kidneys and by slowing the loss of water through the skin, and we feel thirsty long before dehydration starts. After seeing articles promoting drinking lots of water, Valtin says, "I started talking to my colleagues and asking them, 'Do you know of any evidence for this?' Invariably, they said, 'No I think it's a myth.’”

Drinking too much water can even be dangerous. "There is also the possibility that if you drink a lot of water that happens to be polluted then of course you get more pollutants," Valtin says. Overdoses of water can cause water intoxication that leads to confusion and even death. Water intoxication is one effect of taking the drug Ecstasy, for instance, because it makes people thirsty beyond their physical needs.


Posted by: Mudge

I've never heard of or believed stretching to reduce soreness, I use it simply because excersize will cause loss of flexibility over time, so stretching is neccessary to maintain or improve felxibility.


Posted by: w8lifter

*ignores the water* lol

Static stretching before lifting w8's has been shown to reduce strength levels. I much prefer dynamic stretching to warm up w/.


Posted by: Duncan

Agree with the stretching and disagree with the water. Drinking low levels of water will cause you to retain it, true, but we try to avoid that.

What about the myth that Fat burns in a carbohydrate flame. This statement is very deceiving. If needed, I could go more into detail but will not unless challenged.


Posted by: Mudge

I stretch in the middle of my workouts, usually between sets. Suggestions for those of us not schooled in this art?

Fat burns in a carbo flame? Is that to mean while carbs are being burnt for energy inside the body?


Posted by: Duncan

It basically means that fat burning requires carbohydrate to occur, which is likely incorrect and definitely deceiving.


Posted by: The_Chicken_Daddy

Quote:
Originally posted by Duncan
What about the myth that Fat burns in a carbohydrate flame. This statement is very deceiving. If needed, I could go more into detail but will not unless challenged.
Yeah, that is total myth.

It comes from something to do with the kreb's cycle, and i totally know what it is, but i've totally forgotten it.


Posted by: The_Chicken_Daddy

And quit posting at the same time as me.


Posted by: Duncan

I will not quit it and you will have to deal with it. Actually, it is the Cori cycle which I believe you are referring to (Transformation of lactate to glucose in liver). Actually, I might as well get on with the info. Probably over some heads, but when it clicks you get a greater understanding of energy from fat and why CKDs work. I am sure TCD will get it.

OK, they state that you need carbs to burn fat, when in reality all you need is pyruvate. So, you have glucose which is C6H12O6 and pyruvate is C3H4O3. Splitting glucose in half yields 2 (C3H6O3) so you would need to remove 2 hydrogens from each portion of the split glucose molecule (Called 3-phosphoglyceraldehyde) which basically occurs in the presence of an O to form water (H2O) (This whole process is termed glycolysis). I could get more into this process if need be. Anyway, what you take from this is that you need to come up with C3H4O3 to produce energy. So how can this be accomplished without glucose?

Well, a triglyceride (Storage form of fat) is made up of a 3 carbon glycerol attached to 3 fatty acids. So there are 3 carbons (C3)right there in the glycerol component. Remember that Glucose yields 2 molecules of C3H6O3. What could I possibly add to 3 carbons that would make this? Hmm, could it be 3 water molecules (3(H20)). So, 3 molecules of water added to 3 carbons yields 1 molecule of C3H6O3 which is the exact same thing that is formed through glycolysis, but only one instead of two. Since this yields only 1 molecule of C3H6O3, it is less efficient than the glycolytic pathway. One would assume that this system would become more efficient after continued use via increased enzymatic activity. There is an extra bonus to this whole fat burning mumbo jumbo. Since fat can only be stored as a triglyceride (Glycerol attached to 3 fatty acids), once the glycerol is detached, you have 3 free fatty acids ready to be utilized via beta oxidation as they are no longer able to be stored without the glycerol component.

It is actually alot more complex than what I have written, but this is the jist of it all. Read it a couple of times and I am sure you will get it, just look at it in terms of mathematical equations.


Posted by: Mudge

Thanks Doc


Posted by: The_Chicken_Daddy

Quote:
Originally posted by Duncan
Actually, it is the Cori cycle which I believe you are referring to (Transformation of lactate to glucose in liver).

That's the one.

Good post too. I feel like i've read it somewhere before.


Posted by: Duncan

Really, where at? I pretty much just pulled the conclusion from my exercise phys book. I am on the NHE website right now, it kinda seems that faigan sees it in the same way. I may be purchasing his book in the near future.

Hey, you have contact with he or Lyle McDonald, correct? Could you ask one of them a question. I was just wondering if the dehydration associated with a CKD/NHE diet is a result of fat burning USING UP A NET of 2 waters (Using 3 initially and then producing 1) while carb metabolism PRODUCES 2 H20?


Ahhhh, I found it now, Faigan describes this process when he discusses glycerol/glycerine in his ask rob section. Pretty good stuff and a little more understandable as compared to my more chemical/mathematical explanation.




Posted by: The_Chicken_Daddy

Quote:
Originally posted by Duncan
Really, where at? I pretty much just pulled the conclusion from my exercise phys book.
Yeah, i read it from a text book (I did A-Level biology at college).


Quote:
I am on the NHE website right now, it kinda seems that faigan sees it in the same way. I may be purchasing his book in the near future.
I hope you do.

Quote:
Hey, you have contact with he or Lyle McDonald, correct? Could you ask one of them a question. I was just wondering if the dehydration associated with a CKD/NHE diet is a result of fat burning USING UP A NET of 2 waters (Using 3 initially and then producing 1) while carb metabolism PRODUCES 2 H20?


Ahhhh, I found it now, Faigan describes this process when he discusses glycerol/glycerine in his ask rob section. Pretty good stuff and a little more understandable as compared to my more chemical/mathematical explanation.
Well, no, not Rob. I dunno his email address. And any mail sent via extique gets filtered by some dude called Matt, i think.

I have Lyle's email address if you want it?


Posted by: Duncan

Yeah, cool, he would most likely know.


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