Medical Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths: What We Think We Know May Be Hurting Us

By: Steven Novella, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Steven Novella

Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

True or false: Eight glasses of water a day are mandatory for staying hydrated. Vitamin C protects you from catching a cold. Natural foods are always better for you.

What do these nuggets of so-called medical wisdom have in common? They're not true. They're myths, half-truths, and misconceptions - pieces of information so familiar we take them for granted without truly considering the scientific truth behind them.

In today's information age, such medical myths are all around us. And using them to make decisions about your own health can be harmful. Even deadly. That's why it's critical to understand the accuracy of medical information and discover the truth about everyday health and well-being.

That's the core of this important series of 24 eye-opening lectures from an acclaimed neurologist, educator, and science broadcaster. Dr. Novella will give you evidence-based guidelines for good health, enhance your ability to be better informed about common medical myths, and strengthen your skills at assessing medical information and advice.

An essential aid for any home, the lecture series is divided into three sections that focus on specific aspects of health. "You Are What You Eat and Drink": Get pointed looks at proper hydration, the routine use of multivitamins, natural foods and probiotics, antioxidants, and more. "Fighting Diseases": Sort out truth from fiction regarding vaccines, the supposed link between vaccination and autism, chronic diseases, and other subjects. "Exploring the Alternatives": Investigate the claims behind herbal medicines, homeopathy, acupuncture, and other alternatives that aren't as worthwhile as they claim to be.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2010 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2010 The Great Courses

No evidence that alternatives work, the end.

Basically this book just repeatedly tells you that none of the alternative medicines are proven to work, so don't waste your time.

Excellent... Is for only word I can write

Loved every chapter, narration is perfect, it was as if I am attending these lecture in person... Too good.

Very insightful

Very insightful about some of my own misconceptions and beliefs. I'm still not convinced about the vitamin c although.
and please keep in mind the course was published in 2010.

Loved it. Wish there was more!

Loved it, wish there was more. Learned some, confirmed some. Great for anyone in medical profession or just curious mind.

What we think we know, that's wrong, can hurt us

We live in a sea of freely available information, easily accessed on the internet, and this can be a very good thing, especially with medical information.

Or it can be a bad things, sometimes, especially with medical information.

Much of what we think we know is wrong, or half-true, or even, sometimes, outright lies and fraud. One excellent example of the last is the anti-vaccine movement. It started in its current form in 1998 with the publication in The Lancet of Andrew Wakefield's paper claiming to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. What Wakefield didn't disclose was that he had his own vaccine to promote, was getting paid by lawyers who wanted to bring lawsuits against the vaccine makers, or that he had, in fact, had to fake his results when he didn't get the results he wanted.

His paper was originally well-received, but once it was published, other researchers conducted the same research using the methodology he described, and could not reproduce his results. No one has ever been able to reproduce his results, because no, vaccines, whether MMR or others, don't cause autism. The link just doesn't exist. Wakefield lost his license to practice medicine in the UK, The Lancet officially withdrew that paper, something it has never done before in its history, and Wakefield still makes gobs of money promoting his anti-vaccine movement to the gullible and the vulnerable.

That's the example that ignites a burning rage in me, but it's just one small part of this audiobook. Many of the examples are honest misunderstandings (placebo effect really is all in your mind, with no real physiological effect), or have a basis in fact but are misapplied (honey really can be a good topical antibiotic, but shouldn't be used that way internally, that is, it shouldn't be used internally as an antibiotic, and yes, this means pregnant women should probably avoid it till the baby's born).

A persistent myth is about the supposed benefits of "natural" foods and herbal medications. Natural doesn't mean safe. Potatoes contain cyanide, and are perfectly safe as long as you only eat the potato, not other parts of the plant, they aren't green, they aren't spoiled, and you cut away the "eyes," or sprouts. This is why it took so long to figure out that mature, properly cooked potatoes are not only safe to eat, but quite nutritious. Almonds contain arsenic. There's a reason that people eat sweet almonds rather than bitter almonds, and it's not just because we tend to like sweet better than bitter. Sweet almonds contain a tiny amount of arsenic and are generally quite safe if you don't do something really crazy. Bitter almonds contain 42 times as much arsenic as sweet almonds, and are quite dangerous. That's why they were the source of the poison in so many mystery novels from the late 19th and first half of the 20th century.

Herbal medications: If it has any real pharmacological effect, it can do harm, too. And then there's the small matter of dosage, which can vary wildly between brands and even within the same brand, with no pesky FDA regulation to protect you. St. John's wort is widely touted for depression,but its measured effectiveness isn't very great. And it was being strongly promoted to AIDS patients for a while, who quite naturally can have real problems with depression and may be understandably reluctant to take more "drugs." Except St. John's wort, which may have a small effect on their depression, also interferes with the drugs that actually treat their AIDS. Oops.

Remember that herbal medicines are drugs just as much as the stuff you get from the pharmacist. And if it has any real effect, it can have bad effects, too. It can also have drug interactions as well, and if your doctor and your pharmacist don't know you're using them, they can't take them into account in planning and managing your care.

Other things may have some of the effects claimed for them, but the evidence just isn't there yet. They absolutely merit more study, but if your doctor isn't prescribing it, it's more likely because she's not persuaded by the so far minimal evidence than because she's part of a grand Big Pharma conspiracy.

Highly recommended. Steven Novella is a lot more fun to listen to talking about this than I am writing about his book. You'll learn a lot, too.

Enjoy.

I bought this audiobook.

Really Interesting

It's fascinating how many of the things we hold true aren't. The speaker does a great job of factually backing up his perspective and presenting some interesting and practical medical myths.

Exceptional!

This is an essential guide to understanding science, the nature of medicine, the dangers of pseudoscience and all the questions you may have regarding any of these. This will help you make better decisions for your health and well being while avoiding those who seek to con you out of your money.

Enjoyable

I found this to be an interesting lecture series, but the series assumed that the listener was well-educated and had a science background. The lecturer used a lot of science-language that normal people don’t use. I can’t help but think that people who would best understand this lecture series don’t really need it.

Still, I had a lot of ideas that I held about health challenged in this lecture. It turns out that a lot of what I know about medicine isn’t true.

Debunk Everything

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The course was interesting. Novella is an engaging speaker and easy to listen to. He goes through almost every form of alternative medicine you can think of and punches holes in them. Some of what he says I already knew, some of it was completely new to me. For example, I didn't know the origin of acupuncture and this story is fascinating. Now that I do know I don't have any curiosity about whether or not it will work and I have to laugh when I see people going for it. There were one or two places where I didn't completely agree with what he said and felt that he was promoting the POV of established medicine without questioning the resources too closely. You need to listen with a critical mind and use your logic. It was reassuring that his ideas about vitamins and certain herbs matched my own decisions about them, long established. I have to admit that it was disappointing that there are no unexplored medical miracles available through alternative medicine, but deep in our hearts we already knew that, didn't we?

Would you be willing to try another book from The Great Courses? Why or why not?

Yes, The Great Courses are almost always worth the time and effort. Many members of my family invest in the Great Courses regularly.

Have you listened to any of Professor Steven Novella’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, this was the first one.

Did Medical Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths: What We Think We Know May Be Hurting Us inspire you to do anything?

No. I was already doing everything right, but it was good to have the reassurance.

Really enjoy Novella's lecture

Would you listen to Medical Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths: What We Think We Know May Be Hurting Us again? Why?

There is such a wealth of material here that I would love to relay to others, a second (or beyond) listen would be helpful for me to retain. I will likely listen again after a few months.

What did you like best about this story?

I like Novella's style of lecture. He's also self effacing about the fallibility of trusting any source, including him. It does challenge things you may be comfortable believing. I'll have to be careful about wanting to pop other's belief bubbles. After all, my only authority would be this lecture.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listened to it during my commute and loved it. It was a nice escape from the subject matter I deal with at work or the demands of family at home.

Any additional comments?

If Novella had another lecture, perhaps further in depth in a medical area, I would purchase it in a second. I also enjoyed his lecture on critical thinking.