Myth or Truth?

REPORTER: Miranda Miller
BROADCAST DATE: May 24, 2005

If you believe olive oil is less fattening than butter, giving up smoking makes you gain weight and chewing gum is hard to digest, you may be in for a shock.

Some people will believe anything they are told about food if it might mean losing a few kilos. But it turns out there are more diet myths than facts. Nutrition expert Dr Tim Crowe of Deakin University said many food myths started as one person's crazy idea. We asked him to help sort food fact from food fiction.

Myth one: Starve yourself for instant slimmingStarving yourself is the worst possible thing you can do to lose weight.

What you lose is water and muscle, you can only do it for one or two days. In the end you will probably "pig out" after depriving yourself of so much food.

Myth two: Olive oil is less fattening than butter

When it comes to the heart, olive oil is the one to go for. But as far as fat goes, both have just the same amount. Both will put on the same amount of weight.

Myth three: "Reduced fat" means low in fat

The reduced fat product - even though it has less fat than the original product - is probably still high in fat and therefore high in calories.

Myth four: Giving up smoking makes you put on weight

A big myth. When people give up smoking, some lose weight, some gain weight, and some people stay the same. It is far better to be a non-smoker who is overweight than a smoker who is at a healthy weight. Where people fell down, Dr Crowe said, was when they reached for the comfort food to replace the cigarettes.

Myth five: alcohol is good for your health

Alcohol is only good for you in moderate amounts and only for people later on in life who are at risk of heart disease, Dr Crowe said.

Myth six: eating late at night makes you put on weight

What really matters is how much you eat over the whole day, not what you eat at night. If the food you eat at night is high in calories, on top of all the food you have been eating all day, you will put on weight. Otherwise the total quantity you eat matters more than when you eat it.But many still believe going to bed with a juicy steak in your tummy is a big no no, because meat is said to be hard to digest.

Myth seven: meat takes days to digest

Another big myth. Meat is fully digested just a couple of hours after we eat a meal. Fruit and vegetables take days to digest because of the beneficial fibre that's in them. Meat is not a problem.

Myth eight: frozen vegetables are not as good as fresh

Frozen veges are just as good for you, if not better, than the vegetables you buy from the supermarket. They are picked and processed within 24 hours on the farm, meaning the goodness is frozen into them. They are not wilting away on the supermarket shelf.

Myth nine: sugars in fruit juice are better than the sugar in soft drink

Sugar is sugar, no matter where it comes from, whether it's fruit juice or soft drink. Fruit juice is better because of all the vitamins and minerals it contains.

Myth ten: swallow chewing gum and it takes years to digest

While chewing gum can make you hungry by stimulating salivary glands, swallowing it will not keep your tummy busy for six years. Dr Crowe said this was just something parents told children to prevent them swallowing chewing gum. But like anything else, chewing gum is easily digested in our stomachs.