Armenian Urban Legends

These stories are driving me crazy. Everybody tells me they are true, but nobody can point a reliable source of information for them. So I decided to start a page where I can list them, and have a discussion about them.

I do not believe most of them are true, but I promise to keep an open mind about them.

* You can get a cold or a flu, or lots of other horrible diseases from getting chilled.: In the 18th century, John Wesley wrote a book about curing diseases; it advised cold baths as prevention and stated that chilling causes the common cold. The work was widely reprinted in the 19th. Another book by William Buchan in the 18th century also gave wet feet and clothes as the cause of the common cold. So this is an old myth.; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold http://www.commoncold.org/special1.htm http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/dc/caz/infc/virl/cold_flu.jsp
* You can get a cold or a flu from drafts.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold http://www.commoncold.org/special1.htm
* Fresh bread can make you gain weight, while eating the same amount of bread while it is not fresh will not.
* You can get fat from drinking water.
* Aspirin or Tylenol can help to treat your cold or flu.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold http://www.commoncold.org/special1.htm
* You need antibiotics for a cold or a flu.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold http://www.commoncold.org/special1.htm
* Tomatoes are not good for your liver.
* Spinach makes you dumb.
* Food heated in a Microwave is dangerous for your health.
* Using Credit Cards is more dangerous then using cash to buy things.
* Artificial sweeteners cause cancer.
* Quitting smoking can kill you, because you are used to the nicotine

Last modified: 09/17/2007