36 False Facts You Probably Thought Were

True
By David McCandless from InformationIsBeautiful.net

1. Napoléon Was Short

A tall tale. At 1.68m, he was slightly above average height for a Frenchman of the time.

2. Don’t Eat and Swim

This doesn’t increase the risk of cramps; alcohol is the biggest risk increaser.

3. Salted Water Boils Quicker

Adding a sprinkle of salt to fresh water makes no noticeable difference.

4. Oil Stops Stuck Pasta

It doesn’t prevent sticking. But it can stop the water boiling over.

5. Left and Right Brain

There’s no solid division between hemispheres; the left brain can learn “right- brain skills” and
vice versa.

6. Dropped Coins from a Tall Building Kill

The terminal velocity of a penny is 48-80km/h. Not fast enough to kill – but it sure would sting.

7. Three Wise Men

Nowhere in the Bible does it specify that there were three.

8. MSG = Headaches
There’s no scientific proof – just anecdotal evidence implicating monosodium glutamate.

9. Dogs Sweat by Salivating

No – they regulate temperature through panting. They actually sweat through their footpads.

10. Great Wall of China

It’s not visible from space. No single human structure is visible from orbit, but you can see cities
at night.

11. Flush Rotation

A flushed toilet doesn’t drain the other way in the opposite hemisphere. The Coriolis effect
doesn’t apply to water in toilets.

12. Einstein Failed Maths

No. He failed an entrance exam for a school, two years early, but still excelled in maths.
13. Humans and Dinosaurs
Despite 41% of US adults thinking we coexisted, we actually missed each other by 64 million
years.

14. Black Holes Absorb Everything

Not really “holes”, but rather hugely dense objects with massive gravitational pull.

15. We Have Only 5 Senses

Many scientists insist on 21, including balance, pain, movement, hunger, thirst, etc.

16. Vaccines Cause Autism

Groundless fears based on fraudulent research that’s been shown to have been manipulated.

17. Don’t Touch Baby Birds

Most birds have a limited sense of smell, so they won’t abandon babies who “smell” of humans.

18. Alcohol Kills Brain Cells

While rampant alcohol use can damage the brain, it’s not due to cell death.

19. Missing-Persons Reports

You don’t have to wait 24 hours to report someone as missing to the police if you have serious
concerns about their safety.

20. Different Tongue Parts

There are not different sections of the tongue for each taste: bitter, sour, salty, sweet, and umami
(savoury/meaty).

21. Only 10% of the Brain is Used

Metaphor that’s been misunderstood; not all neurons are always firing, but inactive cells are still
important.

22. Iron Maidens

these were never medieval torture devices, but 18th-century fakes were created for sensational
circuses.

23. Body Heat and the Head

Only in infants is most heat lost through the head (unless the head is the only uncovered part of
the body).

24. Wake Sleepwalkers?

They’ll be really confused, but it’s OK. They’re more likely to hurt themselves if they’re not
awoken.

25. Bananas Grow on Trees

Actually, they grow on massive herbs that just resemble trees.
26. Milk Increases Mucus
Nope; it doesn’t. There’s no need to avoid dairy if you have a cold.

27. Bats Are Blind

Not only can bats see, but they also use echolocation. That’s why they’re so awesome!

28. Caffeine Dehydrates You

Not really. The diuretic effect of caffeine is offset by the amount of water in a caffeinated drink.

29. Goldfish’s 3-Second Memory

While not the smartest in the animal kingdom, goldfish do boast a better memory than most
politicians.

30. Shaving Thickens Hair

Regrown hair isn’t thicker, coarser, or darker; it just appears so because it grows back with a
blunt tip.

31. Seven Years to Digest Gum

The chewy base of gum is indigestible and passes straight through. The remainder is absorbed.

32. Vikings’ Horns

The helmets were created by a costume designer for a 19th- century Wagner opera.

33. Alcohol Keeps You Warm

It merely dilates warm blood vessels near the skin, creating the impression of warmth. It can
actually drop core body temperature.

34. The Vomitorium

Not a room Romans used for Bacchanalian binges, but the name for the entrance to a stadium.

35. Sugar = Hyperactivity

Studies have disproved this. Poor or rowdy behaviours still occur in children with sugar-free
diets.

36. Bulls Hate Red

Bulls are colour-blind. They actually perceive the motions of the bullfighter’s cloth as a threat.
25 Things You Need to Know About Sleep
Right Now
By Kate Allen and Katherine Laidlaw

Will a lack of shut-eye make you fat? Do white-noise machines cause deafness? Are night owls
wealthier than early birds? Wake up to the secrets of slumber.

1. Had a terrible sleep? Have someone lie to you

It’s the wake-up mind trick. A paper published in 2014 in the Journal of Experimental
Psychology showed that when students were told they’d had a good night’s sleep, even if they
hadn’t, they performed better on tests than those who were advised their slumber was truly
subpar.

2. Sleep machines won’t damage your hearing – or your baby’s

A controversial study from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children released last year identified
white-noise machines as a possible cause for hearing loss in infants. And while results showed
potential for damage, the risk came from using the machine at loud volumes and for longer
periods and in closer proximity than recommended. Nothing dialling down the volume and
leaving a wide berth can’t fix.

3. Why any sleep is better than no sleep (no matter how you feel when you wake up)
While the idea of pulling an all-nighter to ensure you make that 4am flight or ace that early-
morning presentation might be tempting, take a nap instead. A study of plane pilots by NASA
reveals that catching any shut-eye at all, even as short as 26 minutes, will boost your cognitive
function when you wake.
The best naps are either short or long

4. A “power nap” (10-20 minutes) can restore your alertness without accompanying feelings of
“sleep inertia”, aka post-nap grogginess.

5. A 90- to 120-minute nap also avoids sleep inertia and helps with mental processing. This
allows a full cycle of sleep, during which the brain moves through slow-wave deep sleep and
into REM-stage sleep, associated with dreaming.

Evening countdown

6. Scientists say you should stop looking at TVs, computers, smartphones and tablets for at
least two hours before you go to sleep. The blue light – light that is richer in short, or “blue”,
wavelengths – emitted by most screens suppresses the secretion of melatonin, which will shift
your circadian rhythm and keep you awake.

7. Turn down the heat. Most people’s bedrooms are kept too warm for the body to sleep well,
says Dr Atul Khullar, a psychiatrist and sleep expert. Keep your room as cool as possible without
being uncomfortable – between 18.5 and 21°C.

8. Keep the tech out of the bedroom. Make it into a calm sanctuary dedicated to sleep. Swap
your screens for a paper book or magazine before bed.

9. Buy an alarm clock. Although your smartphone’s alarm will do the trick, chances are you’ll
scroll through email, read the news or check an app when you should be focused on dozing off.
“Alarm clocks have been around for 150 years and cost $9. Use one,” says Khullar.

10. Have a light snack. Avoid proteins or fatty foods one or two hours before bed (the burst of
energy they provide will keep you up), and opt instead for a small serving of a complex
carbohydrate like cereal.

11. Sleep and obesity arelocked in a vicious cycle

22% is the number of extra kilojoules consumed by men who slept for four hours versus eight
hours in a 2010 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Neither the well-
slept nor under-slept participants said they felt hungrier or enjoyed the foods more, yet the tired
group consumed substantially more kilojoules during subsequent meals.

12. 45 minutes is the amount of time each member of a group of 25 insomniacs spent listening
to soothing music before bedtime every night. Their REM sleep significantly improved
compared to 25 matched insomniacs who went without.

13. Scientists can see your dreams

Using MRI and an algorithm, doctors in Japan inferred what their test subjects were dreaming
about from their brainwaves. “Dreaming has been thought to be a private experience, accessible
only to the person experiencing the dream,” says Yukiyasu Kamitani, of Kyoto’s ATR
Computational Neuroscience Laboratories. But his lab has taken a glimpse behind the veil by
assembling a database of commonly dreamt images (cars, buildings, men, women, food and even
furniture) and correlating them with three participants’ brain activities, testing them more than
200 times each. With this data, Kamitani was able to guess what was dreamt 60% of the time. It
seems there’s no escape from our work and personal stresses: most dreams were about the office
or the family.

14. Without sleep your brain plays tricks

In 2014, researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany discovered that people who hadn’t
slept for 24 hours experienced schizophrenia-like symptoms, including pronounced attention
deficits, hallucinations and a skewed sense of time and smell.

15. Insomnia isn’t about falling asleep

Or, at least, not only; indicators of insomnia also include waking up too early, not feeling rested
in the morning, irritability, depression, headaches and gastrointestinal distress.

16. 30% of adults are estimated to exhibit signs of insomnia, including waking up 30 minutes
earlier than they’d planned, being up for longer than 30-minute stretches during the night or
taking longer than half an hour to fall asleep.

17. Sleep learning is possible

If the chords of “Sweet Caroline” continue to elude you, adjust your earphones and take a nap.
Scientists at Illinois’s Northwestern University have discovered that listening to a melody in
slow-wave sleep helps cement it in your memory and you’ll play the tune better. The same
principles apply to foreign languages, according to research from two Swiss universities. Review
your new vocabulary before you sleep, play audio of the words you have been learning for 90
minutes while indulging in a little shut-eye, and you can anticipate better recall upon waking.

Men and women aren’t created equal

18. Men tend to have worse-quality sleep than women but are less likely to complain about it.
Good sleep is linked with good health, so it’s worth making a fuss to improve yours.

19. Insomnia disproportionately affects women; complex hormonal cycles play a role.
Doctors may prescribe sleeping pills as a short-term solution, but lifestyle changes, like getting
more exercise (especially in the morning rather than at night), can make a big difference.

20. Nix the nightcap: Alcohol doesn’t help you sleep

Booze may ease the slide into slumber, but researchers have found it promotes wakefulness later
in the night, not to mention restless leg syndrome, night sweats and trips to the bathroom.

21. Is your tongue larger than average?

Obese men with obstructive sleep apnoea were likelier to have larger tongues than those who
slept normally, according to 2014 research. They also had more fat at the base of their tongues,
leading researchers to hypothesise the appendage was blocking sufferers’ airways.
22. Want to promote sleep? Don’t count sheep
Rather than audit a fictional herd of woolly mammals (something active), try picturing a restful
scene (something passive). If you haven’t fallen asleep within 15 to 20 minutes, move to another
room, take up a quiet activity, such as reading, then try again.

23. Couples who sleep (really, really closely) together stay together
A British psychologist who recently asked 1000 people at the Edinburgh International Science
Festival to describe their preferred sleep positions and the quality of their relationships found this
correlation: the further apart couples slept, the lower they rated their relationships. 94% of
couples who spent the night in contact were happy with their relationships, versus 86% of
couples who spent the night less than 2.5cm apart and 66% who slept more than 75cm apart.

24. Spooning: uncomfortable but popular

31% of couples from the same study (see No, 23) slept facing the same direction. Spooning was
beaten out only by the roomier back to back (42% of couples). Face to face was the position of
choice for 4% of partners.

25. Caffeine keeps you awake by being a talented mimic

Drowsiness occurs when a molecule in your body called adenosine binds to receptors in the
brain, slowing down neural activity. Caffeine molecules look just like adenosine and can
therefore bind to those same receptors, blocking off adenosine – and sleep. Instead, you get sped-
up brain activity and a flood of adrenalin.

6 Signs of Stroke You Might be Ignoring

By Alyssa Jung

With stroke now the second-leading cause of death worldwide it’s important everyone recognises
the early signs.
Photo: Thinkstock

There are two primary kinds of stroke. An ischaemic stroke means blocked blood vessels are
causing a reduction in blood flow in the brain. A haemorrhagic stroke means a ruptured blood
vessel is leaking blood in the brain. Symptoms for both kinds of stroke can be similar or vary,
depending on which part of the brain is affected. It’s important to call an ambulance as soon as
you notice any potential signs of trouble.

1. You think exhaustion is making you see double.

Vision problems like seeing double, blurriness, or loss of sight in one eye can be a sign of a
stroke. “Seeing two images is very unusual for just being tired or reading too much,” says stroke
specialist Dr Carolyn Brockington from New York’s Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital. A blocked
blood vessel can reduce the amount of oxygen getting to the eye, which causes vision issues that
may not be accompanied by any other signs of stroke.

2. You think your arm is numb because it “just fell asleep”.

If you wake up from a nap and your arm or leg is numb, it’s easy to assume it’s due to a
compressed nerve. “If your arm is suddenly numb or weak, and it doesn’t go away in a few
minutes, call an ambulance,” says Professor Ralph Sacco, a neurology specialist at the University
of Miami. Decreased blood flow through the arteries that run up your spine to the back of your
head causes numbness or weakness on one side of the body.

3. You think that “it’s on the tip of my tongue” feeling is due to being tired.
Sudden cognitive deficits are a common sign of stroke. “You might struggle to think of a word
every once in a while, but there shouldn’t be a long period of time where you can’t think of
anything to say or be unable to speak,” says Brockington.

4. You assume alcohol is behind your wobbliness.

“People think they’re having balance issues because they had a drink, but see if that makes
sense,” says Brockington. “You won’t have delayed balance problems, so a drink from earlier in
the day probably isn’t to blame. It could be from a decrease in blood flow to the brain.” Even if
you had a few drinks earlier, if you suddenly start to stumble, can’t walk straight, or experience
sudden dizziness, don’t wait for it to pass; call an ambulance straight away.

5. You blame slurred speech on your medication.

“Some medicines, like painkillers, can cause slurred speech,” says Sacco. But if that’s not a side
effect you usually experience, you might be having a stroke and should seek help immediately,
he says.

6. You chalk that blinding headache up to a migraine.

It might just be a migraine, but if you’re not prone to them, it could be a stroke. “Strokes can
masquerade as migraine headaches because they have the same neurological symptoms,” says
Sacco. “I tell people to treat it like a stroke and call for help; let us figure it out.”

6 Surprising Hair Myths and Facts

Here's what you need to know about the varied growth atop your head.

Photo: Thinkstock

1. Brush 100 times a day for healthier hair. Myth.

This is now known to risk damaging your mane. Brushing pulls out hair that isn’t ready to fall
out, often breaks healthy hairs, and scratches the scalp. Brush gently for styling only, not to
stimulate the scalp.

2. Being stressed can make your hair fall out. Fact.

Severe stress can take a toll on your hair. All hair follicles normally undergo periodic “rest”
periods; sudden stress can cause them to enter this resting phase prematurely, making the hair
fall out in the three months following the stressful event. Normally hair growth restores
naturally, but it’s important to deal with stress and seek medical advice to rule out underlying
illness, hormonal imbalance, or medication side effects.

3. Worry brings grey hair. Fact.

The stress hormone adrenaline may damage DNA in the genes responsible for the production of
melanin, the pigment that gives hair its colour.

4. Hair can turn white with fright. Myth. You can’t lose pigment in your hair because hair is
dead when it leaves the scalp. But a severe shock could trigger alopecia areata, an autoimmune
condition that causes hair to drop out. In rare cases this can attack only pigmented hairs, leaving
gray and white hair behind.

5. Hair grows faster in the summer. Fact.

When it’s cold, blood is diverted to internal organs to maintain body temperature, which
decreases blood flow to the scalp. In warm weather, enhanced circulation to the skin boosts
follicle activity and increases the rate of hair growth. Hair grows 10-15% faster in summer.

6. Cutting hair by the moon speeds its growth. Myth.

Some people believe that cutting hair under a waxing moon promotes growth. Alas, hair does not
grow back more strongly after it’s cut – at any time.

What You Need to Know About Cholesterol

By Anita Bartholomew

From striking new studies and leading specialists, the latest information.
On Friday morning, April 16, 2004, Mohamed Hadibèche, then a 44-year-old truck driver, felt
a mild pain in his chest. It was gone within minutes. The following morning, the pain returned –
again, subsiding soon after. So when the pain returned the next afternoon, he assumed he could
ignore it. But this time it rapidly grew more intense. “I felt I had a stake deep in my chest,”
recalls Mohamed. His wife, Houria, insisted on getting him to hospital.

Mohamed couldn’t have known it that Sunday, but inside the walls of the arteries leading to his
heart, cholesterol had been building up. Over time, this cholesterol had hardened into a substance
called plaque, creating a condition called atherosclerosis. These plaques narrowed the space
through which his blood flowed.

When plaques rupture, as they sometimes do, blood clots can form, further interfering with the
flow of blood. This appears to be what happened to Mohamed. Blocked by hard, calcified
cholesterol and clots, oxygen-rich blood could no longer reach his heart. And Mohamed
Hadibèche suffered a heart attack.

What is cholesterol, and why do we have it?

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance called a lipid that’s primarily produced by the liver. We
couldn’t live without it. “You need it for hormones, DNA, and cell membranes,” says Dr Ian
Graham, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. If not for
cholesterol, your brain couldn’t function.

But cholesterol doesn’t swim through your blood vessels all by itself. When your doctor tells you
about your cholesterol levels, she’s actually talking about the levels of several different types of
particles that include cholesterol as just one component. These tiny particles are called
lipoproteins, because their exteriors are made up of proteins, while the interior contains the lipid
cholesterol and a second lipid called triglyceride. (Triglycerides make up most of the fat in your
body.)

Your cholesterol test only measures the first two major lipoproteins. Low Density Lipoprotein
(LDL), named for its lower concentration of cholesterol, is commonly labelled “bad” cholesterol
because it contributes to plaque. High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) is the so-called “good”
cholesterol because it is thought to help remove LDL cholesterol from the arteries. The third
major lipoprotein is Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL), a larger particle with a high
concentration of triglycerides.

These lipoprotein particles circulate through your bloodstream, dropping off molecules of
cholesterol and other substances wherever they are required – and sometimes where they’re not.
Because, despite how important cholesterol is to your body’s functioning, you can have too
much of this good thing. “We have four times more than we need,” says Professor Graham.
“Nobody quite knows why.”

But when that excess goes where it’s least welcome – stuck to the walls of your arteries, as
happened to Mohamed – it increases the risk of heart problems. If the arteries leading to the brain
are involved, it can increase the risk of stroke.
Not all heart problems are related to high cholesterol, but the World Health Organization
estimates that cholesterol is responsible for a third of coronary heart disease cases. That’s
significant, because cardiovascular disease is the number-one cause of death globally, accounting
for more than 17.5 million deaths a year. Meanwhile, high triglycerides, fats that rise when
“good” cholesterol levels fall, can double the risk of stroke, says a large 2012 study.

Foolproof Ways to Stay Brainy

By Helen Signy

You can rev up your thinking with a few fun activities. It’s scientifically proven.

Not so long ago, we thought our brains had reached their peak by the time we hit adulthood and
everything was simply downhill from there. But now we know that’s not true – scientists have
identified a process dubbed “neuroplasticity”, which acknowledges our brains are capable of
growing and making new connections as we age.

Giving our brains a regular mental workout can reduce the risk of mild cognitive decline – the
precursor to dementia – by as much as 40%, says Dr Nicole Kochan, a clinical neuro-
psychologist and researcher with the University of New South Wales’s Centre for Healthy Brain
Ageing. And a recent study conducted by the Mayo Clinic in the US confirmed that elderly
people who’d kept up a hobby – such as arts and crafts, social activities or computer use – since
middle age were less likely to be affected by dementia.

It’s due to a phenomenon called “cognitive reserve” – or the mind’s resistance to damage of the
brain. When we start developing dementia – usually several decades before we notice symptoms
– certain regions of the brain like the hippocampus start to shrink. However, complex activities
boost new brain cells (grey matter) and improve the connections between them (white matter),
which means less atrophy and shrinkage.

We also know that what’s good for the body is good for the brain, says Suha Ali, risk reduction
manager at Alzheimer’s Australia. So there’s another reason to exercise regularly. And being
social gives our brains a boost too: spending time with others and having fun can contribute to
brain reserve.

“Try to combine all three,” says Ali, and the effects will multiply.

Here then, are some hobbies shown by science to boost the health of your brain – with extra tips
to make them even more powerful, courtesy of brain training programme BrainHQ.

Learn Baduk

Baduk, an ancient Korean board game also known as “Go”, is like a brain super food. One study
used imaging to show that the brains of Baduk players had superior connectivity in the frontal
lobe, the limbic system, and the subcortex of the brain, meaning players’ memory, concentration
and problem-solving abilities were all enhanced.

In fact, all sorts of card and board games are great for your brain. The complexity of the game
requires you to exercise your strategising, logic, initiative, memory and mathematics abilities,
while the social aspect gives an added boost to brain health. The Paquid study, which followed
3777 French adults, looked at the links between board games and cognitive function and found
people who played regularly had a 15% lower risk of developing dementia than non-players,
even 20 years later.

Board games boost cognitive reserve because you have to adapt depending on whether you’re
winning or losing, and develop new strategies for next time.

Alternatives: Chess and card games like pinochle, hearts, cribbage and bridge can also stimulate
your brain.

Added boost: Mentally challenge yourself to remember everyone’s name and the cards they’re
holding.

Top Tip Maintain a healthy heart, watch your weight and don’t smoke.

Take up juggling
Any activity that helps improve your dexterity and hand-eye coordination is good for your brain. With
juggling, you can challenge yourself by adding an extra ball as your skill level improves.

One study scanned the brains of people who learned to juggle for 30 minutes a day over a six-
week period. At the end of the study, participants had improved the white matter of the brain.
The researchers thought that this was partly because jugglers had better spatial awareness and
had learnt to mentally rotate objects.
Juggling is also a physical activity you can do even if you’re not very mobile, and displaying
your new-found skills to others builds in social engagement.

Alternatives: Other sensory-guided movement activities that improve hand-eye coordination

and mental rotation dexterity include ping pong, wrestling and dance.

Added boost: Try to juggle faster or longer. Change what you do each time, forcing your brain
to adapt to the new challenge.

Join a book or movie club

Find a hobby that you enjoy – that way you’re more likely to keep going. Most of us enjoy a
good book or a movie, but sharing the experience with others will further boost your brain.

“If you have someone to sit down and discuss it with, your memories become stronger, you talk
about the storyline and people bring in their shared experiences,” says Kochan. In a larger group,
that effect will increase.

A recent study found that reading a novel improves brain function by enhancing connectivity
across the left temporal cortex, associated with language comprehension, and also the central
sulcus, the area of the brain associated with sensations and movement. The researchers suggested
this latter may come from the reader literally putting themselves into the body of the book’s
protagonist – enhancing our senses of empathy and compassion.

Alternatives: Visits to an art gallery, a museum, the theatre or a concert will all stimulate the
brain.

Added boost: Be mindful. Try to understand the details of how the film or music is arranged,
analyse the dialogue, or think deeply about the plot.

Top Tip Follow a diet rich in fish, vegetables, olive oil and fruit.

Go for a nature walk

Physical activity can boost the hippocampus, the memory coordination centre of the brain which
is the first area affected by dementia. Try for at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, and if you can
build that into a social activity, so much the better.

Stanford University researchers found that walking is a particularly good way of boosting
creativity. Study participants were measured before and after a walk on a treadmill, and their
scores for “creative divergent thinking” (generating creative ideas by exploring many possible
solutions) and “convergent thinking” (giving the correct answer without thinking about it) were
both better than those who remained seated in a chair. “Walking opens up the free flow of ideas,
and it is a simple and robust solution to the goals of increasing creativity and increasing physical
activity,” the study authors said.
Walking in the midst of nature seems to be especially good for the brain. One study found the
intriguing stimuli in nature restored and replenished people’s ability to pay attention, whereas
urban environments were not as restorative because the stimulation was too dramatic (for
example, when you have to react to avoid being hit by a car).

Alternatives: Lawn bowls, yoga and tai chi or other forms of gentle exercise.

Added boost: During a walk, try to commit small details of the landscape to memory. When you
get home, try to reconstruct the walk in as much detail as possible.

Play a videogame

Do computer games actually improve brain function or just make you better at playing computer
games? Now, there’s evidence that they really do help your brain.

When you play a video game, you have to think quickly and hold multiple pieces of information
in your mind. Recent research shows long-lasting benefits to basic mental processes such as
perception, attention, memory and decision making.

One study showed that it wasn’t just the brains of elderly gamers that improved, but their self-
esteem and quality of life was also better.

The key thing is that video games are interactive – you adapt yourself to the game, which in turn
adapts to you. There are millions of games to choose from and you can either play individually
or against others online.

Video game suggestions: Brain Age and Super Mario on Wii, or NeuroRacer and Portal 2 on
PlayStation.

Added boost: Mix it up. Play anything from shoot ’em up video games to brain-training quizzes.

Top Tip Avoid brain injury and seek early help for depression.

Practise origami

The ancient art of paper folding boosts hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and mental
concentration. Your brain is challenged as you follow the instructions and the tactile, motor and
visual areas are stimulated as you focus and plan your 3D creation.

Generally, any activity that uses creativity draws on executive function, says Dr Kochan. “You
are adapting your work, you are making plans and you are drawing on higher level functions,”
she says.

Crafting also helps you relax, almost as powerfully as meditation, and is associated with slower
cognitive decline.
Alternatives: Sewing, quilting, knitting new patterns, painting, model making, drawing and
sculpting.

Added boost: Find challenging projects or designs or try something new like adult colouring-in.

Join a dance class

A study conducted by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York found regular
dancing contributed to a 76% reduction in the risk of developing dementia – greater than for any
other hobby.

Any social activity that requires coordination, learning, motor sequencing, concentration and
physical exercise is good for the brain.

Alternative activities: Also try acting, aerobics or physical theatre, or learn to play a musical
instrument.

Added boost: Keep your motivation up by joining a dance club and turning it into a social
activity.

Go on a trip

New experiences and environments challenge the brain, building resilience and cognitive
reserve. Travelling offers socialisation, fulfilment, and improves quality of life – and when
you’re on the road you’re also more likely to be physically active, too.

Alternatives: Do a short course in woodwork or cooking, join a club or volunteer for charity.

Added boost: Sit somewhere unfamiliar and concentrate on everything you can see without
moving your eyes, then write down everything you can remember.

35 Things Food Manufacturers Won’t Tell

You
By Michelle Crouch

Ever wondered what is really going on behind closed doors when it comes to how your food is
produced? People in the know share some hard facts and instructive opinions.
1. We showed people two chocolate bars, but one had a green [nutrition] label, and the other, a
red one. People were much more likely to say the green-labelled product was healthier.
Jonathon Schuldt, director of Cornell’s Social Cognition and Communication Lab

2. When you see a buy-one-get-one deal or other promotion at your local grocery store, food
companies are often the ones giving you that, not the store. Stores can require us to run sales a
certain number of times per year.
Jason Burke, founder of a grass-fed beef company

3. The term “multigrain” usually means a product is not a healthy choice. People confuse it with
“wholegrain”, but all it means is that several kinds of grain were used. The first ingredient should
be wholegrain.
Katherine Tallmadge, nutritionist and the author of Diet Simple

4. People are nervous about synthetic flavours. But as more nations develop Western tastes for
food, we may not have enough natural sources. Take vanilla, which comes from the seeds of an
orchid. If everyone in India wanted a vanilla milkshake at the same time, there wouldn’t be
enough. But we have discovered a way of making vanillin from algae. It tastes, smells, and acts
like regular vanilla, and your body cannot tell the difference.
Kantha Shelke, food scientist

5. People think crackers are healthy, but in many ways, they’re as bad for you as chips. Your
typical cracker is made with refined grains and flavouring built around fat, salt and sugar. Then
preservatives are often added so the crackers can sit on the shelf for a year. Also, wholegrain
crackers are rare. Ninety-nine per cent of crackers out there are a treat.
Bruce Bradley, author of Fat Profits

6. The red colour in many foods comes from crushed insects. If you see carmine or cochineal
extract in an ingredients list, the product contains a little powdered bug. But aside from being an
allergen for a small number of people, it’s considered safe.
Daniel Tapper, author of Food Unwrapped: Lifting the Lid on How Our Food Is Really
Produced

7. Some producers hide sugar by giving it different names such as high-fructose corn syrup, cane
crystals, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, agave nectar and fruit juice concentrate. If a product
has a lot of sugar, some companies will intentionally use two or more different types so sugar
doesn’t end up being number one on the ingredients list.
Dr Walter Willett, Harvard School of Public Health

8. Studies have shown that trace amounts of pesticides are routinely present in foods. Other
ingredients come from the packaging. When food is in a box, tiny bits of cardboard and the
chemicals used to produce the cardboard get into the food. The same with plastic. BPA – an
industrial chemical that has been linked to health problems – is the biggest example.
Michael Jacobson, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington D.C.

9. Many high fibre products are stuffed with fake fibre. It’s not as healthy as the naturally
occurring fibre in wholegrains and vegetables. It may even cause gas, bloating, and other
stomach problems. Watch out for chicory root, maltodextrin and polydextrose on the ingredients
list.
Robert J. Davis, author of Coffee Is Good for You

10. Baked, popped or low-fat chips may seem healthier. But often, they’re just baked
conglomerations of highly refined potato flakes, refined grains, and different kinds of powders.
You may be better off eating potato chips, made with real potatoes fried in a healthful oil.
Katherine Tallmadge

11. Artificial sweeteners were originally found useful for people who had diabetes. They were
supposed to be an occasional ingredient. Today, people think because they have no kilojoules,
they can consume as much of them as they want.
Kantha Shelke

12. When the label on meat says no nitrates or nitrites added, that’s incorrect. Most of those
products take celery powder, which is very high in natural nitrates, and convert it into a chemical
that, in the lab, is no different from the traditional version.
Joseph Sebranek, professor of food science at Iowa State University

13. Everyone knows all about the health benefits of tea, but bottled tea can have very few
benefits. Tea needs to be freshly brewed.
Katherine Tallmadge

14. The newest concern is over nanoparticles, which are so small, they can penetrate our cell
walls. While some types of nanoparticles may increase the shelf life of packaged food, not much
is known about how they affect our bodies. And because they’re not required to be listed on food
labels, we don’t know how many manufacturers are using them.
Bruce Bradley
15. We did a study in 2012 in which we looked at feather meal, a by-product of poultry
production, to see what drugs the chickens may have received before slaughter. A number of
samples had residues of antibiotics that are banned from use in poultry. Many also contained
caffeine, paracetamol [an OTC pain reliever], and diphenhydramine [an antihistamine active
ingredient]. Samples from China had fluoxetine, the same active ingredient as the antidepressant
Prozac. From a human health perspective, our findings weren’t necessarily worrisome (since we
don’t eat feathers, and it’s unclear whether it affects the meat), but they were certainly surprising.
Dr Keeve Nachman, scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

16. Your extra-virgin olive oil may actually be a lower-grade oil. In our research, approximately
70% of bottles pulled off supermarket shelves did not meet the criteria for the extra-virgin grade.
To find a good oil, look for a dark glass or tin container, which protects the oil from light, and a
harvest date, which better producers often include on the bottle.
Dan Flynn, olive oil expert, Davis Olive Center, University of California

17. In order for a product to legally be considered ice-cream, it must contain at least 10% milk
fat and 168g/L of food solids. If there’s less than that, you can’t call it ice-cream. If you look
closely in the supermarket, you’ll see a lot of products are labelled frozen dairy dessert.
Jordan Pierson, marketing officer in the dessert industry

18. Some manufacturers will use add-ins instead of straining [Greek] yoghurt to make it thick. If
you see whey protein concentrate or milk protein concentrate on the ingredients list, the
company is taking shortcuts.
Melanie Warner, author of Pandora’s Lunchbox

19. Companies hire tasting panels to find what’s known as a product’s bliss point, the perfect
amount of sugar that creates the maximum amount of appeal. For instance, to create Cherry
Vanilla Dr Pepper in the US, a Cadbury Schweppes consultant prepared 61 distinct formulas and
subjected them to 3904 tastings.
Michael Moss, author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us

20. Salt is a miracle ingredient to food manufacturers. It acts as a preservative, saves money by
substituting for more expensive herbs and spices, brings out sweetness, and masks the bad
flavours inherent to many processed foods.
Michael Moss

21. The majority of processed foods start in the factory with huge vats of processed flours,
sugars, and oils. They’re dumped into systems that mix them and add salts, flavourings, and
colourings to recreate the look and feel of something you might make at home. Then we sprinkle
in some “fairy dust”. Maybe it’s something to make it feel more handcrafted, like sun-dried
tomatoes. Or it may be vitamins, antioxidants or extra fibre so we can say it’s good for you.
Bruce Bradley

22. You can’t get people to buy something just by telling them it’s good for them. You have to
appeal to their senses and emotions. Kids are 65% more likely to grab an apple if it has a Sesame
Street character on it, so now we’ve got Sesame Street on all types of fruits and vegetables.
Suzanne Ginestro, marketing officer in the food industry (Red Bull, Nestlé and Kraft)

23. The louder a potato chip crunches, the more people like it and the more they will eat. Most
people like a chip that snaps with almost 2 kilograms of pressure per 2.5 square centimetres.
When Frito-Lay used a US$40,000 device that simulates a chewing mouth to test and perfect the
chips, they discovered the optimal break point.
Michael Moss

24. A lot of the foods we eat have interesting origins. For example, the bacteria responsible for
sourdough bread originally came from rodent faeces. Any sourdough you eat has that history, yet
it’s all perfectly safe and delicious.
Dr Rob Dunn, biologist and author of The Man Who Touched His Own Heart

25. When you develop new food products, your goal is to find headaches in the marketplace that
are intense, deeply felt and widely shared, at least among a particular niche.
Bob Drane, creator of Lunchables

26. Getting your products into stores is incredibly difficult. We were in business for eight months
before we persuaded the first retailer to carry our product. Some chains ask you to pay thousands
of dollars up front or donate the equivalent in product before they’ll take your product.
Officer at a small food company

27. If you’re prone to diabetes, you can still eat pasta. Wholewheat pasta often has more starch
than regular because of the way it’s ground. Look for a pasta with a low glycaemic index, which
some brands put on the box.
Kantha Shelke

28. In a given year, up to 89% of new items fail. That’s why most new products that big food
companies put out now are simple line extensions. Coming up with a new flavour of chips is
much easier than investing, say, $20 million developing, creating, and introducing a great new
mega-product. Then they look for smaller companies breaking ground with new products and
buy them.
Hank Cardello, author of Stuffed: An Insider’s Look at Who’s (Really) Making America Fat

29. Cereal is nowhere near as wholesome as companies want you to believe. The manufacturing
process destroys a lot of the natural nutrition, even if the product contains whole grains. That’s
why virtually every cereal has a list of added vitamins and minerals. In my family, we don’t eat
cereal often, and we look for ones that have less than eight grams of sugar per serve.
Melanie Warner

30. When we recently examined big food companies over a five-year period, we found that 99%
of their growth was coming from lower-kilojoule products. That was a stunning surprise. So they
are moving in the right direction.
Hank Cardello
31. The concept of the dose makes the poison is very important in the realm of food, especially
when it comes to natural flavours and artificial colours. All food ingredients and nutrients – even
those we need to survive – have a threshold for safety. When caramel colour was approved,
nobody anticipated how much of it would be used in the food and beverage industry. It’s in a lot
of foods you don’t expect: certain soups, [instant noodles] and burgers, for example. So if
everything you eat is from a box, a can, or a bag, then you may get too much and have reason for
concern. But if you eat a variety of foods, you don’t have to worry.
Kantha Shelke

32. Organic foods are the new kids on the block, so producers are fighting aggressively for
market share. One way they can increase sales is by convincing you that all chemicals are bad,
GMOs are bad, pesticides are bad – and some of that has no basis in science or fact.
Bruce Chassy, Professor Emeritus of food science and human nutrition at the University of
Illinois

33. Consumers clearly want more natural ingredients and transparency about what they’re eating,
and smart manufacturers are getting that and responding. Nestlé has moved to get rid of artificial
colours and flavours in its chocolate bars. And some fast-food chains are removing antibiotics
from their chicken.
Hank Cardello

34. Some people will say that if you’re not familiar with an ingredient – if you can’t pronounce it
– then you shouldn’t eat it. I think that reflects an ignorance of chemistry and nutrition. Take
riboflavin, cobalamin and pyridoxamine. They’re big words and sound like things you don’t
want in your food, but they are actually all forms of vitamin B, and skipping them can be
detrimental to your health. Instead of being scared of ingredients you don’t know, educate
yourself.
Kantha Shelke

35. It drives me crazy when people think all food marketers are just trying to pull one over on
them. For every brand I’ve worked on, consumer research has been the cornerstone of
everything. New products always start with solving a problem for consumers. It doesn’t start
with solving our business need and then shoving it down consumers’ throats.
Suzanne Ginestro