5 MYTHS FROM MOM AND DAD

When they said you were beautiful and brilliant, they were correct. But some of what the 'rents said just wasn't so.

- KATE ROCKWOOD

1 MYTH: If you pick up dropped food within five seconds, it's safe to eat.

MYTHBUSTER

Uh, nope. “The five-second rule is very much not real,” says Donald Schaffner, Ph.D., a professor in the food science department at Rutgers University. In fact, it takes less than a second for bacteria to transfer onto dropped food, his research shows. Which bacteria can do so depends on whether you wear shoes indoors and what (poop? gum?) you stepped in, says Carolyn Forté, Home Care and Cleaning Lab executive director at Good Housekeeping. Then there’s road salt (in winter), mud, and dirty water, all of which are “laden with bacteria and other germs,” Forté says. The longer food sits on a germy surface, the more bacteria it picks up, and a small number of certain germs can make you sick, Schaffner says. There’s no practical way of cleaning the food. “Washing food is not a very effective way of removing bacteria,” Schaffner explains. The message? Let it go.

2 MYTH: Sugar makes kids hyper.

MYTHBUSTER