The holiday season is a great time for family, friends, and
well, old wives' tales: Who hasn't been told to wear a hat
because you lose the most heat from your head? Or to keep kids
away from poisonous poinsettias? Poinsettias are not as toxic as
you might think, a new report says, although they may cause skin
irritation. There are some real holiday health hazards, but
other much-discussed fears appear to be false, say two
researchers. Their analysis, published Wednesday in the British
Medical Journal, suggests that your mother's -- or even your
doctor's -- advice may not always have rock-solid evidence to
back it up. Dr. Rachel Vreeman, M.D., and Dr. Aaron Carroll,
M.D., professors of pediatrics at the Indiana University School
of Medicine, in Indianapolis, Indiana, set out to show that even
widely held medical beliefs require scientific examination. They
pored over medical literature databases, and in some cases,
conducted Google Internet searches, to find evidence that
supported or refuted these ideas. Hea