我們日常生活中很多的健康意識或養生習慣都來自于前人，或基于從小就被灌輸的常識。然而科學告訴我們，一些看似健康的好習慣其實未必是對的。

1. Using a standing desk.
使用站立式辦公桌

A recent long-term study looking at data on nearly 4,000 US adults found no benefit in terms of overall risk of dying from standing as opposed to sitting.
近日，一項對4000名美國成年人數據的長期研究發現，從整體的死亡風險的角度，站著并不比坐著更有好處。

In the short-term, however, standing does burn more calories per minute; so if losing weight is all you're worried about, stand on!
然而，就短期而言，站著每分鐘消耗的熱量的確更多；因此，如果你只是想減肥的話，那就站著吧！

2. Using toilet seat liners.
使用馬桶坐墊

Viruses like HIV and herpes are fragile, meaning they don't survive very well outside of a nice, warm human body. By the time you sit down on a public toilet seat?- even if it was recently shared by someone else — most harmful pathogens likely wouldn't be able to infect you.
艾滋病病毒和皰疹病毒這類病毒非常脆弱，這意味著它們無法在溫暖且宜于生存的人體之外的地方正常生存。當你坐上公用的坐便器（即使是剛有別人使用過的）時，大部分此類有害病原體無法感染你。

Plus, your skin is an effective block against any microbes. (Unless, of course, you have a cut or open wound there, which could allow the bacteria to get in.)
此外，皮膚能夠有效抵御任何微生物。（除非你有開放性傷口，這可能讓細菌趁機而入。）

3. Applying hand sanitizer.
使用洗手液

If you wash your hands regularly throughout the day, hand sanitizer is almost entirely unnecessary. Plus, it can't kill all the germs that plain old soap and water can.
如果你每天經常洗手，那么幾乎沒必要使用洗手液。而且洗手液并不能殺死普通香皂和水能殺死的全部細菌。

Norovirus and C. difficile, for example, are immune to sanitizing gels.
例如，消毒凝膠劑對諾瓦克病毒和梭狀芽孢桿菌沒有效果。

4. Ear candling.
耳燭療法

The practice of ear candling - yes, ear candling - involves putting a lit, cone-shaped candle inside your ear. People who do it say it's helpful for relieving earwax and treating some infections. According to the Mayo Clinic, not so much.
耳燭療法就是把點燃的錐形蠟燭伸進耳朵里。耳燭療者認為這樣有助于去除耳垢，治療某些感染。據梅約療養院（注：美國著名私人醫院）稱，耳燭療法其實沒有這么多療效。

"Research shows," they write, "that ear candling is ineffective at removing earwax and is also not an effective treatment for any other conditions." Plus, the practice can end up pushing earwax deeper into your ear. Even worse, you can burn your face, hair, scalp, or ear. So don't.
“研究顯示，耳燭療法無法有效清除耳垢，而且對其他病癥也沒有什么療效。”此外，這么做還可能將耳垢推得更深，更糟糕的是可能還會燒到你的臉、頭發、頭皮或耳朵。因此，還是算了吧。

5. Avoiding gluten.
避免谷蛋白

Unless you're one of the 1% of Americans who suffer from celiac disease, gluten probably won't have a negative effect on you. In fact, studies show that most people suffer from slight bloating and gas when they eat, whether they consume wheat or not. So go ahead and eat that bagel.
除非你是百分之一的美國腹腔疾病患者中的一員，否則谷蛋白可能不會影響你的健康。事實上，研究表明，大多數人進食時都有輕微的胃脹氣，無論是否吃了小麥。所以放心地吃面包圈吧。

6. Juicing.
榨汁

When you juice fresh fruits and veggies, you remove all of their fiber, the key ingredient that keeps you feeling full and satisfied until your next meal.
把水果和蔬菜榨汁會破壞果蔬纖維，這是制造飽腹感且讓你撐到下頓飯的關鍵成分。

What you keep is the sugar. In the short term, a high-sugar, low-protein diet means constant hunger pangs, mood swings, and low energy. In the long term, you can lose muscle mass since muscles rely on protein.
而榨汁保存下來的是糖分。從短期來看，高糖低蛋白飲食會導致持續的饑餓感、情緒波動以及低能量。長此以往你的肌肉可能會減少，因為肌肉依賴于蛋白質。

7. Avoiding MSG.
避免味精

Monosodium glutamate is an ingredient added to many foods to enhance their flavor. It's completely safe to ingest.
許多食物中都添加了味精來提味。食用味精完全是安全的。

MSG is often associated with a series of symptoms, from numbness at the base of the neck to a general sense of fatigue, that are commonly lumped together and called "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome." Eating too much is the more likely culprit here, not eating MSG.
人們通常將味精與頸部下端麻木、疲勞感等一系列癥狀聯系到一起，并將其統稱為“中國餐館綜合癥”。但這些病癥的罪魁禍首可能是吃得太多，而不是吃了味精。

8. Going on a "detox" diet.
“排毒”飲食

No one needs to detox. Unless you've been poisoned, you already have a superefficient system for filtering out most of the harmful substances you eat. It's made up of two toxin-bashing organs: the liver and the kidneys.
沒有人需要排毒，除非你中毒了。肝臟和腎臟是凈化毒素的兩大器官，它們已經可以高效過濾人體攝入的大部分有害物質。

Vocabulary

herpes: 皰疹
glutamate: 谷氨酸鹽
culprit: 引起問題的事物

英文來源：商業內幕網
翻譯：董靜
編審：丹妮