This month’s Myth Buster is by Jeff, examining a chain mail that somehow landed in his inbox. Here are the highlights:

This is a good idea. Always buy generic when you can (Ibroprofen instead of Neorofen, Paracetamol instead of Panadol, etc), as it’s always the same stuff, you can look at the ingredients on the back of the packet.

There might be something to this banana peel idea, but you would have to do it for years to get any effect.
Not drinking tea or coffee regularly could get you same results without having to wait for years.

Sure, why not. I doubt it would stop you sweating, but it has a smell, so it will sort of help. Just like any smelly thing.
Which is why deodrants were invented.

Every point here is to silly to even go into. Answer you phone with your left ear? What the hell?
There may be some sense in the sleeping time as you are more likely to have a sounder sleep when it's quieter and darker (sticking to the real body clock), and heavy meals are never good for you anyway (unless you really sweat it out).
But radiation is 1000 times stronger on the last bar of the phone? I'm surprised the places where such usages have occurred (must be millions) have not had the entire living creed wiped off.

Leg crossing causing varicose veins is a myth. It’s caused by damage to your veins, which can’t be caused by crossing legs.
Known causes include genetics, gender (women's bodies release hormones that are more likely to expand the walls of their veins), occupation (long periods of standing) and age.

Anti – cancer super fruits – context is important, anything with a lot of vitamins and minerals will help protect against certain cancers. Also, cancer is a very diverse range of diseases, so anything that says it is anti-cancer or a cure for cancer lacks some basic understanding about what it is. There will never be a single cure.
Fruit is more complex than just saying a fruit of each colour is the same. Will a red apple really be that different to a green apple?
Fruit is more complex than just saying a fruit of each colour is the same. Will a red apple really be that different to a green apple?

Heart health sleeping on the left – if you have a heart condition, sleeping on the left can be bad. If not, it won’t make a difference.
Looks like they also got the math wrong with 1 share 100 care of your heart (whatever that means).

Fruit milk and water are all good in the right amounts. Saying 3 litres of water will stop all disease is silly and over-exaggerated, just like the rest of them above.

Dark spots on a banana meaning more anti cancer – an old myth, there was a paper ages ago which got misinterpreted. I think it sort of works if you have a certain type of cancer, you inject the amount of TNF in 1000 banana’s, and you are a mouse. Even then it doesn’t work very well.

High heels do indeed suck. They will mess your feet up.
The NHS in the UK says only wear them on special occasions.

Cosmetic chemicals in fast food - true in extremely varying degrees. Remember cyanide is also found naturally in mangoes and apples. Trace amounts of things normally don't have an effect at all and even fall under the "natural" category of similar chain mails.

Yeah. Whatever makes you happy.
As long as it doesn't harm others or you.

Health benefits of banana is over exaggerated, just saying something contains something, and that thing can help stop something else, ignoring the mention of any quantity whatsoever.
Simple statements like "Helps people with ulcer" should start ringing alarm bells - it helps with WHAT exactly? Does it help in reducing its pain? Does it help in removal of ulcer - and if yes, then at what degree and rate?

Get blood directly from the donor who will call you, by sending a text in India – I hope this isn’t true.
(We later found out that is a bit of a hoax. Apparently a similar service runs exclusively for some hospitals to find out about what they have available).