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The most common dietary myths relate to food and its effects. Books, magazines, and TV talk shows are prime sources of the latest food fads, usually for losing weight. Some fad diets promise quick results, which don't last. Other fad diets are so unbalanced that they could actually harm your health if prolonged. The cruelest food hoaxes are those aimed at persons who have cancer or other serious diseases. Women who believe that concoctions of peach pits can cure their cancer will not benefit from such treatment, and they may delay seeking medical care early, when their conditions are most treatable. 

Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Watch out for these dietary myths:

• Starchy foods are especially fattening.
• Cottage cheese and grapefruit are slimming.
• Special wraps, lotions, and pills can promote weight loss.
• Some diets, like the extremes of the Zen macrobiotic diet, carry no serious health risks.
• Tests for nutritional status based on hair analysis (or other unorthodox strategies) are sound and accurate.
• Taking tryptophan is a safe way to relieve insomnia. 
  Vitamin C prevents colds.
• Special foods promote sexuality or act as a "fountain of youth."
• Some special foods or vitamins can cure cancer or mental illness.