Health 'Facts' You've Been Told All Your Life That Are Totally Wrong

Eating food within 5 seconds of dropping it on the floor is safe.

It's the worst when something you really wanted to eat falls on the floor. But if you grab it in five seconds, it's ok, right? The five-second-rule isn't a real thing. Bacteria can contaminate a food within milliseconds. Mythbusting tests show that moist foods attract more bacteria than dry foods, but there's no "safe duration." Instead, safety depends on how clean the surface you dropped the food on is. Whether you eat it or not after that is up to you, but if the people that walk on that floor are also walking around New York City, for example, we wouldn't recommend it.