If someone handed you a beverage that you knew would cause you weight gain, bloating, acne, gas, allergies, eczema, brittle bones, and possibly even cancer, would you drink it? Would you chug 3 cups of that liquid daily and give 2 cups of it to your children? Probably not.

We’re told, for example, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day (often in studies funded by, say, cereal companies). Yet little scientific evidence shows that it has any benefit over any other meal, according to research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.