PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2021-12-14 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Thai health authorities rubbish bizarre online tip for 'easing motion sickness symptoms' (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • Multiple posts shared on social media in Thailand recommend applying plasters to the navel in order to ease the symptoms of motion sickness. Health authorities, however, rubbished the claim, and a top health official told AFP there was no evidence for it. The claim was shared on Facebook here on November 18, 2021. It was shared in a group with more than 850,000 followers. The post links to a blog post about parenting. The Thai-language headline translates as: Sharing information to help with car sickness, with plasters. Screenshot of the misleading post captured on December 9, 2021 The blog post features an image of a child with two plasters crossed over the navel. The blog post reads in part: Let me tell you the experience -- my daughter is two years and four months old and she always suffers from carsickness. She usually throws up when we are in the car within the first 15 minutes. Her grandparents recommended applying plasters onto her navel, and cover it all to prevent the air from entering into the navel. It actually worked! She didn't throw up at all during the entire three hours she was in the car. Similar claims have circulated online in Thailand since at least 2009 . Thai Smile Airways -- a budget airline which is a subsidiary of Thai Airways International -- also recommended passengers to apply two plasters on their navel to prevent motion sickness in this Facebook post in November 2014. Using two plasters and applying them on the navel in a cross shape will ease the symptoms caused by plane and carsickness! Isn't it weird? Have you guys tried? The same recommendation was also mentioned in this Facebook post shared in December 2020. However, Thai health authorities say the claim is false. Scientifically, [applying plasters] does not help prevent or treat symptoms of motion sickness, Dr. Kajornsak Kaewcharat , Deputy Director-General of Thailand's Department of Disease Control under the Ministry of Public Health , told AFP. You can say it may work for some people, but only on a psychological level or a placebo effect. Thailand's Public and Consumer Affairs Division called the claim untrue. Its statement reads in part: Applying plasters on your body, whether it's on your navel, below the navel, or behind the ears, won't help you with motion sickness. It goes on: Motion sickness, is caused by the imbalance of your nervous system, and the overstimulation of your autonomic nervous system. This is due to sitting in an unstable vehicle for a long time. You can see that this is related to the balance of your nervous system, so putting plasters -- which are unrelated -- won't help in this situation. The same statement was also earlier published online by the Thai Food and Drug and Administration (FDA ) , which called the claim rubbish and not believable. This infographic produced by the Thai FDA and published on August 20, 2018, states: Applying plasters onto your navel/behind the ears won't help with your motion sickness. It recommends ways to prevent motion sickness, including not eating anything before getting into the vehicle for 30 minutes; sitting in the front of the car or in the middle of the boat. Jessada Denduangboripant , a professor at Chulalongkorn University's Department of Biology, told AFP that the claim has no basis. Plasters, which are designed to absorb fluids from wounds, does not possess any properties to alleviate motion sickness, he said. AFP previously debunked a claim that applying plaster below the navel aids weight loss here . (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url