We ask a lot of questions about our diet.

What's the right way to treat a chronic illness, fight off a virus, lose weight?

The problem is we get a lot of different answers.

Well, I'm here to help.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

People spend lots of time and effort trying to keep their ears

free of ear wax. It may not surprise you to know that some methods work better than others.

Ear candles, also known as ear combs, are promoted as a low-cost, effective treatment for earwax.

There are hollow tubes of fabric impregnated with paraffin or beeswax.

One end is placed in the entrance to the ear canal, and the other end is lit.

After 15 minutes or so, the flame is extinguished, and a brownish-waxy substance can be seen

within the remaining stub. This is a brownish-waxy substance can be seen within the

remaining stub.

This is claimed to be ear wax drawn out by some sort of vacuum chimney effect, but the

same residue, presumably from the burning wax smoke, appears if you burn it alone outside

the ear.

Researchers actually took the additional step of running used ear candle

stubs through a mass spectrometer, and indeed no evidence of earwax was found. Not surprisingly,

perhaps, since tympanometric measurements showed no signs of negative chimney effect pressure

at any point. Not to be dissuaded, proponents suggest that, while no earwax may be drawn out that day,

the candling process at least heats up and melts the earwax, which then comes out naturally

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