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A child receives a vaccination. According to a new study, 20 percent of adults surveyed said they believed a theory that doctors and the government continue to push vaccinations for children despite a link to autism and other disorders.

(Getty Images | iStockphoto)

Nearly half of adult Americans believe in at least one of six medical conspiracy theories, results from a newly published study suggest.

University of Chicago researchers Dr. J. Eric Oliver and Thomas Wood asked 1,351 adults in August and September about whether they had heard of any of the six theories, Reuters reported. They also asked the degree to which the respondents believed the theories and whether they affected their use of traditional or alternative treatments.

They published their findings Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The results showed 49 percent of the respondents believed in at least one of the theories and 18 percent agreed with three or more, the authors said.

According to the researchers:

63 percent said they had heard the theory the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is preventing access to natural cures for cancer and other maladies because of pressure from drug companies and 37 percent believed it.

69 pecernt had heard the theory that doctors and the government continue to push vaccinations even though they know they cause autism and other disorders; 20 percent said they believed it.

57 percent had heard a theory that health officials know cell phones cause cancer but are doing nothing because large corporations won't let them; 20 percent said they thought it was true.

Three other theories found agreement from 12 percent of those questioned (although not necessarily the same 12 percent:

The CIA deliberately infected a large segment of the African American population with HIV under the guise of a hepatitis inoculation program.

The global spread of genetically modified foods by Monsanto Inc. is part of a plan launched by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations to shrink the world population.

Public water fluoridation is secret way for chemical companies to dump dangerous byproducts of phosphate mines into the environment.

The study also found that people who subscribed to three or more of the theories were nearly three times as likely to take herbal supplements as those who didn't believe any of them, Reuters said.

High believers also were more likely to buy organic foods from farm stands and less likely to use sunscreen or get annual physicals or flu shots, according to the researchers' JAMA report.

People may believe conspiracy theories because they are easier to understand, Oliver, the lead author, told Reuters:

Doctors should realize that patients who hold to medical conspiracy theories aren't crazy but are less likely to follow prescription plans and should be treated accordingly, Oliver said.

The report comes days after realty TV star Kristin Cavallari told Fox Business interviewer Lisa Kennedy that she and her husband, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, do not vaccinate their son because of alleged links to autism.

This is what she had to say:

Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com

Cavallari defended her position Friday to the Huffington Post:



Meanwhile, "The View" host Jenny McCarthy, who long has linked her son Evan's autism to vaccination, was bombarded on Twitter last week by critics, including one who blamed her for a resurgence of measles in New York City, according to a UPI report on Reality TV World.

Do you subscribe to any of these medical conspiracy theories? Please tell us in the comments below.