Health and Nutrition

Why It鈥檚 Hard to Study What People Eat

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 16:26:21 +0000

This article was first published in聽The Montreal Gazette.

Does a Chocolate a Day Keep the Grim Reaper Away?

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Theobromine is a naturally occurring bitter alkaloid most prominently found in cocoa beans. A metabolite of caffeine, theobromine shares some of the common effects of the household stimulant. Compared to caffeine, theobromine has a much gentler stimulating effect. This is because it lingers longer in our bodies before being metabolized.

Will Vitamin D Go the Way of Cod Liver Oil?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 16:58:08 +0000

This article was first published in聽The Montreal Gazette.

In many of my public lectures, I address the topic of dietary supplements and often do a rudimentary audience survey. When I ask about taking Vitamin D, the majority of adult hands go up.

What If We Were Able To Graze on Grass Like Cows?

Shona Hanaishi — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On a future field trip to Mount Royal, I imagine opening up my lunch box to find a small forest of fried insects flavoured with MSG and curry powder. On the side are some salmon rice balls. Noting I missed some greenery, I grab some grass and sprinkle it onto my rice balls.

An Ode to Yogurt

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 20:55:34 +0000

Many years ago, when I first started teaching about the chemistry of food, yogurt was only granted a few minutes of lecture time. It appeared as one of the first processed foods, albeit accidentally processed, dating back some 7000 years to when bacteria happened to drift into a pot of milk in Mesopotamia, thickening it and giving it a tart taste. I explained that the bacteria were likely of the Lactobacillus genus that produce lactate dehydrogenase, an enzyme that converts the milk sugar lactose into lactic acid.

Resistant Starch Is Not Something to Resist Eating

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 15:06:37 +0000

Sometimes it is hard to enlist volunteers for a study, but I don鈥檛 think that will be the case for the appropriately named SPUD Project launched by researchers at the University of Surrey in the U.K. The volunteers will have the tough task of eating mashed potatoes prepared in various ways. Some potatoes will be stored at different temperatures before being boiled and then will be cooled to different temperatures before being reheated in the oven or the microwave! Some batches will have no fat added, others will be prepared with butter or with different vegetable oils.

Hard Facts: What You Didn't Know About Bone Health (But Should)

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 30 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This past year, I鈥檝e spent an unreasonable amount of time thinking about bones. Talking about bones. Reading about bones. Writing about bones. Basically, becoming the unofficial bone correspondent among my friends and family (whether they liked it or not). Why? Because I was doing my honours research project on the bone health of endurance athletes 鈥� and in the process, I fell head first into the endlessly fascinating, criminally underappreciated world of bone science.

The MAHA Report Is Mostly 鈥楧ata Vibes鈥�

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 30 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Who would be so callous as to not want our children to be healthy?

The Make America Healthy Again movement, now firmly ensconced in the White House under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, released a 73-page assessment last week called 鈥淭he MAHA Report.鈥� It鈥檚 meant to give a bird鈥檚-eye view of the problem with American children鈥檚 health, paving the way for a multipronged strategy due next August.

Don鈥檛 Talk to Me Until I鈥檝e Had My Coffee鈥� and Breakfast!

Eva Kellner B.A.Sc. — Fri, 23 May 2025 15:08:30 +0000

A few weeks ago, my roommate and I found ourselves chatting alongside two steaming cups of freshly brewed coffee. A great start to my day, if you ask me.

This morning, my refusal of the milk she added to her coffee sparked a conversation that drifted into old wives鈥� tales. She mentioned that adding milk to coffee could make the caffeine effect last longer and reduce the inevitable crash.

The Devilishly Hard Question I鈥檓 Asked All the Time

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 16 May 2025 19:17:39 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Usually, the questioner has seen or heard something, often through social media, about a loathsome substance that is set to destroy their life or about one that promises to improve their health 鈥渘aturally.鈥� The answer to the question is almost always 鈥渘o, it isn鈥檛 true, but ... The reason for the qualifier is that science isn鈥檛 white or black, it is best seen as several shades of gray.

Confronting Nefarious Nitrosamines

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 09 May 2025 20:44:53 +0000

鈥淏oil the nipples!鈥� was the advice given in 1984 by the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. to parents who were bottle feeding their infants or calming them with pacifiers. The presence of nitrosamines, compounds that had been found to cause cancer in animals, had been recently detected in rubber products and the concern was that they could be transferred to babies.

Butyric Acid is an Enemy in the Fridge but a Friend in the Gut

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 07 May 2025 15:22:14 +0000

Smells are caused by volatile compounds that stimulate receptors in our nose. There is a large variety of such compounds with a great diversity of molecular structures. But many of the smells encountered in the fridge are due to volatile fatty acids. For example, when butter goes rancid, it releases butyric acid, a particularly foul smelling compound that is also a component of foot odour, vomit, and curiously, parmesan cheese. It is also the notorious ingredient in stink bombs.

How an Unfortunate Florist Uncovered the Dangers of Nicotine Absorption

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 02 May 2025 18:01:55 +0000

This article was first published in聽The Montreal Gazette.

The 33-year-old florist felt some wetness as he sat down in the chair. On standing up, he realized that he must have spilled some Nico-Fume Liquid, which he used to keep his flowers free of insects.

TikTok Is Crazy for Methylene Blue, but Not for the Right Reasons

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 16:45:51 +0000

This article was first published in聽The Montreal Gazette.

A short video of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. squirting a blue liquid into a glass of water would hardly have raised an eyebrow were he not the U.S. secretary of health and human services. But given that he now sits atop the U.S. health pyramid, as incredible as that is, his actions reap interest.

Is Creatine the Secret to a Longer Life?

Simran Dhir BSc — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:19:32 +0000

When I say creatine, the first image that comes to your mind is probably that of a muscular, young man working out (i.e. a gym bro) but what if I said creatine may be for the grandads? While there is a lot of doubt about the legitimacy of creatine supplementation, here is a look at how it affects different parts of the body and if it can truly counteract detrimental, age-related muscle weakness.