/oss/taxonomy/term/1042/all en /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/why-there-shellac-my-chocolate-mints <p>Indeed, it is the same substance. The revelation that furniture varnish can appear in food would probably send scientifically primitive bloggers into a tizzy. This varnish, or shellac, is the resinous exudate produced by the female Indian "lac" bug, an insect that spends its whole life attached to a tree, sucking its sap and converting it into the familiar sticky substance that has long been used to provide a glossy protective coating on wood. It takes about 100,000 insects to produce a pound of red-tinged resin. The colour can be extracted and used as a dye.</p> Thu, 27 Sep 2018 14:28:07 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7375 at /oss /oss/article/food-health/food-additives-and-hyperactivity <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=5365"><img alt="LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/05/hyperactive2-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>Apples are not artificially colored. Neither are tomatoes, blueberries, green peppers, carrots or spinach. Whole grain bread is not dyed. There are no colorants in grape juice or milk. And these are the foods and beverages we should be encouraging our children, and in fact ourselves, to consume. It is important to point this out in the context of the media frenzy generated by a study in Britain linking certain food dyes, as well as the preservative, sodium benzoate, to hyperactivity in children. The fact is that even before this study, the significance of which is debatable, nutritional experts have long counseled that foods with loads of additives should be consumed in a limited fashion. This is not necessarily because of any risk associated with the additives per se, but because the additives are hallmarks of processed foods which tend to be high in sugar, fat and salt, and low in nutrients. What the current study does provide is more ammunition for parents in the battle to steer children away from junk foods.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">A link between certain food additives and ill behaviour in children was first proposed by pediatrician Benjamin Feingold back in the 1970s. He claimed that eliminating additive laden foods eliminated hyperactivity in many children. The idea was controversial and widely criticized. Some suggested the results were due to wishful parental thinking, or just a general improvement in diet by cutting down on processed foods. But now British researchers have found scientific evidence for the additive hyperactivity connection in a trial involving 153 three year olds and 144 eight and nine year olds. Half the children were given a mix of four food dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate dissolved in a fruit drink, while the other half were given a placebo beverage that looked and tasted the same. Neither the children, the experimenters, nor the parents or teachers who were asked to evaluate the kids’ behaviour knew who was getting what. Final analysis of the results revealed a slight increase in hyperactive behaviour, judged to be about 10%, in the group consuming the additives. What does this mean? Was one specific additive responsible? <a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/05/24/food-additives-and-hyperactivity">Read more</a></p> Fri, 24 May 2013 22:59:58 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1949 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-health-news-supplements/seems-neurosurgeons-are-not-immune-neuroses <p>Recently a number of people have forwarded me bits of wisdom emanating from Dr. Russel Blaylock, neurosurgeon. While at one time he may have been in possession of an acceptable brain, mental fog now seems to have set in. <span>I have long followed Dr. Blaylock’s rants against food additives, aluminum cookware, fluoridation and dental amalgam. A career in neurosurgery obviously does not confer expertise on these issues. But let’s dig a little deeper into the mind of this man, a mind filled with conspiracy theories. He opines that the social drug problem in the U.S.</span></p> Wed, 08 Jan 2014 03:06:38 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2061 at /oss