/oss/taxonomy/term/1119/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/no-eating-french-fries-not-same-smoking-cigarettes <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-no-eating-french-fries-is-not-the-same-as-smoking-cigarettes">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 10 May 2024 15:46:56 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9944 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/how-can-i-make-perfect-french-fry <p>So, you’re tired of eating lousy french fries. You’re sick of those limp dark brown grease sponges. What can you do? Make them! Let’s for a moment forget nutrition and health. In this area, french fries have no redeeming value. We eat them because we like them, in spite of what they may be doing to the lining of our arteries. So let’s at least make it worthwhile. A perfect fry has to be cooked through and through, should be a golden brown on the outside, cannot be limp and must not be saturated with grease. This is no small task. Numerous factors come into play.</p> Fri, 29 Nov 2019 17:05:34 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8012 at /oss /oss/article/food-health-news/black-french-fries-and-green-coffee-beans <p>Chances are you’ll see sodium acid pyrophosphate or sodium bisulfite listed on the label of a package of frozen French fries. They’re added to deal with that bane of potato lovers, the dark, gray tuber. This discoloration is due to a chemical reaction between iron and chlorogenic acid, natural components of a potato. In a freshly cooked potato these form a colorless complex which then turns gray on exposure to oxygen in the air. The color is unappetizing but has no detrimental effect on health or nutritional value.</p> Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:03:42 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1975 at /oss /oss/article/food-health/4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal <p>If you feed varying amounts of trans-4-hydroxy-2-nonenal to rats, they develop kidney and liver problems and some may even die. So why should anyone care? Because this substance, which we will call HNE for short, forms in our body when free radicals react with fats. We can’t avoid exposure to free radicals because they are generated when our body uses oxygen. Luckily though, we are equipped with antioxidant defenses in the form of vitamins and that can deal with these rogue substances. However, when these defenses falter, oxidative damage occurs.</p> Sun, 18 Aug 2013 14:20:23 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2001 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-food-health-news/fear-fries <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p style="text-align:justify"> </p> <p> </p> Mon, 23 Mar 2015 03:32:45 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2245 at /oss