/oss/taxonomy/term/180/all en /oss/article/general-science-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-15-cause-and-effect <p>Studies are the heart of science. But which studies do we take to heart? That is becoming more and more of a critical question as studies are being cranked out at a frenetic pace exploring every facet of our lives. On any given day we may hear about rosacea being improved by a kanuka honey preparation, cranberry juice helping to lower heart disease risk, olive leaf extract reducing inflammation, or fatty and sugary foods being linked to lower cognitive function, at least if you happen to be a mouse. And that’s not all.</p> Fri, 17 Feb 2017 18:12:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1469 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-14-no-silly-putty-not-hiding-our-food <p>“You Won’t Believe Where Silly Putty Is Hiding In Your Food.” So begins one of the Food Babe’s attempts to shock us about how the food industry is poisoning us. This time the target of the wild rant is the oil that McDonald’s and other fast food establishment use for frying. That’s where Silly Putty is lurking, apparently just waiting to gum up our insides. Except that it’s not. There is no Silly Putty in oil or in anything that we eat. What we have here is another example of classic vaniharism.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 22:14:43 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1466 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-history-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-17-carnation-tragedy-30s <p>Back in the 1930s a flower merchant with a greenhouse full of carnations got worried when the weather forecast called for extremely cold temperatures. So he placed a kerosene burner in the greenhouse and confidently went to bed. When he woke up in the morning, he was devastated. The carnations had all withered and were unusable. This severe financial blow caused him to seek scientific advice but nobody seemed to know what had happened until the gases produced when kerosene burned were analyzed. One of the gases produced was ethylene, which turned out to be a plant hormone.</p> Fri, 17 Feb 2017 20:54:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1473 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-16-vitamin-history <p>To take or not to take, that is the question often asked about vitamin supplements. Some experts suggest that a balanced diet provides all the vitamins we need, while others claim that a daily multivitamin pill provides nutritional insurance. Then there are those who allege that vitamins can both prevent or cure a variety of diseases while others point to studies that imply vitamins are linked with greater morbidity. Too much confusion to clear up in one short lesson. But the confusion about the term “vitamin” can be addressed. Indeed, it is a misnomer.</p> Fri, 17 Feb 2017 20:48:56 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1472 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-11-randomized-controlled-and-double-blind-studies <p>The gold standard in science is the randomized, controlled, double-blind trial. If you want to know whether Garcinia cambogia causes weight loss, or whether glucosamine helps with arthritic pain, there is only one way to find out. You have an experimental group that is given the substance and a control group that is given a placebo, with every other variable being held constant. These are difficult, expensive studies to carry out because you need a large enough group of subjects for statistical weight, you have to ensure compliance and you have to monitor what is going on.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 22:03:14 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1463 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-9-sls-synthetic-detergent <p>“Syndets” were originally developed by chemists to eliminate a problem commonly found with soap, namely “scum” formation. Soaps, unlike detergents, react with dissolved minerals in water to form an insoluble precipitate; often seen as the classic bathtub ring. With sodium lauryl sulphate there is no scum problem.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 21:50:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1461 at /oss /oss/article/health/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-8-aspirin <p>I wonder if Ms. Hari would ever consider taking aspirin. If she found out that it is made from petroleum, probably not. For some reason she considers petroleum to be a substance that comes from hell. It is a common misconception that aspirin is produced from the bark of the willow tree. In fact, the starting material for the chemical synthesis of aspirin is benzene, derived from petroleum. This is then converted to phenol which in turn is converted to salicylic acid which is then converted to acetylsalicylic acid or ASA, which we know as aspirin.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 21:46:38 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1460 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-7-difference-between-hazard-and-risk <p>We know that Ms. Food Babe’s scientific knowledge is negligible. Especially when it comes to understanding the difference between hazard and risk. This is important especially when it come to understanding the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s listing of chemicals as being carcinogenic. This list is based on hazard, not risk. Hazard can be defined as a potential source of harm or of some adverse health effect. Risk is the likelihood that exposure to a hazard causes harm or some adverse effect.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 21:41:19 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1459 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-6-chemicals-honey <p>We live in a fascinating, complex chemical world. Smell that cup of coffee and you are sniffing hundreds of compounds! A whiff in the bathroom will add about three hundred, many of them such as methyl mercaptan and skatole decidedly unpleasant. A single meal will dump thousands and thousands of chemicals into your body, ranging from the proteins, sugars and fats that plants produce to allow their growth and development, to the pigments and scents they use to attract pollinators. Add to this the vast array of compounds they use to ward of predators.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 21:35:26 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1458 at /oss /oss/article/general-science-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-5-dna <p>Just about everyone now knows something about DNA (with some obvious notable exceptions). The term “template of life” has been repeatedly used in the press to describe this molecule. That is quite accurate because DNA is like a library of information which tells our cells which proteins to synthesize. Proteins are the key to life because they make up important structures of the body as well as hormones and the enzymes that govern the body’s numerous chemical reactions. DNA is a nucleic acid, a “polymer” composed of pieces called nucleotides strung together like beads on a necklace.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 20:36:40 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1456 at /oss