/oss/taxonomy/term/191/all en /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-student-contributors/well-established-balancing-act <p>Some things can be classified with high acidity, like lemon juice, or low acidity, like bicarbonate. Acidity is often measured on a pH scale. This is because Danish chemist <a href="https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/soren-sorensen/">Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen</a> invented the concept of pH as a convenient method for expressing acidity. Acidic things have a low pH whereas alkaline things have a high pH.</p> Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:09:08 +0000 Daniela Padres 10119 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition-pseudoscience/fountain-youth-and-alligators <p>Funny the things one remembers. Like “Don’s Fountain of Youth,” a short cartoon I saw some time back in the 60s. “Don” was Donald Duck and the story was all about taking his nephews on a Florida vacation. The “kids” are more interested in reading comics than the sights that Donald is pointing out, at least until they chance upon a pond with a sign "Mistaken for the Fountain of Youth by Ponce de Leon 1512." Donald decides to have a little fun with his nephews and removes the “mistaken for” part of the sign.</p> Tue, 15 Oct 2019 17:06:33 +0000 Joe Scwarcz PhD 7962 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-general-science/key-cleaning-your-teapot-chemistry <p>Do you ever try to wash a mug only to be confronted by tea stains that just won’t budge? A little bit of chemistry may be just what you need to get your mugs back to white.</p> <p>Brewed tea, green or black, contains many compounds, including many polyphenols. These are compounds found naturally in tea leaves that have antioxidant properties and contribute to the taste of tea. However, they are also responsible for the stains left in your mugs and teapots.</p> Mon, 18 Feb 2019 19:51:50 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7597 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition-quackery/carbonated-water-bad-your-teeth <p>It's a well-known fact that soda is bad for your health. We've all read the reports and articles detailing how the sugar in pop will rot our teeth, cause obesity, or give us diabetes. So perhaps, like many other people, you've turned to carbonated water to fill that cold, bubbly niche in your life. Companies like La Croix or Perrier have grown immensely in recent years, signalling a rising popularity in soda waters- sometimes flavoured, often calorie-free, ‘healthy’ alternative to Coke or Pepsi.</p> Mon, 13 Nov 2017 19:18:19 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 6817 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-news-quackery/alkaline-water-nonsense <p style="text-align:justify">It is not often that I’m left speechless.  But sometimes you run into a situation where words just fail you.  Absurd, ridiculous, ludicrous, preposterous, comical, and farcical come to mind, but they still don’t quite seem to capture the extent of the mind-numbing nonsense.  And what nonsense is that?  “Ionized Alkaline Water!”  People, seduced by the outlandish promotional drivel, are spending thousands of dollars for a device that produces this liquid malarkey.</p> Thu, 20 Mar 2014 12:25:48 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2116 at /oss /oss/article/cancer-health-news-quackery/alkaline-nonsense <p>It is so seductively simple.  If you want to avoid cancer, just make sure your body is “alkaline!”  Here is the rationale.  When a cell becomes cancerous it reduces its use of oxygen and cranks up its production of acids.  These conditions then allow such cells to multiply quickly.  To counter this, you have to ensure that cells get an adequate supply of oxygen and that the acids produced are neutralized.  How?  By introducing sources of oxygen such as hydrogen peroxide or ozone into the body and consuming “alkaline” foods.  If cancer has already taken a foothold, then it may be necessary t</p> Mon, 19 Sep 2016 08:01:09 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2353 at /oss /oss/article/food-quackery/alkaline-food-bunk <p>There is lots of bluster on the Internet about "acidic" and "alkaline" foods usually based on some story that cancer cells can only survive in an acid environment and it is therefore advisable to eat "alkaline foods" and drink “alkaline water.” The fact is that the only body fluid that can change its pH, or level of acidity, in any significant way in response to food intake is the urine. “Alkaline” water consumption has no effect at all. Of course this may not be the impression you get by watching infomercials on late night TV or cruising the web.</p> Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:12:12 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1913 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-19-alkaline-diets-do-not-cure-disease <p>The best treatment for people prone to swallowing woo is a dose of chemistry. And one of the wooiest ideas out there is the one about alkaline diets curing disease. Gives me a headache. So let’s start the discussion with a headache remedy, aspirin, or “acetylsalicylic acid.” As that name suggests, the compound is an acid and when it is absorbed into the bloodstream from the digestive tract it has an acidifying effect meaning that it lowers the pH of the blood. pH is a measure of acidity with values below 7 indicating an acidic solution and above 7 an alkaline one.</p> Fri, 17 Mar 2017 17:56:06 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1545 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition-quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-2-alkalizing-body-nonsensical-concept <p>The human body carefully maintains the pH of blood at about 7.35, which is slightly alkaline, or basic. This is also the pH of the cells in all our organs that depend on the blood supply for their nourishment. Should the pH drop below 7 or exceed 7.7 we are looking at a potentially catastrophic situation. Luckily, our blood constitutes a buffered system, meaning that any variation of pH is immediately compensated for. Should there be an increase in acids entering the bloodstream, we immediately start exhaling more carbon dioxide, which then reduces acidity.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 20:24:03 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1453 at /oss