/oss/taxonomy/term/1972/all en /oss/article/health/chemistry-lesson-food-babeand-everyone-else-23 <p style="text-align:justify">These days an array of books, magazines, websites and numerous bloggers promote a variety of flakey “detox” schemes. Our pal Vani believes in a concoction made from celery, cilantro, cucumber, lemon and ginger root. Others promote “detoxing” with lemons, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. There is no mention of what “toxins” are being removed, how they are being removed or what evidence there is that they have been removed. While claims about detox “cleanses” are pure nonsense, the concept of detoxification is real.</p> Fri, 19 Feb 2016 11:09:08 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2323 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-food-health/chemistry-lesson-food-babeand-everyone-else-24 <p>Since the late 1940s, so-called “subtherapeutic” doses of antibiotics have been routinely added to animal feed to prevent disease and to increase feed efficiency.  Exactly why animals put on weight more readily when exposed to small doses of antibiotics isn’t clear, but it may have to do with reducing the competition for nutrients by cutting down on the natural bacterial population in the animals’ gut.  Some studies also suggest that antibiotic use thins the intestinal wall and increases nutrient absorption.  What has become clear, however, is that such subtherapeutic use of antibiotics lea</p> Tue, 01 Mar 2016 12:20:52 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2324 at /oss /oss/article/quackery/chemistry-lesson-food-babe-and-everyone-else-1-polydimethylsiloxane-explained <p>I think instead of criticizing the Food Babe on a regular basis, which could easily become a second career, it is time to take a different approach. Maybe we can be pro-active here and attempt to teach her some of the chemistry she so sorely lacks.</p> <p>Vani, in your attack on polydimethylsiloxane, a chemical used to prevent foaming in frying oils, you make the following claim: “The FDA allows dimethylpolysiloxane to be preserved by several different chemicals that don’t have to be listed on the label either, including formaldehyde!”</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 20:18:38 +0000 Dr. Joe Schwarcz 1452 at /oss /oss/article/quackery/could-food-babe-once-be-right-track <p>Even a clock that doesn’t work is right twice a day. A blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn. And the Food Babe sometimes flirts with the truth. She has organized ridiculous petitions against azodicarbonamide in Subway rolls and caramel coloring in beverages. But now she has taken up the scimitar to wield against antibiotics in animal feed. Her target once again is Subway and she wants the company to use only meat from animals grown without antibiotics. Of course her knowledge about antibiotics is the same as about all other scientific matters, which is basically zero.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 20:05:12 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1450 at /oss /oss/article/quackery/food-babe-full-ofchemicals <p>Yes she is! Thousands and thousands of them. Let’s just do a little experiment. Take a drop of her blood, or of course anyone else’s, and subject it to chemical analysis. Here’s just a small sampling of the compounds detected. They all form naturally as a result of the numerous biochemical processes that are going on in our bodies all the time that constitute life.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 19:52:51 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1447 at /oss /oss/article/quackery/food-babe-doesnt-take-well-criticism <p>Our pal the Food Babe seems to have a very thin skin. She <a href="http://foodbabe.com/2015/03/15/response-to-ny-times/">responded on her website </a>to the article about her in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/style/taking-on-the-food-industry-one-blog-post-at-a-time.html">The New York Times</a> in which I was quoted along with a number of her other critics. It is true that I said she gets on talk shows because she is pleasant to look at. Isn’t that a compliment? She says that is “sexist.” And this is from a woman who calls herself “The Food Babe.” Is she serious?</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 19:37:28 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1445 at /oss /oss/article/quackery/vani-hari-aka-food-babe <p>There’s blood in the water….and the sharks are circling. Myself included. Finally the scientific community is waking up to the outrageous nonsense upon which Vani Hari, the “Food Babe,” has built an empire. The critical articles, prompted to a large extent by SciBabe‘s (Yvette d’Entremont) excellent piece in the “Gawker” which has so far had an amazing 4.5 million views, are now flooding newspapers, magazines and the Internet. Today I was having a conversation about the mansion that ignorance built, and I mentioned to a friend that I bet I could open Ms.</p> Wed, 15 Feb 2017 19:34:11 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1444 at /oss