/oss/taxonomy/term/243/all en /oss/article/quackery/food-babe-has-no-idea-how-physiology-works <p><span>Our good friend the Food Babe has published an interesting piece of pseudoscience writing entitled ‘</span><a href="https://foodbabe.com/natural-flavors-really-bad-must-watch/">Are Natural Flavors Really That Bad? (MUST WATCH)</a><span>’. If you’re looking for the quick answer to this superfluous, click-bait title, let me tell you that it’s no: natural flavours are perfectly safe and healthy. But if you’re looking for an explanation of how taste actually works (and why her claims about natural flavours are utter nonsense), then please read on!</span></p> Tue, 20 Feb 2018 16:42:03 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 6927 at /oss /oss/article/peppermint-lozenges-and-poisoning <p>In 1858 in Bradford, England, 200 people became ill from eating peppermint lozenges.  Unfortunately, 18 of them died within a week.  The cause?  Arsenic poisoning!  At the time calcium sulfate (Plaster of Paris) was commonly added to peppermint lozenges as a whitening agent.  One day, a druggist’s assistant was making up a batch of the candies and tragically added the wrong powder.  Arsenic oxide, which was sold as a rat poison ended up in the lozenges!  Partly as a result of this episode, the British government passed the Food and Drug Adulteration Act of 1860 which was designed to regulat</p> Thu, 23 Feb 2017 03:24:13 +0000 OSS 1525 at /oss