/oss/taxonomy/term/311/all en /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition/diet-and-exercise-post-ozempic-world <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-role-of-diet-and-exercise-in-a-post-ozempic-world">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 24 May 2024 19:50:46 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9957 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked-general-science/will-running-turn-my-toenails-purple <p>About two weeks ago, hundreds of runners lined up at Parc Jean Drapeau to run the <a href="https://canadarunningseries.com/21k-de-montreal/">Montreal 21K race</a>. But beneath neon-coloured running shoes and Nike sports socks, you would be surprised to learn how many of these runners have black toenails or are missing a toenail completely.</p> Fri, 05 May 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Maya McKeown, B.Sc. 9502 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/skinny-weight-loss-drugs <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-the-skinny-on-weight-loss-drugs">Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Thu, 05 May 2022 19:51:17 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9107 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/do-we-really-need-stretch <p>“People do <em>not</em> like their stretches to be criticized,” <a href="https://www.painscience.com/articles/unstretchables.php">wrote</a> Paul Ingraham, a former massage therapist and current science journalist. I’m about to find out for myself.</p> Thu, 24 Mar 2022 19:24:50 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9064 at /oss /oss/article/history-did-you-know/moral-and-medical-panic-over-bicycles <p>Seemingly everyone is talking about <i>The Social Dilemma</i>, a Netflix documentary in which some of the men behind social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube look upon their creations and despair. An argument made by one of these men, Tristan Harris (formerly of Google), got<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=Tristan%20Harris%20bicycle&src=typed_query"> a fair share of backlash</a> on, irony of irony, social media. In the documentary, Harris claims that social media is a manipulation-based technology instead of being a simple tool. Tools don’t draw the ire of the people.</p> Fri, 02 Oct 2020 18:00:38 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8436 at /oss /oss/article/health-technology/instagram-can-undermine-your-plan-lose-weight <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-instagram-can-undermine-your-plan-to-lose-weight">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> <hr /> <p>With the holidays past and the New Year upon us, it’s time to do what we always do. It’s time to make New Year’s resolutions about eating healthily and losing weight. But these are easier said than done and many resolutions will not survive very long.</p> Wed, 08 Jan 2020 22:45:07 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8074 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/will-game-changers-change-your-game <p>The documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSpglxHTJVM">“The Game Changers”</a> has been picking up steam on Netflix. This is basically a two-hour promo for a vegan lifestyle focusing on a few athletes who attribute their high-level performance to a vegan diet. Before going further, let me say that I favour a diet that has lots of fruits, vegetables and nuts, but I think that some meat, mostly poultry and fish can be accommodated.</p> Wed, 11 Dec 2019 20:59:33 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8048 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/are-there-benefits-tart-cherry-juice <hr /> <p><em>Shira Cohen is studying Nutrition at the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at ���ϲ����� University, specializing in Global Nutrition. </em></p> <hr /> <p>If you are suffering from headaches, muscle pain or inflammation, you may be interested to hear that<a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf0718300"> tart cherries may function in a fashion similar to drugs like Aspirin and Ibuprofen</a>. It seems that the anthocyanins they contain prevent the formation of certain prostaglandins that are linked to pain and inflammation, much like aspirin.</p> Thu, 01 Aug 2019 16:00:00 +0000 Shira Cohen, Student Contributor 7842 at /oss /oss/article/health/studies-about-safety-exercise-are-reassuring <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>​</em><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-studies-about-safety-of-exercise-are-reassuring">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> <hr /> <p><span>Is it safe to exercise?</span></p> <p>There can be very little doubt that exercise is good for you. In the constant back and forth of which foods are good for you and which foods are bad for you (if you’ve been keeping track, eggs are bad for you again), exercise is the one thing that seems to survive unscathed.</p> Wed, 20 Mar 2019 20:03:47 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7658 at /oss /oss/article/health-you-asked/can-you-be-obese-still-be-healthy <p>In medical speak we talk, not about being fat, but about overweight or obese. We define being overweight as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 25, and obesity as having a BMI over 30. Obesity is usually subdivided into Class 1 obesity (BMI 30-35), Class 2 obesity (BMI 35-40), and Class 3 obesity (BMI greater than 40). Class 3 obesity is usually labeled as severe obesity, and is sometimes unfortunately referred to by the public as “morbid obesity.”</p> Fri, 08 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7568 at /oss /oss/article/health/10000-steps-myth-or-fact <p>There is little doubt that sedentary behavior is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28138134">bad for your health</a>. Many people claim that “sitting is the new smoking,” even though the two are not really comparable. Smoking is <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304649">orders of magnitude worse</a> than being sedentary, and given the choice, people should opt to do neither.</p> Thu, 29 Nov 2018 17:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7465 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health-general-science/why-do-we-yawn-when-we-exercise <p>Am I the only one who tries to ‘swallow my head’ as my Nana used to say while exercising? For a while, I thought so! But a Google search told me I'm not alone. Many people suffer from constant yawning when they are physically active. So why do we yawn when we exercise? Well, why do we yawn at all?</p> Thu, 17 Aug 2017 15:53:55 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 2603 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/cellullite <p>The majority of people have cellulite to some degree. However, women are more susceptible to cellulite than men due to the presence of female sex hormones: estrogen and progesterone. In addition, there are other factors such as the septae structure differences in women than in men. Septae is a mesh-like fibrous connective tissue that is present directly underneath the skin. In women, the septae are mesh-like which have a higher tendency of trapping fat cells, unlike the men’s where the septae are smooth.</p> Wed, 31 May 2017 14:39:15 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2513 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-environment-health-supplements/want-stop-aging-mind-your-telomeres-maybe <p>If you want to lengthen your life, you need to lengthen your telomeres. That’s the message from the marketers of a pricey dietary supplement called TA-65. How pricey? Try up to $4000 for a six month dose! But for that you are getting Nobel Prize Technology, or so the ads say. Well, that’s not exactly so. The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 2009 was awarded to Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak, who incidentally was a ���ϲ����� graduate, for their work on telomeres. But the work had nothing to do with the dietary supplement being promoted.</p> Tue, 29 Apr 2014 12:00:02 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2137 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-health-news-quirky-science/what-kind-exercise-best <p style="text-align:justify">Let’s face it, running on a treadmill isn’t one of life’s most exciting activities, but it does provide time to contemplate life and think about what is likely to extend it. There’s plenty of evidence that exercise will, which is why one plods away on the treadmill in the first place.</p> Sun, 13 Jul 2014 05:12:17 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 2167 at /oss