/oss/taxonomy/term/354/all en /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition/did-scientists-just-discover-compound-responsible-red-wine-headaches <p>While consuming too much of any alcoholic substance can lead to a headache, red wine headaches tend to be a little bit different. Both because a red-wine-induced headache tends to hit the drinker within 30 minutes to 3 hours of consuming the beverage, rather than several hours later as in the case of a hangover, and because rather than copious amounts of alcohol, red wine headaches can be induced with even just one or two glasses. </p> Fri, 24 Nov 2023 11:00:00 +0000 Ada McVean M.Sc. 9738 at /oss /oss/article/general-science/put-cork-it <p>I’ve never been one for cork sniffing. I always thought it was kind of a snobby thing to do, but I never really investigated the practice since I’ve never really cared much for wine. Then one day, while out for dinner with a friend, I really got into it. He ordered wine, sniffed the cork, and promptly declared the bottle unacceptable and sent it back. “Decidedly mushroomy,” he said. “Decidedly snobbery” I thought. After sniffing, he had disdainfully tossed the cork on the table from where I picked it up, ready to give it a whiff and declare that I smelled nothing. But that was not to be.</p> Fri, 03 Mar 2023 15:31:10 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9423 at /oss /oss/article/medical/canadas-new-guidelines-are-right-alcohol-isnt-good-you <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-new-guidelines-reflect-fact-that-alcohol-isnt-good-for-you">Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Many people had strong reactions to the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction’s new guidelines for drinking alcohol. For some, alcohol is inextricably linked to their social habits, while others invoked the health benefits of “moderate” alcohol consumption, especially the cardioprotective benefits of red wine.</p> Fri, 27 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9370 at /oss /oss/article/health-and-nutrition/lets-not-pretend-alcohol-good-us-it-isnt <hr /> <p><em>This article was originally posted in the <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-lets-not-pretend-alcohol-is-good-for-us-it-isnt">Montreal Gazette</a>.</em></p> <hr /> <p>Many people turn to alcohol to deal with life’s daily stressors. Unfortunately, that has happened quite a bit in the past two years, with some very negative consequences.</p> <p>We sometimes forget that alcohol is not good for us.</p> Tue, 22 Mar 2022 18:57:07 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 9061 at /oss /oss/article/artificial-wine-really <p>Cat pee, a mouse nest, wet dog, sauerkraut, burnt match, moldy socks, rotten eggs, vanilla, menthol, and plastic bandage. An unusual list to be sure. But there is a connection. These are all terms used by expert wine tasters to describe “notes” that make up the symphony of aromas and flavours experienced when sipping a sample of the beverage that has delighted people for over 6000 years. Indeed, the conversion of grapes into wine is one of the oldest chemical processes known to humankind! And what a complex and fascinating process it is!</p> Thu, 21 Jan 2021 21:54:06 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8570 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-health-general-science/reservations-about-resveratrol <p>In 1940 Japanese researcher Michio Takaoka submitted his thesis for a graduate degree in which he described studies of plants with a folkloric history of having medicinal properties. Such studies involve the extraction, isolation and identification of compounds that may have biological activity. This is a complex and challenging project given that plants are veritable chemical factories, churning out hundreds of different substances.</p> Thu, 14 Jan 2021 21:58:35 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8556 at /oss /oss/article/health/link-between-alcohol-and-breast-cancer <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-the-link-between-alcohol-and-breast-cancer">The Montreal Gazette</a><span>.</span></p> Wed, 10 Jul 2019 19:04:33 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 7823 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-health/beer-liquor <p>Have you ever heard the saying "beer before liquor never been sicker"? Or “liquor before beer, you’re in the clear”? What about “grape or grain but never the twain”? Well, it turns out that there might be some truth to at least some of these adages.</p> <p>There are a few factors to consider here.</p> Thu, 06 Jun 2019 19:07:06 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7791 at /oss /oss/article/videos/right-chemistry-phenolphthalein-and-ex-lax-connection <p></p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-1"></div> Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:22:33 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7473 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/should-we-worry-about-glyphosate-residues-wine <p><span>Scarcely a day goes by without some scary story about glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide. It is best known as the active ingredient in Monsanto’s “Roundup” which is used to kill weeds in fields planted with seeds that have been genetically engineered to produce crops that are resistant to glyphosate. Fields can be sprayed to kill weeds without harming crops. But glyphosate has many other applications as well. It is used to kill weeds in orchards, clear railroad tracks and eliminate weeds in urban settings.</span></p> Thu, 08 Mar 2018 18:02:33 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 6958 at /oss /oss/article/controversial-science-health-news-you-asked/you-asked-should-we-worry-about-arsenic-wine <p style="text-align:justify">A story about arsenic-laced wine is panicking a lot of people. It’s all about a lawsuit brought against the producers of some wines claiming they contain unsafe amounts of arsenic. As far as I can tell, the lawsuit is an attempt at money grab by a company that performs analyses for substances such as arsenic in beverages. The idea seems to be to cash in on the public fear generated by the lawsuit. People will clamor for the testing of wines, a service the company provides. Any story about arsenic, the fabled "widow maker," is guaranteed to trigger publicity.</p> Mon, 23 Mar 2015 03:28:50 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2244 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere-you-asked/soft-drink-bottles-are-made-plastic-called-polyethyleneglycol-terephthalate-or-pet-while-plastic <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=4403"><img alt="" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/03/wine-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>While PET has a very low permeability when it comes to carbon dioxide, it readily allows oxygen to pass through. And oxygen is the enemy of wine! When we talk about storing soft drinks, permeability to carbon dioxide is the critical factor. A beverage that loses carbonation loses its appeal. In this case oxygen permeability is not an issue. While oxygen passing into a plastic soft drink bottle from the air may react with some of the flavor components, the effect would be minor given that we don’t store soft drinks for extended periods. But of course we do store wine to age it. And this is where oxygen becomes a problem. <a href="/oss/soft-drink-bottles-are-made-of-a-plastic-called-polyethyleneglycol-terephthalate-or-pet-while-this-plastic-is-fine-for-storing-soft-drinks-why-is-it-not-recommended-for-storing-home-made-wine/">Read more</a></p> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:24:28 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1889 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/what-bordeaux-mixture <p>It isn’t a blend of wines from the Bordeaux region of France to sell to undiscerning customers. Bordeaux mixture is a fungicide made of copper sulphate and calcium hydroxide, the latter better known as lime. Yeasts, moulds and mushrooms, all of which are classified as fungi, can present a nightmare for farmers. They can destroy a potato crop (potato blight), damage fruit (apple scab) or sicken grape vines, which then affects the yield and quality of the grapes.</p> Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:22:01 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1577 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/atom-bomb-and-age-wine <p>The purveyors of fake wines probably never dreamed that they could be caught by a carbon atom. A special kind of carbon atom. One that in addition to the six protons in its nucleus has eight neutrons instead of the usual six. It’s called carbon 14. It’s very rare but can be a powerful tool in analytical chemistry. Let’s start at the beginning. In fact, the very beginning, the Big Bang. Over 13 billion years ago the universe began to expand from an extremely dense and hot core, spewing out the basic units of matter that would eventually form the chemical elements.</p> Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:02:37 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1661 at /oss /oss/article/health-you-asked/what-all-talk-about-paradox-blanc <p>If you take a look at all the literature put out by the French wine industry, you'll start to wonder whether you should replace wine drinking by intravenous infusions of red wine. They make a case for wine being virtually a drug to prevent heart disease. They offer reams of scientific evidence about neutralizing free radicals and preventing cholesterol from damaging the walls of arteries. Of course, that doesn't prove that wine is responsible for the French Paradox. That paradox is the low rate of heart disease compared to North America in spite of a high fat diet.</p> Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:25:32 +0000 OSS 1753 at /oss