/oss/taxonomy/term/480/all en /oss/article/health-nutrition/fear-frying <p>The Wienerschnitzel was so large it hung off the plate. Topped with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and lemon juice, it was an absolute treat. To this day, my mouth waters whenever I recall my first schnitzel experience. My aunt, who had arranged for us to come to Montreal after we had fled Hungary during the 1956 uprising, owned the “Riviera,” a European style restaurant. It was there that I was introduced to the delights of a serving of veal, pounded almost paper-thin, battered in flour, eggs and breadcrumbs, and quickly fried to a golden brown. I just loved it. In fact, I still do.</p> Mon, 16 Nov 2020 18:35:23 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8488 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition/small-changes-make-big-difference-diets <p>Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have come up with some interesting data. They analyzed surveys filled out by some 120,000 nurses, physicians, veterinarians and dentists over a period of about twenty years. Starting in the 1980s these subjects answered questionnaires about their diet and weight, including specifics about the number of servings of various foods they consumed per day. Some fascinating revelations have emerged from the massive amount of data collected. First of all, there was an average weight gain of about seventeen pounds over twenty years.</p> Tue, 17 Dec 2019 19:18:05 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8054 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/how-can-i-make-perfect-french-fry <p>So, you’re tired of eating lousy french fries. You’re sick of those limp dark brown grease sponges. What can you do? Make them! Let’s for a moment forget nutrition and health. In this area, french fries have no redeeming value. We eat them because we like them, in spite of what they may be doing to the lining of our arteries. So let’s at least make it worthwhile. A perfect fry has to be cooked through and through, should be a golden brown on the outside, cannot be limp and must not be saturated with grease. This is no small task. Numerous factors come into play.</p> Fri, 29 Nov 2019 17:05:34 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8012 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/what-does-processed-food-actually-mean <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> Fri, 21 Jun 2019 16:00:00 +0000 Shira Cohen, Student Contributor 7805 at /oss /oss/article/food-health/food-additives-and-hyperactivity <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?p=5365"><img alt="LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2013/05/hyperactive2-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>Apples are not artificially colored. Neither are tomatoes, blueberries, green peppers, carrots or spinach. Whole grain bread is not dyed. There are no colorants in grape juice or milk. And these are the foods and beverages we should be encouraging our children, and in fact ourselves, to consume. It is important to point this out in the context of the media frenzy generated by a study in Britain linking certain food dyes, as well as the preservative, sodium benzoate, to hyperactivity in children. The fact is that even before this study, the significance of which is debatable, nutritional experts have long counseled that foods with loads of additives should be consumed in a limited fashion. This is not necessarily because of any risk associated with the additives per se, but because the additives are hallmarks of processed foods which tend to be high in sugar, fat and salt, and low in nutrients. What the current study does provide is more ammunition for parents in the battle to steer children away from junk foods.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">A link between certain food additives and ill behaviour in children was first proposed by pediatrician Benjamin Feingold back in the 1970s. He claimed that eliminating additive laden foods eliminated hyperactivity in many children. The idea was controversial and widely criticized. Some suggested the results were due to wishful parental thinking, or just a general improvement in diet by cutting down on processed foods. But now British researchers have found scientific evidence for the additive hyperactivity connection in a trial involving 153 three year olds and 144 eight and nine year olds. Half the children were given a mix of four food dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate dissolved in a fruit drink, while the other half were given a placebo beverage that looked and tasted the same. Neither the children, the experimenters, nor the parents or teachers who were asked to evaluate the kids’ behaviour knew who was getting what. Final analysis of the results revealed a slight increase in hyperactive behaviour, judged to be about 10%, in the group consuming the additives. What does this mean? Was one specific additive responsible? <a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2013/05/24/food-additives-and-hyperactivity">Read more</a></p> Fri, 24 May 2013 22:59:58 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1949 at /oss /oss/article/science-science-everywhere/junk-food-addiction <p>We like sweets and we like fats. That’s why we serve cheesecake for dessert instead of carrot sticks. Great for the taste buds but not for the waistline. And when the belt starts to become too tight, we try to forget the dessert. But some people just can’t. They have all the best intentions to shed those extra pounds, but they just can’t give up eating the sweetened fatty stuff. It is as if they were addicted to junk food. And they may well be, at least based on an interesting study carried out at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida. Let’s make something clear right off the bat here.</p> Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:04:07 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 1663 at /oss