health food

No, Chocolate Isn’t Good for You. Sorry

Christopher Labos MD, MSc — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 17:25:16 +0000

This article was first published in the Montreal Gazette.

This is a story about chocolate. It’s a story about how chocolate went from dessert to health food and back again. Except most people missed the ending — the part where chocolate isn’t good for you.

Forget the Willow Bark Extract — Go For Aspirin

Joe Schwarcz Phd — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 19:00:00 +0000

Contrary to popular belief, aspirin does not occur in nature, it is not found in the willow tree. But there is a connection. Aspirin, or acetyl salicylic acid, was first produced commercially by the Bayer Company based on a synthesis by Felix Hoffmann, a chemist working in 1897 for the Bayer company in Germany. While Hoffmann did indeed synthesize the first commercial sample of acetylsalicylic acid, he certainly was not the first to produce the substance in the laboratory.

In China Birds’ Nests Are Not Only For Birds

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 23 Jan 2019 20:07:33 +0000

Believe it or not, some 200 tons of birds’ nests are consumed in the world every year with Hong Kong diners leading the way. We’re not talking any old birds’ nest here. These are very special nests constructed by several different species of swiftlets, birds about the size of swallows, found mostly in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Borneo and the Philippines. The male builds the nest over about 35 days, using, I kid you not, his saliva! No twigs, no leaves, just the sticky material secreted from the bird’s two sublingual salivary glands.