Health and Nutrition

Muscle Building is Not Routine, It's Triggered by Protein

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 05:07:59 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Protein, protein everywhere…with plenty of drops to drink! You can guzzle protein shakes, drink protein pop, or even protein water. Then there are the protein-fortified foods. Protein cereal, protein bread, protein Pop Tarts, protein popcorn, protein gummies and protein bars galore. The protein craze is off and running.

To get a grip on this race to down more and more protein, let’s go back to the starting blocks. Exactly what are proteins and why are they looking to step up to the top of the podium?

Is Your Sauna Session Sabotaging Your Swimmers?

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 05:01:58 +0000

Over the past few months, a not insignificant number of my male friends have asked me (unprompted) whether going to the sauna is ruining their sperm. Bold questions. Intimate questions. But fair ones. Sauna culture has exploded in North America, and with it, men now face an understandable worry: is the sauna accidentally slow roasting fertility?

You Are What You Eat

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 17:34:05 +0000

“You are what you eat” is a widely quoted aphorism, expressing the general truth that nutrition and health are intimately linked. It is generally said to derive from the phrase “tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are” found in French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s 1823 book “Physiology Du Gout.” However, Brillat-Savarin was not referring to nutrition, he was commenting on the differences between the foods available to different social classes. The rich could count on a large variety of foods, while the poor subsisted on a meager food supply.

When Your Phone Makes Time Disappear

Lia Erisson — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:41:46 +0000

When I think about the first few hours of my day, I picture myself getting up, making breakfast, picking out my outfit, and tidying my apartment. What I don’t often recall are the 30 or so minutes I spend doomscrolling on Instagram or playing video games as soon as I wake up. To be honest, that time barely registers as having existed at all.

In all likelihood, you have similar experiences in your day-to-day life.

BPC-157 – No Proof Required!

Patricia Brubaker, Ph.D., F.R.S.C. — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:20:08 +0000

The actions of the stomach are an important first step in the digestion of the food that we eat. This occurs in part through mechanical grinding of large ‘clumps’ of food into smaller pieces for passage into the intestines. However, cells that line the stomach also secrete a number of compounds into the gastric cavity. These include hydrochloric acid (HCl), as well as a number of complex proteins and a few much smaller proteins known as peptides.

White Noise May Worsen Sleep

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:40:01 +0000

Getting a good night’s sleep is paramount to health; and yet, whenever we reach for a sleep aid, we are told there are risks involved.

There are Lots of Longevity Regimens. One Stands out for Me

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 02:50:22 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

Can you Live Longer by Eating a “Healthy” Diet?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:35:13 +0000

“Eat your vegetables!” is a command that just about every child has heard. “They’ll make you stronger” is a common follow up. The “stronger” connection is often traced back to Popeye the Sailorman’s guzzling spinach for its vitamin A content. Yes, vitamin A not iron! Contrary to the myth, Popeye never talked about iron in spinach making him stronger. In a 1932 comic strip, Popeye explicitly states, "Spinach is full of vitamin A, an' tha's what makes hoomans strong an' helty".

Your Poop Is Not Reliable, At Least for Now

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:02:55 +0000

Let’s say you mail your poop to two different companies—not an illegal act, by the way, provided it doesn’t smell or soil anything, and that it’s

Everyone Else Is Wrong: The Dr. Amen Story

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:18:07 +0000

When a psychiatrist diagnoses you with anxiety, depression, an eating disorder or a learning disability—or even a serious pathology like schizophrenia—they don’t typically look at your brain. Dr. Daniel Amen thinks they should.

Man Flu and Other Near-Death Experiences

Sophie Tseng Pellar BSc — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 23:22:43 +0000

A few months ago, an orthopedic surgery resident told me a story I still think about. The worst patients to reset fractures on, she said, were men in their thirties. They scream, beg for anesthetic, and prolong the process as much as humanly possible. The best patients? Women in their sixties, who will sit unflinchingly still and remark in surprise when the process is “over already”.

Paying Attention to My Own Lectures

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:00:01 +0000

“It builds muscle!” That’s the usual answer I get when I ask in class about the importance of protein in the diet. Sort of correct since muscles are indeed composed mostly of protein, but the protein we eat does not directly build muscles. It is broken down during digestion into its constituent amino acids that are then pieced together by enzymes (also proteins) to become the proteins that make up muscle tissue.

Rare Blood Clots After Certain COVID Vaccines, Explained

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 14:12:37 +0000

The light at the end of the pandemic tunnel was marred by a worrying shadow. As the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out, headlines fuelled anxiety: some people were developing life-threatening blood clots after receiving either the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (made by one of its subsidiaries, Janssen Vaccines) or the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot.

Interesting Chemistry Hides in Cookware

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 13:57:51 +0000

Like most chemists, I like to cook. After all, what is cooking but the appropriate mixing of chemicals? In the lab we use flasks and beakers, but how do we equip our kitchen? Tiffany's in New York offers a silver frying pan for thousands of dollars, specialty stores sell gleaming copper pots for a couple of hundred, while a thin aluminum pot can be had most anywhere for a few dollars. What's the difference?

America's Healthier Past is no More Than a Myth

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 16:22:17 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

“Make America healthy again” sounds like a great slogan. It is loaded with nostalgia and … haziness. What is that “again” all about? When were those halcyon days when Americans were healthier than now?