/oss/taxonomy/term/6296/all en /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/reincarnation-dr-oz-show-and-other-miracles <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-the-reincarnation-of-the-dr-oz-show-and-other-miracles">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>“Eat broccoli and exercise.”</p> <p>Those were the words that first acquainted me with Dr. Mehmet Oz sometime in 2004 when I caught a segment of the Oprah Winfrey Show.</p> Fri, 29 Nov 2024 22:27:28 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10184 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-pseudoscience/bhattacharya-decide-fate-medical-research <p>An economist turned pandemic celebrity, who loudly and repeatedly advocated for mass infections with the coronavirus, has been nominated by Donald Trump as the new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).</p> Fri, 29 Nov 2024 15:49:51 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10183 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-history/fluoride-controversy <p>The nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a travesty. His ideas about vaccination, raw milk, hyperbaric oxygen, HIV, Wi-Fi and COVID fly in the face of evidence-based science. But once in a while, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn, so not all of Kennedy’s ideas are outrageous. The American diet with its plethora of highly processed foods needs change, the pricing of drugs and some of the advertising antics of pharmaceutical companies need to be addressed.</p> Wed, 27 Nov 2024 19:31:34 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10180 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history/wolfsbane-has-long-dark-history <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-wolfsbane-has-a-long-dark-history">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>“When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession.”</p> Fri, 22 Nov 2024 22:29:16 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10175 at /oss /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-did-you-know/acne-and-diet-ambiguous-association <p>You have probably heard that drinking milk and eating chocolate causes acne or, at the very least, that they make it worse. Diet is often blamed for a teenager’s pimply skin, but is there good evidence behind this accusation?</p> Fri, 22 Nov 2024 22:14:36 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10174 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/bite-science-venoms <p>You are likely aware of the large number of drugs that have been developed from chemicals found in plants, including aspirin from willow bark, atropine from deadly nightshade, and both morphine and codeine from the opium poppy. Indeed, more than a hundred-twenty, or over one-quarter of all drugs that currently exist, are derived from plants, although many of these have been chemically modified from their original form so as to improve potency and/or reduce unwanted side effects.</p> Fri, 22 Nov 2024 16:02:03 +0000 Patricia Brubaker, Ph.D., F.R.S.C. 10173 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/sometimes-luck-serves-springboard-science-0 <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-sometimes-luck-serves-as-a-springboard-for-science">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>It is a lifesaver, stocked in every emergency room! N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is amazingly effective as an antidote to acetaminophen poisoning.</p> Fri, 15 Nov 2024 22:57:27 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10165 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition-pseudoscience/kennedys-coalition-quacks-wants-feed-america-diet-lies <p>When America sneezes, the world catches a cold. Donald Trump’s renewed tenancy in the White House, with anti-vaxxer-in-chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr whispering in his ear, promises more than just sneezes. It heralds the return of vaccine-preventable illnesses, which do not stop at the border.</p> Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:40:39 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 10162 at /oss /oss/article/medical-health-and-nutrition-contributors/fecal-matter-deserves-better <p>It may be an indelicate subject to bring up at the dinner table, but colon cancer screening based on fecal matter merits discussion. The first-generation kit ColoGuard rolled out in August 2014, and now an advanced version, ColoGuard Plus, received FDA approval in October 2024. What’s new? </p> Mon, 18 Nov 2024 21:13:11 +0000 Nancy Liu-Sullivan, PhD 10167 at /oss /oss/article/medical-history-did-you-know/lorenzos-oil-contributed-treatment-devastating-disease <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-lorenzos-oil-raised-awareness-about-a-devastating-disease">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>Given that he had trained and practised as a physician before turning to filmmaking, it is no surprise that George Miller was so captivated by the story of Michaela and Augusto Odone’s struggle to save their son from a deadly disease that he decided to turn it into a movie.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2024 22:05:23 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10154 at /oss /oss/article/medical-student-contributors-health-and-nutrition/nutrafol-holy-grail-hair-loss-or-overpriced-supplement <p>Hair loss is a normal component of the natural hair growth cycle. Hair growth occurs in three stages: the growth phase where the hair grows for around 2-7 years, the transition phase where the follicle starts to shrink and hair growth slows for around 2-3 weeks, and the resting phase where the hair falls out at the end of this phase at around 3- 4 months. The falling out of the hair strand is necessary so that a new strand can take its place, and the cycle can begin again.</p> Fri, 08 Nov 2024 15:56:16 +0000 Daniela Padres 10152 at /oss /oss/article/medical-technology/there-magic-bullet-alzheimers-disease <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-is-there-a-magic-bullet-for-alzheimers-disease">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> <hr /> <p>In 1888, bacteriologists Emile Roux and Alexandre Yersin demonstrated that diphtheria occurs when bacteria release a toxin that damages tissues.</p> Fri, 25 Oct 2024 19:14:12 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10127 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking/lets-put-water-fluoridation-myths-rest <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-lets-put-water-fluoridation-myths-to-rest">The Montreal Gazette.</a></em></p> Fri, 25 Oct 2024 15:39:28 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 10125 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-student-contributors/well-established-balancing-act <p>Some things can be classified with high acidity, like lemon juice, or low acidity, like bicarbonate. Acidity is often measured on a pH scale. This is because Danish chemist <a href="https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/soren-sorensen/">Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen</a> invented the concept of pH as a convenient method for expressing acidity. Acidic things have a low pH whereas alkaline things have a high pH.</p> Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:09:08 +0000 Daniela Padres 10119 at /oss /oss/article/medical-critical-thinking-health-and-nutrition/processing-information-about-processed-meat <p>The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization lists processed meats in its “Category 1,” reserved for substances known to cause cancer in humans. There is really nothing all that noteworthy here except for the official classification. Unofficial advice about minimizing processed meat has been dispensed by nutritional scientists for a long time. And for good reason.</p> Tue, 08 Oct 2024 22:06:53 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10104 at /oss