/oss/taxonomy/term/1936/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/medical/can-smell-relieve-nausea <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in <a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/can-this-smell-relieve-nausea/">The Skeptical Inquirer.</a></em></p> Fri, 28 Apr 2023 13:21:49 +0000 Ada McVean M.Sc. 9494 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/you-asked/how-ibu-measured <p>I tried over 50 new beers in 2022. From Les Grands Bois here in Quebec all the way to Ucluelet Brewing across the country, my friends and I embarked on our own sort of brewery tour. The most memorable brews included Farmery’s Manitoba Maple Lager, Rebellion Brewing’s Lentil Beer, and Tofino Brewing’s Kelp Stout. As these names suggest, we selected our flights based off of funky ingredients and good advertising. But along the way, we learnt to read past the names and inspected the vital stats reported for each drink, including ABV, SRM, and IBU.</p> Fri, 30 Dec 2022 11:00:00 +0000 Cat Wang, B.Sc. 9344 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-you-asked/does-filtering-vodka-through-brita-filter-really-work <p>For many people “cheap” and “tastes good” are the main requisites when choosing an alcoholic drink. So, it is not a surprise that the Brita filter hack caught the internet’s attention — including mine. The premise is simple: grab your mickey of Smirnoff and your <a href="https://www.brita.com/water-pitchers/">Brita</a> pitcher and it is time to DIY!</p> Fri, 14 Oct 2022 16:15:29 +0000 Cat Wang, B.Sc. 9265 at /oss /oss/article/medical-did-you-know/jansporting-when-it-saves-lives-and-when-it-doesnt <p>Back to school season usually evokes the image of new supplies — coloured highlighters, clean lab coats and lined paper, all packed nicely into students’ backpacks. On university campuses, however, backpacks may play another role. It has become increasingly popular to use backpacks as a first aid tool when it comes to alcohol intoxication.</p> Fri, 23 Sep 2022 10:00:00 +0000 Cat Wang, B.Sc. 9241 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/health-and-nutrition-history/sweet-and-sticky-science-sugar <p>Sugar is sweet and sticky.  That’s a fact.  In fact, during the reign of Edward the Confessor in the early eleventh century, "ale tasters" were employed to check on the work of brewers.  They would test the ale by spilling some on a wooden seat and sitting on the spill in their leather breeches.  If they had difficulty getting up after a short time because their breeches stuck to the seat, they knew that the ale had been sugared.  Today we don't have to worry about such adulteration of our ale, and I think in any case we would have a hard time finding leather breeches.  But the stickiness o</p> Fri, 03 Dec 2021 23:31:20 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8944 at /oss /oss/article/health-nutrition-you-asked/what-guarana <p>The Amazon is a dangerous place, with jaguars, anacondas and piranhas in constant search for their next meal, but you would not have anything to fear from guarana. It isn’t a predator, it’s a woody vine that climbs through the trees, growing up to 30 feet long. It produces bright red berries that split open when ripe, revealing a shiny black seed partially embedded in a thin white pulp. From a distance, the split berries look disturbingly like eyes staring down from the leafy canopy. The name “guarana” reflects this connection, deriving from the native words “guara” for “human,” and “na” fo</p> Thu, 30 Sep 2021 18:00:48 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8883 at /oss /oss/article/history-general-science/tryst-amethyst <p>An attractive amethyst geode sits on my desk. Geodes are rocks with an internal cavity that is filled with crystals of a mineral. In the case of amethyst that mineral is quartz, tainted with iron and manganese impurities that colour it an eye-catching purple. The geode has no function except to satisfy my, some would say peculiar, passion for collecting objects that have stories to tell. With “amethyst” the story is about its name, derived from the Greek for “wine” and traces to an ancient belief that wine-coloured crystals can ward off drunkenness.</p> Tue, 23 Feb 2021 22:47:33 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8629 at /oss /oss/article/am-i-drunk-hungry-or-both-alcohol-appetite-stimulant <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/am-i-drunk-hungry-or-both-alcohol-as-an-appetite-stimulant/">The Skeptical Inquirer.</a></p> Fri, 25 Dec 2020 17:00:00 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 8535 at /oss /oss/article/health/risks-mixing-driving-and-cannabis <p> </p> <hr /> <p><em>This article was first published in</em><span> </span><a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/christopher-labos-the-risks-of-mixing-driving-and-cannabis">The Montreal Gazette<span>.</span></a></p> Wed, 09 Dec 2020 18:17:03 +0000 Christopher Labos MD, MSc 8523 at /oss /oss/article/history-videos/right-chemistry-story-vodka <p><div class="media-youtube-video media-element file-default media-youtube-1"> <iframe class="media-youtube-player" id="media-youtube-jgcsbitqlt0" width="640" height="390" title="Dr. Joe Schwarcz: The story of vodka" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JGcsbitqlT0?wmode=opaque&controls=&enablejsapi=1&modestbranding=1&playerapiid=media-youtube-jgcsbitqlt0&origin=https%3A//www.mcgill.ca&rel=0" name="Dr. Joe Schwarcz: The story of vodka" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>Video of Dr. Joe Schwarcz: The story of vodka</iframe> </div> </p> Thu, 20 Aug 2020 15:26:02 +0000 OSS 8368 at /oss /oss/article/health-history/gin-mania <p>Between 1715 and 1750 there were more deaths than births in London, with the greatest mortality among children. Many of these deaths were due to fetal alcohol syndrome as unhappy mothers-to-be sought solace in gin. And unhappiness was the rule, not the exception, and it wasn’t limited to pregnant women.</p> Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:26:05 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8078 at /oss