cancer

Just How Much Should You Worry About Eating That Burnt Toast?

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 21:25:27 +0000

I was tempted to say, “why don’t you buy the book,” but that sounded a bit too self-serving. So, let me dig into the science which centers around a small molecule called acrylamide. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has placed acrylamide in its Category 2B reserved for “substances that are possibly carcinogenic to humans.” That raises eyebrows when we learn that this possible carcinogen can be found in many common foods. Think French fries, cereals, potato chips, toast and yikes…coffee.

Colorectal Cancer in Younger Adults: What’s Behind the Uptick?

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 19:51:23 +0000

It was a shock to learn that actor Chadwick Boseman had died. The rising star who played Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was 43 when colorectal cancer took his life in August 2020. More recently, James Van Der Beek made headlines after he died from the same cancer at the age of 48.

You Can’t Beat Beets!

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:36:31 +0000

It doesn’t matter how good a video or an article is if you can’t get people to watch or read it. That’s why a lot of thought goes into coming up with a catchy title that grabs attention. In this case, since I’m talking about the possible health benefits of beets, the root vegetable, a headline just about writes itself. “You can’t beat beets.”

Putting Concerns About Weed Killer Glyphosate Into Perspective

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:14:05 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

A Simple Calculation to Determine the Quality of Your Diet

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:08:15 +0000

For about 300,000 years homo sapiens has been eating just about everything that seemed edible. Plants, grains, fruits as well as parts of any creature that walks, flies, swims or crawls has travelled down the esophagus. One would think that with all that experience we would have figured out what sort of diet is conducive to health. But here we are, 300,000 years later, talking about low carb diets, ketogenic diets, carnivore diets, low fat diets, vegan diets, flexitarian diets, intermittent fasting diets and a bevy of others.

HIV/AIDS Denialism Is Back, Courtesy of Joe Rogan

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 18:21:09 +0000

Joe Rogan, the most influential podcaster globally, is an HIV-AIDS denialist. Imagine the backlash if the six o’clock news were espousing this decades-old, harmful pseudoscience front and centre.

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.

The Frivolous Costco Chicken Lawsuit

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 21:21:30 +0000

Talk about a frivolous lawsuit! These two ladies claim that they have been misled by the information on the label of Costco’s famous rotisserie chicken that states “no preservatives.” Why? Because the listed additives include sodium phosphate and carrageenan. That, they say, merited a lawsuit! They go on to say that Costco "has systematically cheated customers out of tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars by falsely advertising its Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie chicken as containing no preservatives.” Really? Who exactly is doing the cheating here?

“Food Preservative Linked to Cancer,” Shrieked Many a Headline

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 23:23:20 +0000

It isn’t surprising that a paper published in the prestigious British Medical Journal linking food preservatives to cancer roused much media attention. After all, preservatives in food are not rare and cancer is frightening. But just how much should our eyebrows furrow? That depends on whether you look at the headlines that scream about preservatives increasing cancer rates by 16% or you delve deeply into the data that gave rise to these numbers. Let’s delve!

Are Levitating Trains a Health Hazard?

Haleh Cohn BSc — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

For anyone who flies into Shanghai Pudong International Airport, it’s a rite-of-passage to take the Maglev -- short for magnetic levitation -- train into the city. The railway is as much a tourist attraction as it is a transportation system.

I was on board the train this summer, gleefully watching the speed climb to over 300 km/hour, when I overheard the woman beside me ask if the magnetic field emissions posed a health risk.

How a Montreal-Made AI Device Is Helping Surgeons See the Invisible

Abhay Parmar BSc — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

When removing a brain tumour, the distinction between healthy tissue and cancer isn’t visible to the naked eye. Even advanced imaging can miss what hides between those boundaries. For years, this limitation meant surgeons could never be fully sure whether every cancer cell was gone. But a new Montreal-made device called SENTRY is changing that. Co-developed by the Montreal-based company Reveal Surgical, Dr.

Hydrogen-Rich Gary Brecka Is Floating on Air

Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 16:22:16 +0000

The penthouse at the top of the glass tower is vast, airy, and very angular.

How the Yew Tree Can Deliver Life … or Death

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 17:34:21 +0000

This article was first published in The Montreal Gazette.

The 17-year-old girl presented in the emergency room feeling nauseous and drowsy. She quickly went downhill, with her heart rate and blood pressure shooting up frighteningly and her heart’s rhythm becoming erratic. Then, cardiac arrest.

Shedding Light on Light Therapies

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 17:35:34 +0000

Without light there is no life. Literally. It was Dutch scientist Jan Ingenhousz who through a series of experiments in 1779 showed that light is required for photosynthesis, the process that makes life on earth possible by allowing plants to capture carbon dioxide from the air while simultaneously releasing the oxygen we need to breathe. Plants either directly or indirectly produce all the food we require to live.

The China Study

Joe Schwarcz PhD — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:11:07 +0000

In 2005, Colin Campbell, now Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, authored “The China Study.” The book became a best seller with its claim that the road to good health meanders through fields of vegetables and fruits with no animal in sight. A vegan diet, he claimed, is the answer to beating the diseases of western civilization, namely heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Campbell’s opinion is forged by one of the most extensive epidemiological studies ever carried out, a collaborative effort between Cornell and Oxford Universities and the Chinese government back in the 1980s.