Tag: Food
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The organic food movement
The word organic in the context of chemistry refers to a substance built around a skeleton of carbon (unlike an inorganic substance that most often has no carbon in its formula.) In the world of food, however, organic means that the produce was grown under “natural” conditions, without antibiotics, growth hormones, pesticides, fertilizers, sewage sludge,…
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Chocolate created a commotion in Chiapa cathedral
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Beware the chocolate of Chiapas.”—Mexican saying The cacao bean, the essential ingredient in chocolate, is native to Southern Mexico, Central America, and South America. There is evidence that chocolate was used in Ecuador over 5,000 years ago.1 The Aztecs produced a ceremonial drink called chocolatl. The Spanish invaders of the New World…
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Fasciola hepatica, the liver fluke of sheep and cattle
The liver flukes Fasciola hepatica and gigantica are parasitic infections that affect humans and animals—cattle, sheep, and goats—in all inhabited areas where they are raised, on all continents, and in over eighty countries. People acquire the disease by eating raw vegetables such as watercress that have been contaminated by one of thirty species of snails,…
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Tapeworm tribulations
Taenia saginata, solium, and asiatica are three related species of tapeworms, each with its own lifecycle, mode of transmission, and clinical implications. The adult tapeworms cause few symptoms, but their larvae can be more troublesome. These parasites have afflicted mankind for thousands of years, perhaps when switching from large carnivores to less dangerous hosts such…
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The doctrine of signatures
JMS PearceHull, England Many of the ideas of scientists and physicians of the past have been proved false by subsequent advances in science. But some remain of interest in showing how our ancestors thought about diseases and how limited were their facilities to analyze and treat them. Up to the end of the sixteenth century,…
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Fugu—Japanese delicacy or death?
In Japan, fugu has been a “captain of these men of death” for generations, causing an exitus that is “rapid and violent.” There is at first numbness around the mouth, then paralysis, and, as with curare, consciousness persists until the very end. The poison interferes with the transmission of signals from nerves to muscles by…
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Onions: Soup, medicine, and crocodile tears
What should well-educated persons be expected to know about onions? They have probably eaten them since childhood, or perhaps had to help their mothers in the kitchen and shed crocodile tears even though they did not feel particularly sad. If chemically inclined they might have wondered what ingredient was responsible for their tears. They may…
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Pigs as food and victims
The domestic pig descends from the wild boar. Domesticated around 7000 BC in the Near East and East Asia, it currently accounts for over 36% of the world’s meat intake. Each year in the United States alone, the average person consumes about fifty pounds of pork as bacon, ham, sausages, pork chops, ribs, and other…
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Caviar: The black gold of the Black Sea
Caviar, goose liver, and truffle are the three top delicacies consumed in the world. Caviar is probably the most delicious. It is made from the unfertilized eggs of the sturgeon, of which there are twenty-eight fish species belonging to the family Acipenseridae, and is often valued at $1,000 or more per ounce. The sturgeons’ reproduction…
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Milk adulteration
Catherine TangPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Global milk consumption has steadily increased over the past few decades, reaching an estimated 908 billion liters in 2021.1 Rich in protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, milk is considered an “ideal food” for its abundant nutrients required by both children and adults. However, milk is also one of the…