An Apple A Day: The Myths, Misconceptions and Truths About the Food We Eat by Schwarcz, Joseph (2010) Paperback - Softcover

Schwarcz, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1851687262 ISBN 13: 9781851687268

Publisher: One World, 2010

Synopsis

The media is full of advice about what we should eat and warnings about what we shouldn't. Sometimes the same food makes it onto both lists. What should you believe - and how much of what you hear can you trust? In "An Apple a Day", bestselling author and chemistry professor, Joseph Schwarcz dispels the confusion and applies his knowledge of food chemistry to today's top food trends. With a healthy dose of humour, he also looks at the real science behind losing weight and cuts through the misconceptions that surround many popular fad diets.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr Joseph Schwarcz is director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society, Canada. He is the only non-American to win the American Chemical Society's prestigious Grady-Stack Award. Schwarcz is the author of six books and regularly appears on television and radio. He is a columnist for The Gazette (Montreal). Dr Joseph Schwarcz is director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society, Canada. He is the only non-American to win the American Chemical Society's prestigious Grady-Stack Award. Schwarcz is the author of six books and regularly appears on television and radio. He is a columnist for the Canadian newspaper The Gazette.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Is there a better subject with which to begin a discussion of the relationship between food and health than apples? After all, doesn’t “an apple a day keep the doctor away”? Maybe it does, if you throw it at her! There are no single foods that have magical health properties. There are good diets and there are bad diets. It is certainly possible to have a good diet and never eat apples, just as it is possible to gorge on apples and have a horrible diet. What really matters in terms of nutrition is the net effect produced by all of the chemicals that wend their way into our bodies from the food we eat. Yes, chemicals. I can practically see those eyebrows being raised. It may seem unusual to see the word “chemical” without an adjective like “poisonous,” in front of it. Actually, without appropriate context, “toxic chemical” is a meaningless term. . . . Everything in the world is made of chemicals, and if you restricted yourself to a diet free of chemicals, you would be dining in a vacuum! With that in mind, let’s investigate the chemicals in an apple. So tell me, would you like some nail polish remover in your diet? Or rubbing alcohol? Then have an apple! Yes, all apples contain acetone and isopropanol. And if these don’t sound toxic enough, you can throw in some cyanide. It’s there too. Added by nature, not by humans! Should you then be worried about eating apples? Of course not! The amounts of these chemicals are too small to be of any consequence. Apples, as already mentioned, contain over 300 naturally occurring compounds, and whatever effect the fruit has on our health is a reflection of all of these.

About this edition

• Publisher: One World
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1851687262
• ISBN 13: 9781851687268
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384