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Dancing With Gummy Bears

15 Mar 2023

No, Oprah Winfrey and Dolly Parton do not endorse CBD Gummies. Neither does David Suzuki. That may come as a surprise to customers who purchased the gummies thinking that they must deliver the...

Just say no!

22 Feb 2023

“A spoonful of sucrose helps the medicine go down,” as Mary Poppins told us. But she neglected to say that it also increases our risk of cardiovascular disease. Actually, Mary didn’t say sucrose,...

Why Is Diet Coke So Fizzy?

16 Sep 2022

Whether you’re buying ingredients for an at home “Coke and Mentos” demonstration, asking a flight attendant for a beverage, or just trying to pour a can of soda into a glass before hockey comes...

Cheerios, Honey Nut, Frosted Flakes; Which one to choose?

29 Jun 2022

Breakfast of champions. This phrase might make you think of a hearty, greasy bacon platter. Or even a martini if you’ve read the Kurt Vonnegut book with the same title. But it was first coined by...

Does honey have any value as a preservative?

26 May 2022

Yes, in a limited way. Honey is a concentrated solution of various sugars in water. The main sugars are fructose and glucose with smaller amounts of sucrose (table sugar) also present. Of course,...

The Allure of Allulose

11 Mar 2022

My first meeting with (3R,4R,5R)-1,3,4,5,6-pentahydroxyhexan-2-one, less formally known as “psicose” or “allulose,” was way back in my graduate school days. I was studying the molecular structure...

Cancer’s Sweet Tooth

17 Dec 2021

To the surprise of many, however, cancer cells are defective at producing the very fuel they need to grow and spread, but manage to overcome the innate “disability” and out-compete normal healthy...

The Sweet and Sticky Science of Sugar

3 Dec 2021

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...

A Holiday Treat - Marshmallows and Hot Chocolate

11 Dec 2020

Believe it or not, the tasty marshmallows we know are inspired by a plant, a perennial that grows up to about four feet high. Its root has a soft and spongy texture and looks like lung tissue,...

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