An Apple a Day

So why do Canadians get to have all the fun these days?

Their dollar is beating our like a rented mule and they get to have interesting looking books on food that aren't available in the U.S.

Marilyn Linton, in the Toronto Sun, wrote an article on An Apple a Day, a new book by chemistry professor Joe Schwarcz.



Schwarcz does exactly what I want a scientist to do. He looks at the claims behind food and examines them for their validity. Hooray, may I say.

From apples to fish to olive oil and milk, Schwarcz examines the results of studies that claim benefit or harm. He investigates artificial sweeteners, food fortification, trans-fats and hormones in meat and weighs the results of small and large, famous and infamous studies -- all the while asking, "where is the evidence?" that backs up something's claim of providing benefit or doing harm.

Here's what's killing me. The book is only available from the Canadian version of Amazon (linked to above).

Dr. Joe apparently has written a whole bunch of other fascinating-looking books on the chemistry behind everyday life, including food-centric titles like That's the Way the Cookie Crumbles: 62 All New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life and Let Them Eat Flax!: 62 All-New Commentaries on the Science of Everyday Food & Life, neither of which are in my local library system.

Boo and hiss.

C'mon, Canada. I know we're a backward second-rate country now, but let us have some crumbs from the cookie for old times' sake.