wine sooth

Science Conference. From www.usf.edu

The general public is not science savvy and there is some truth to the notion that there is an anti-intellectual trend in our country. Too often, this is exploited for public relations purposes and for personal gain. Still, developments and advancements need to be brought to the attention and understanding of the average American.

The wine industry and wine blogging see announcements of health benefits of wine and other wine-related “studies” published and shot across the news wires almost daily.

I have been critical of how these publications are presented, interpreted, handled and served up for public consumption. My gripes have been that this is often done in a sensationalistic manner, with disregard for all sides and implications of an issue and with a sucking void where critical thinking should be. (more…)

(Introducing: Wine Surveys) 

Wine Surveys logo.

Depending who you ask, the incidence of TCA tainted wines is somewhere in the 3% to 10% range.

Remy Charest started a discussion at OWC to explore this very topic. Several members brought some opinionated perspectives to the table and at one point, wine maker Nathan R. Carlson proposed that we conduct an on-going poll or survey to get a real-world sense of the incidence of TCA taint.

Serendipitously, I had created Wine Surveys just a few days earlier, intending it index wine-related surveys. (more…)

Scientist - by Stephen Sweny

Many years ago a study was published which found that children who had been verbally, emotionally or physically abused were likely to smoke cigarettes as adults. Forgive me for not providing a citation, but bear with me, because this study might as well be fictional, given where I’m going with this.

“Being mean and cruel to your kids turns them into cigarette smokers!” might have concluded some observers. “These kids were brats and their parents were not abusing them. They were administering tough love. These ‘bad’ kids were bound to smoke anyways.” other might have said.

It appeals to conventional American logic that stressed out kids grow up to carry those stresses into adulthood and seek solace in inhaled nicotine. But are these things really related? Can there be a causality established between those childhood experiences and adulthood nicotine addiction? (more…)

Adipose tissue.

German scientists have announced yet another finding supporting resveratrol’s role in the French Paradox. The key discovery reported here is that resveratrol is capable of reducing the number of fat cells in humans. A summary can be found here.

This made my ears perk up, because, for the most part, the number of fat cells in an individual’s body is pretty constant from puberty to death. In most instances, it is the contents of the cells and not their number that increases as we put on “padding”. There are some extreme conditions, though, when preadipocytes - the precursor cells capable of developing into mature fat cells - can be induced to change into mature fat cells. Additionally, our reserve of “on-call” preadipocytes is pretty constant, changing only under extreme circumstances. (more…)