Garlic Dietary “Spokesperson” Allicin Speaks Out

Food, Health
[caption id="attachment_26504" align="alignright" width="480"] Basket of Garlic Bulbs[/caption]Garlic is considered by the majority as a healthful food. By nearly every person, it is recognized for its pungent, odor. Most will humbly admit the odor is disagreeable. Garlic Question Since the odor of a clove of garlic is pretty nearly non-existent, it must be wondered: Why does garlic produce so noticeable an odor when it is crushed? It is because the odor is produced by a chemical reaction, the combining of two substances within the garlic. The Two Substances The two substances are alliin and alliinase. Whenever the suffix part of a compound name ends in -ase, suspect an enzyme. Perhaps you've heard of laundry detergents that are said to be "enzyme cleaners". What is an enzyme? An enzyme is a…
Read More

BHA and BHT in Your Food – What are They?

Food
[caption id="attachment_17284" align="alignright" width="440"] Ever feel like you're a Guinea Pig?[/caption] You enjoy good food when you can prepare it, but sometimes you must settle for store-bought. The box that comes in contains a huge list of ingredients in super small print. Most of them don’t sound like something you'd put in food! Among these are two items written as acronyms, only—BHA and BHT. BHA and BHT? What are they? BHA BHA stands for butylated hydroxyanisole. Now you know that’s not food. Butylated hydroxyanisole is actually a mixture of two chemicals. One is 2-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole. The other is 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole. Its structures are seen at left. It is an antioxidant. Yet, it is not so much an eating kind of antioxidant, but in the preservative sense. It may be either added to…
Read More