An apple a day

The cold season is nothing to sneeze at, but heres something that might help: researchers say some apples might do a better job of keeping the doctor away than others. Red Delicious, Northern Spy and Ida Red, pack a greater wallop of disease-fighting antioxidants than other apples studied, reports a Canadian study in the ACS Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Researcher: Rong Tsao, Ph.D., Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, (519) 780-8062, caor@agr.gc.ca

Corking good time for holiday dinners

With bottles of wine poised to be opened for a variety of holiday dinners, controversy is swirling over what you use to keep the reds and whites in the bottles: natural or synthetic corks or screw tops. There are some problems with all three, experts reported at this summers national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C. There is a risk of cork taint, which gives the wine an undesirable flavor when cork is used to produce better aging. You might also have to sacrifice the ambiance of popping a cork to lessen the chances of the wine not having the best possible flavor.

Researcher: Sara J. Risch, Ph.D., School of Packaging, Michigan State University and councilor, ACS Agricultural and Food Chemistry Division, (517) 355- 9117, sjrisch@msu.edu.

The holiday season and toys from all the ages

The American Chemical Society, on its Web site, chemistry.org, under Celebrating Chemistry
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Contact: Michael Bernstein
m_bernstein@acs.org
202-872-4400
American Chemical Society
1-Nov-2005