Comments for Roger Hyam http://www.hyam.net/blog Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:49:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 Comment on John Simpson: Not Quite Arrogant by Bodhipaksa http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/226#comment-57 Bodhipaksa Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:42:33 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=226#comment-57 I remember back in the days of leaded petrol talking to a social worker about the fact that she drove seven miles to Easterhouse each day to work with children with self-control issues -- many of whom probably suffered those problems because they lived close to the motorway she drove along each day, pumping out lead on her way to help children who who had self-control issues because... At the risk of seeming self-righteous, I also worked in Easterhouse but cycled. I remember back in the days of leaded petrol talking to a social worker about the fact that she drove seven miles to Easterhouse each day to work with children with self-control issues — many of whom probably suffered those problems because they lived close to the motorway she drove along each day, pumping out lead on her way to help children who who had self-control issues because…

At the risk of seeming self-righteous, I also worked in Easterhouse but cycled.

]]> Comment on Bitter taste after eating for days - caused by pine nuts? by Max http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60#comment-52 Max Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:03:31 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=60#comment-52 WOW-These messages were a God send. I ate a handful of pines from Safeway for the first time in a long time. I now have bitter taste in my mouth especually after coffee. Thanks for all the information. It all makes sense. Who needs a doctor :) WOW-These messages were a God send. I ate a handful of pines from Safeway for the first time in a long time. I now have bitter
taste in my mouth especually after coffee. Thanks for all the information. It all makes sense. Who needs a doctor :)

]]> Comment on Bitter taste after eating for days - caused by pine nuts? by Ali8 http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60#comment-47 Ali8 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:54:28 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=60#comment-47 I bought some pinenuts from Sprouts and was eating them on Saturday while I was cooking. Sure enough the last few days I have been tasting an awful bitter burning taste in the back of my mouth. My daughter in law came by for lunch today and after eating a cheese sandwich, she said the same thing....that she had a bitter aftertaste and yes everything taste Nasty.....YUCK! I was wondering if China is trying to poison us with Pine nuts? What good is the FDA if they cannot regulate imported food to be sure it's safe for Human and Pet consumption? I am getting very upset by this! I bought some pinenuts from Sprouts and was eating them on Saturday while I was cooking. Sure enough the last few days I have been tasting an awful bitter burning taste in the back of my mouth. My daughter in law came by for lunch today and after eating a cheese sandwich, she said the same thing….that she had a bitter aftertaste and yes everything taste Nasty…..YUCK! I was wondering if China is trying to poison us with Pine nuts? What good is the FDA if they cannot regulate imported food to be sure it’s safe for Human and Pet consumption? I am getting very upset by this!

]]> Comment on Bitter taste after eating for days - caused by pine nuts? by Hanaa http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60#comment-46 Hanaa Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:44:46 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=60#comment-46 Thank you for this!!! This is the second time I suffer from this bitter metallic taste in my mouth after eating... When I got it last year, my doctor told me it was an infection and gave me some anti-nausea medication. (The bitter taste left only 3-4 days later, so I couldn't really tell if it was the medicine that made it really go away). This time, I decided to google it and you are so right!!! I ate a salad (at a restaurant) 2 evenings ago that had a handful of pine seeds... And the bitter taste started yesterday noon. What a relief to know this! I was starting to get worried about a recurring infection... Thanks again! Thank you for this!!! This is the second time I suffer from this bitter metallic taste in my mouth after eating… When I got it last year, my doctor told me it was an infection and gave me some anti-nausea medication. (The bitter taste left only 3-4 days later, so I couldn’t really tell if it was the medicine that made it really go away). This time, I decided to google it and you are so right!!! I ate a salad (at a restaurant) 2 evenings ago that had a handful of pine seeds… And the bitter taste started yesterday noon.
What a relief to know this! I was starting to get worried about a recurring infection…

Thanks again!

]]> Comment on Bitter taste after eating for days - caused by pine nuts? by Debbie http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60#comment-45 Debbie Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:54:41 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=60#comment-45 Thank you for letting me know I am not crazy or worse yet suffering from some deadly disease. This week I have been munching on a small bag of pinenuts and also have a slight chest cold. I thought maybe the chest cold was really some kind of infection due to the taste of in my mouth each time I ate anything.After googling and finding this info. I looked on the package and they are from China. The nuts are now in the garbage. Thanks again for the heads up. Thank you for letting me know I am not crazy or worse yet suffering from some deadly disease. This week I have been munching on a small bag of pinenuts and also have a slight chest cold. I thought maybe the chest cold was really some kind of infection due to the taste of in my mouth each time I ate anything.After googling and finding this info. I looked on the package and they are from China. The nuts are now in the garbage. Thanks again for the heads up.

]]> Comment on Nuts sent off by Tim http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/80#comment-44 Tim Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:44:36 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=80#comment-44 "To anyone else this must be horrendous!" - actually it is quite amusing reading mate! “To anyone else this must be horrendous!” - actually it is quite amusing reading mate!

]]> Comment on Bitter taste after eating for days - caused by pine nuts? by RogerHyam http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60#comment-43 RogerHyam Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:23:55 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=60#comment-43 I have had two replies from Alison at Julian Graves. Firstly she says: "The pinenuts are from China although specific variety varies from region to region. The pinenuts are graded on the size, to do this they use different sieves to determine if it is classed as a normal pinenut or a baby pinenut." I find it fascinating that we don't know the species that the nuts come from but I guess this is the case for many foods we it. Just another lesson in biodiversity. Alison sent a sample of the nuts I had eaten off for analysis and the technical report said: "Thank you for your recent comments with regard to the after taste you have associated with pine nuts. We have had experience of sporadic complaints with regard taste and pine nuts. Unfortunately there has been no commonality to enable us to full identify why some people are experiencing this taste as it appears not to be batch related. We have carried out analysis and enquired with an independent food association we are members of, and no one can give a definite reason for the taste. It has been suggested that pine nuts can carry a natural chemical which only a small number of the population can taste and is only present under certain growing conditions or when the pine nuts have been cooked or eaten with another food." This is as I suspect. My wife ate these nuts as well and didn't suffer any ill effect. It could be the variety of nut or some other factor but it doesn't happen often enough to find a pattern. Possibly it is only the internet (and Google) that lets us discover these things. I have been eating regular pinenuts again without any problem so maybe I'll just wait and see if it happens again. From the point of view of eating pinenuts to put you off eating other foods this sounds like it would be pretty unpleasant. The taste really is bad and you get it after eating most foods it just seems worse after refined carbohydrate (in my experience). Because the effect isn't predictable and may be genetic it would be difficult to isolate. If, however, you isolate a compound that could be turned into a functioning appetite suppressant then I claim my share of the proceeds! I have had two replies from Alison at Julian Graves. Firstly she says:

“The pinenuts are from China although specific variety varies from region to region. The pinenuts are graded on the size, to do this they use different sieves to determine if it is classed as a normal pinenut or a baby pinenut.”

I find it fascinating that we don’t know the species that the nuts come from but I guess this is the case for many foods we it. Just another lesson in biodiversity. Alison sent a sample of the nuts I had eaten off for analysis and the technical report said:

“Thank you for your recent comments with regard to the after taste you have associated with pine nuts. We have had experience of sporadic complaints with regard taste and pine nuts. Unfortunately there has been no commonality to enable us to full identify why some people are experiencing this taste as it appears not to be batch related. We have carried out analysis and enquired with an independent food association we are members of, and no one can give a definite reason for the taste. It has been suggested that pine nuts can carry a natural chemical which only a small number of the population can taste and is only present under certain growing conditions or when the pine nuts have been cooked or eaten with another food.”

This is as I suspect. My wife ate these nuts as well and didn’t suffer any ill effect. It could be the variety of nut or some other factor but it doesn’t happen often enough to find a pattern. Possibly it is only the internet (and Google) that lets us discover these things. I have been eating regular pinenuts again without any problem so maybe I’ll just wait and see if it happens again.

From the point of view of eating pinenuts to put you off eating other foods this sounds like it would be pretty unpleasant. The taste really is bad and you get it after eating most foods it just seems worse after refined carbohydrate (in my experience). Because the effect isn’t predictable and may be genetic it would be difficult to isolate. If, however, you isolate a compound that could be turned into a functioning appetite suppressant then I claim my share of the proceeds!

]]> Comment on Bitter taste after eating for days - caused by pine nuts? by TPRJones http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60#comment-42 TPRJones Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:34:40 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=60#comment-42 If I may ask, how would you describe the sensation? Was it incredibly unpleasent or merely somewhat disconcerting? I have a nearly uncontrolable sweet tooth, and I'm wondering if snacking on these nuts from time to time might help me bring that under control to some degree and perhaps lose some weight. If everything tastes bitter for a few days, I'm unlikely to do as much snacking. Your opinion, given your experience of this? If I may ask, how would you describe the sensation? Was it incredibly unpleasent or merely somewhat disconcerting?

I have a nearly uncontrolable sweet tooth, and I’m wondering if snacking on these nuts from time to time might help me bring that under control to some degree and perhaps lose some weight. If everything tastes bitter for a few days, I’m unlikely to do as much snacking.

Your opinion, given your experience of this?

]]> Comment on Herbarium Digitisation: Is 600dpi Evil? by Kehan http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/108#comment-41 Kehan Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:59:13 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=108#comment-41 I believe the 600dpi rule of thumb may have come out of the common herbarium practice of using cibachrome images of specimens should the original not be available (eg <a href="http://biocol.org/urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:15867" rel="nofollow">K</a> borrowed types of Aus bus L. from <a href="http://biocol.org/urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:15670" rel="nofollow">E</a>), and these have been accepted by taxonomists as reasonable surrogates that you can observe through a handlens/dissecting microscope and apparently (no source) cibachrome resolution is approximately 600 DPI which lead to the decision that this is the minimum required resolution. I do however agree with you that the efficiency of using scanners for this work is certainly questionable with the high speed sooper dooper digital slrs out today (and maybe the argument will be moot next year when DSLRs may well be able to take effectively >600dpi images). I believe the 600dpi rule of thumb may have come out of the common herbarium practice of using cibachrome images of specimens should the original not be available (eg K borrowed types of Aus bus L. from E), and these have been accepted by taxonomists as reasonable surrogates that you can observe through a handlens/dissecting microscope and apparently (no source) cibachrome resolution is approximately 600 DPI which lead to the decision that this is the minimum required resolution. I do however agree with you that the efficiency of using scanners for this work is certainly questionable with the high speed sooper dooper digital slrs out today (and maybe the argument will be moot next year when DSLRs may well be able to take effectively >600dpi images).

]]> Comment on Bitter taste after eating for days - caused by pine nuts? by Clare Tilden http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60#comment-38 Clare Tilden Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:26:40 +0000 http://www.hyam.net/blog/?p=60#comment-38 Hi Roger I have also just gone through what you have - ate pine nuts (baby ones from Julian Graves) on Sat night and now have a constant bitter taste in my mouth and can't taste the food I prepare for my 8 month old baby! I am going to contact the people I had over for dinner(!) to see if they are experiencing the same as me and I am also going to contact Julian Graves! I also did think I had something nasty and made a doctors apt then googled it and couldn't believe what I was reading! Hi Roger

I have also just gone through what you have - ate pine nuts (baby ones from Julian Graves) on Sat night and now have a constant bitter taste in my mouth and can’t taste the food I prepare for my 8 month old baby! I am going to contact the people I had over for dinner(!) to see if they are experiencing the same as me and I am also going to contact Julian Graves! I also did think I had something nasty and made a doctors apt then googled it and couldn’t believe what I was reading!

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