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Study suggests sugar alternative contributing to C. diff epidemic

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31–36 of 36 posts

Re: Study suggests sugar alternative contributing to C. diff epidemic

#31
post #12

>..it might surprise you to learn that, over the past 15 years or so, some makers of ice cream and many other processed foods—from pasta to ground beef products—have changed their recipes to swap out some of the table sugar (sucrose) with a sweetening/texturizing ingredient called trehalose that depresses the freezing point of food. How the hell is the food industry not regulated more strictly. FDA spending on regula…

It's in the ingredients list...it is regulated. You just aren't looking.

[deleted]

Re: Study suggests sugar alternative contributing to C. diff epidemic

#32

Some day, I'm confident our current practices related to food and nutrition will be looked back upon with horror and dismay. The lack of decent regulation, the lack of understanding of basic nutrition, the desire to somehow improve upon the foods that nature intended, all will be seen as the disasters they likely are. Our chemically created foods are likely killing us in a variety of ways we are only just now beginni…

Sure, there are lots of foods that are legal but unhealthy but you don't have to eat them. It doesn't take much to get informed about the basics of nutrition. The broad goal of FDA regulations is not really to prevent you from eating unhealthily but rather to prevent eggs, milk, meat and produce from making you sick. In that respect the food industry and FDA regulations have been spectacularly successful. Any nostalg…

Unfortunately, the FDA isn't that rigorous about what can be hidden behind words like "natural flavours". Many are innocuous (e.g. coconut extract). Trehalose is one of them.

Re: Study suggests sugar alternative contributing to C. diff epidemic

#33
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You take the good with the bad, is I guess all I'm saying.

But why? How about intelligently assessing the situation and doing away with The Bad?

By invoking the naturalist fallacy ("as nature intended"), I read the original comment on this thread as suggesting we throw the good away with the bad. My point is: that would be a bad trade. The pre-modern food supply was far more dangerous than the one we have now.

Re: Study suggests sugar alternative contributing to C. diff epidemic

#34
post #3

Ice cream probably isn't the best option anyway if you have diarrhea. Generally it's best to eat a lot of the types of food that feed the good bacteria, such as vegetables, whole grains, etc.

In several hospital patients I have known, they give Ice cream due to the calorie density. So, it has it's uses. Note that this is already linked to sick and elderly patients, so it's ease of eating is also important.

I've had ice cream in hospital myself, but my point is that it isn't recommended for patients recovering from diarrhea due to the lactose and fat, both of which can cause problems.

https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/cdiff-diet#...

Re: Study suggests sugar alternative contributing to C. diff epidemic

#35
Trehalose is a natural sugar with two glucose, similar to maltose but with different linkage. Some people who have fructose metabolism issues like it for that reason. It doesn't seem to be too widely available on its own, but Swanson Vitamins sells it in small containers and it tastes great IMO. Rice syrup is mostly maltose.

All c. difficle can metabolize trehalose, but the two strains in question have different adaptations that allow them to metabolize it when present in lower quantities.

If this is confirmed, I'm guessing that the implication is less about avoiding trehalose normally but avoiding larger quantities when taking antibiotics. Maybe people on anbitiotics will also be given trehalase enzymes to take with meals. In general, taking a wide varity of digestive enzymes and avoiding prebiotics and excess sugar when on antibiotics might be a good idea to limit the energy available to resistant bacteria in the colon (or maybe not, it looks like there is some evidence that taking some forms of sugar with antibiotics improves the effectiveness of the antibiotics in some cases).

It is a seperate consideration if this is contributing to the overall increase of c. difficle or if it is just determining which strains are more common.

Expect to see a lot more "food X causes undesirable microbiome effect Y" research in the future as more of this kind of research takes place.

Re: Study suggests sugar alternative contributing to C. diff epidemic

#36
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why? How about intelligently assessing the situation and doing away with The Bad?

By invoking the naturalist fallacy ("as nature intended"), I read the original comment on this thread as suggesting we throw the good away with the bad. My point is: that would be a bad trade. The pre-modern food supply was far more dangerous than the one we have now.

That's not the naturalist[ic] fallacy, but an appeal to nature. But you're right.
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