A deadly gut infection may come down to a sugar in ice cream

Study: Dietary trehalose enhances virulence of epidemic Clostridium difficile<p>Citation: J. Collins, C. Robinson, H. Danhof, C. W. Knetsch, H. C. van Leeuwen, T. D. Lawley, J. M. Auchtung &amp; R. A. Britton. Nature 2018-01-03 online.<p>Link: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;nature25178" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;articles&#x2F;nature25178</a><p>DOI: 10.1038&#x2F;nature25178<p>Abstract: Clostridium difficile disease has recently increased to become a dominant nosocomial pathogen in North America and Europe, although little is known about what has driven this emergence. Here we show that two epidemic ribotypes (RT027 and RT078) have acquired unique mechanisms to metabolize low concentrations of the disaccharide trehalose. RT027 strains contain a single point mutation in the trehalose repressor that increases the sensitivity of this ribotype to trehalose by more than 500-fold. Furthermore, dietary trehalose increases the virulence of a RT027 strain in a mouse model of infection. RT078 strains acquired a cluster of four genes involved in trehalose metabolism, including a PTS permease that is both necessary and sufficient for growth on low concentrations of trehalose. We propose that the implementation of trehalose as a food additive into the human diet, shortly before the emergence of these two epidemic lineages, helped select for their emergence and contributed to hypervirulence.

Don&#x27;t overlook that first paragraph, fluoroquinolones are some of the most dangerous antibiotics available, but prescribed for common infections (which they shouldn&#x27;t be). Fluoroquinolones kill most human gut bacteria (irreversibly) <i>except</i> c.diff, leading to overgrowth.

A missing piece of information is that trehalose is a rather new additive. It was very expensive to manufacture until about 20 years ago when a new cheaper process to make it was found. And voilà, because it appears safe and is somewhat useful, it starts showing up in all sorts of products without any labeling indication. And the fallout is just now being noticed. One of the commenters used the phrase &quot;food science&quot; ... hah! We&#x27;re the guinea pigs!

I notice they had to add the bacteria to the mice to do the test. I wonder if some of the instances when drugs work on mice but not in human trials are due to the different gut bacteria at work?

Just goes to show how little the FDA can even imagine to protect us against.

WOW!<p>I had c. diff (it sucked, a lot) and this really fills in some gaps for me. Before my gut was destroyed by c. diff, I used to eat more ice cream, no doubt containing this sugar. Obviously I can&#x27;t say for certain, but I can see how this helped the pathogen gain a hold in my gut.

So am I right to summarize that because of the type of sugar used which allows the ice cream to stay solid at a higher temperature, it was easier to have the deadly bacteria thrive on the type of sugar used?

We sure are guinea pigs. Maybe this kind of shit caused my thyroid autoimmune disease.