# C diff and food link. Ice cream additive cause.



## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Thanks to food scientists who are always trying to work some magic. A recent study may explain why there's been an explosion in C diff infections. Rather than post this in the gut biome thread, this one merits its own post. Be on the look out for trehalose as an additive particularly if you eat store-bought ice cream. Trehalose plus C diff is nasty. Depending on the variant in your gut trehalose causes C diff to pump out more toxins.

https://arstechnica.com/science/201...ugar-that-may-have-unleashed-a-savage-plague/


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## light rain (Jan 14, 2013)

Thank you for posting this Darren. I read it quickly but will go back at a later time to thoroughly digest the data. Sorry, couldn't resist... 

Isn't it amazing when entities try to make something $$$'s cheaper to increase profit often "someone else" pays big time.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

I'm not sure what process the FDA required to approve trehalose. Based on the lethal effects of drugs that are discovered after the FDA required testing and approval, the regulatory process isn't perfect. As always, let the buyer beware. It's tough to become well enough informed to avoid the pitfalls of modern food and medicine.


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## Skamp (Apr 26, 2014)

Some fake news, “Ice cream additive cause”. 

Maybe trehalose compounds the issue, but it’s not the cause of infection.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Skamp said:


> Some fake news, “Ice cream additive cause”.
> 
> Maybe trehalose compounds the issue, but it’s not the cause of infection.


If you read the article, it explains why C diff, which didn't just pop up on the planet, suddenly turned virulent. The trehalose triggers one of the forms of C diff to release more toxins. Before tha't the body could tolerate C diff. After that, people started dying.


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## Skamp (Apr 26, 2014)

Is an ice cream additive the cause of C diff?


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Skamp said:


> Is an ice cream additive the cause of C diff?


"In the early 2000s, a deadly gut infection began to surge. *After decades of lurking in intestines and hospitals—more opportunistic nuisance than lethal threat—the bacterium Clostridium difficile abruptly exploded, spreading rapidly and causing more severe diarrheal disease than ever before. *By 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that _C. diff_ infected nearly half a million people in the US that year, killing approximately 29,000."

To answer your question, according to the study the sugar was the reason for the outbreak.


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## Skamp (Apr 26, 2014)

Darren said:


> ...........outbreak.


Nothing to do do with basic hygiene?


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## Tnff319 (May 28, 2012)

Skamp said:


> Nothing to do do with basic hygiene?


Basic hygiene plays a role in the C diff being in the gut to start with. 

The CDC has said alcohol hand gels used by a lot of people are ineffective and hand washing with soap may not remove and kill the spores. Isolation precautions including gloves and gowns are recommended but what does the general public do? 

I'm always surprised at people's immediate dismissal of information because it was dramatized. Bacterias feed off sugars so it doesn't seem far fetched that additives to ice cream could compound a problem. But I don't think we have killer ice cream either.


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## Skamp (Apr 26, 2014)

Tnff319 said:


> Basic hygiene plays a role in the C diff being in the gut to start with.
> 
> The CDC has said alcohol hand gels used by a lot of people are ineffective and hand washing with soap may not remove and kill the spores. Isolation precautions including gloves and gowns are recommended but what does the general public do?
> 
> I'm always surprised at people's immediate dismissal of information because it was dramatized. Bacterias feed off sugars so it doesn't seem far fetched that additives to ice cream could compound a problem. But I don't think we have killer ice cream either.



Lol


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## doc- (Jun 26, 2015)

Darren said:


> "In the early 2000s, a deadly gut infection began to surge. *After decades of lurking in intestines and hospitals—more opportunistic nuisance than lethal threat—the bacterium Clostridium difficile abruptly exploded, spreading rapidly and causing more severe diarrheal disease than ever before. *By 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that _C. diff_ infected nearly half a million people in the US that year, killing approximately 29,000."
> 
> To answer your question, according to the study the sugar was the reason for the outbreak.


That quote shows once again even the CDC doesn't know what it's talking about all the time. Often they come up with cr*p to justify their big govt budget.

You don't "catch" C.dif. You already have it. We all do. But it's total population in our guts is kept under control and the small amount of toxin it makes is inconsequential-- until large swathes of the other more populous bacteria are killed off by antibiotic treatment. Then the C.dif population can grow high enough to make enough toxin to cause damage to the gut lining. Nobody just suddenly develops colitis from C.dif for no reason.

While trehalose may or may not allow C.dif toxin to be produced in larger amounts, it still requires the pre-treament with antibiotics to show itself and you'd still get sick with or without the exposure to the sugar.

BTW- that pneumococcal pneumonia, "the old man's friend," that will be the mechanism of death for half of us, is already in our respiratory tracts now, also kept in check by an adequate immune system. You don't "catch" pneumonia either. It merely becomes a problem when we get old and feeble or our immune systems are overwhelmed by other problems.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

That's why the research into the gut biome holds so much promise.


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