This may be the most important finding to date on what could be triggering the current epidemic of a persistent bacterial infection known as C. diff or, as the CDC likes to call it, “deadly diarrhea.”
We’ve heard that the big rise in cases may be due to the overuse of antibiotics, as well as taking those proton pump inhibitors that reduce stomach acid.
And yes, it appears that those are very likely contributing factors.
However, what researchers out of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston have found may be the missing link behind the whopping increase in cases, especially deadly ones.
The big problem is that their discovery — a compound secretly added to all kinds of foods, beverages, and drugs — isn’t going to be that easy to avoid.
But despite that, there are still important steps you can take to keep from becoming another C. diff victim.
Fueling an epidemic
Big Pharma is racing to come up with a vaccine to prevent C. diff.
Pfizer looks to be in the lead right now, as the expected first-year earnings once its shot is approved are over $500 million. And the FDA is busy greasing its fast track for this med.
It’s a big deal for drugmakers because C. diff is hitting harder than ever before. The CDC has tallied up a half-million cases in the U.S. just over the course of one year.
And sadly, close to 30,000 of those C. diff victims (mostly seniors) died during the first month of trying to fight off this intestinal monster, whose tell-tale symptoms are acute abdominal pain and violent, watery, and bloody diarrhea that can hit up to 30 times a day.
But while Big Pharma pumps a king’s ransom into coming up with a C. diff “cure,” this new study found that the main cause looks to be coming directly from Big Food.
The Baylor researchers found that a sweetener, one that’s derived from corn starch called trehalose, not only fuels C. diff bugs, but it can also make them much more lethal. In effect, it was like giving this bacterium a speed pass to become more common and even deadlier.
Like Pac-Man, certain especially nasty varieties of C. diff (called the “epidemic strains”) were easily able to gobble up and metabolize trehalose. And in studies with mice, researchers found that when they added trehalose to the rodents’ diets, more of them died from C. diff infections.
And it only took “low concentrations” of the sweetener to have that effect.
The other part to this puzzle, the researchers say, is the timing. The explosion in C. diff infections just so happens to have coincided with the much more extensive use of trehalose.
Prior to 2000, the sweetener was very expensive to manufacture, so not much was used. Then, Japanese scientists discovered a way to make it out of corn starch (very similar to how HFCS was “discovered” in Japan) on the cheap, and eureka! Trehalose is now in practically everything.
Here’s an example that comes straight off the website of Cargill, one of the companies that manufactures it: Treha (its brand name) is an “ideal ingredient” for your “latest product,” as well as “adding new life to existing food and beverage brands” such as nutritional drinks and other common items.
It then goes on to list a wide range of foods to which it’s added, from baked goods to drinks to frozen foods to fruit!
And get this! Last summer, it was announced that due to some kind of production “improvement,” food manufacturers can now call trehalose a “natural flavor” on food and drink labels.
So, forget about reading labels to dodge this substance. We really don’t have any idea what products it may be concealed in.
But you didn’t think that was all, now did you?
Because trehalose is also used as a stabilizer in a whole bunch of drugs!
One, called Rituxan, is given to cancer patients. Cancer patients, can you believe it? That’s just what they need — something to make this killer bacteria even more deadly.
And don’t even ask where the FDA is in all this. Trehalose has already been declared “safe” by an industry front group called the Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association, so it’s a done deal.
Look, I wish I could give you an easy way to avoid it, but I can’t.
The best we can all do right now is keep our gut bacteria in good shape by taking quality probiotics that include S. boulardii, eating as few processed foods as possible, and trying our best to avoid anything with “natural flavors” added.
We’re going to have to be as careful as we possibly can to keep this stealth additive from wreaking havoc on our health.
Along with that, staying off of those PPI acid reducers and unnecessary antibiotics will also help you to steer clear of this disastrous and potentially deadly infection. You also need to do your best to stay out of the hospital, where it’s become almost epidemic.
It’s quite clear that cases of C. diff are “soaring,” particularly recurring ones where people think they’ve finally been cured, only to find it boomerang back again.
And if eliminating this additive can give you an edge in avoiding this devastating bug, it’s well worth making the effort.
“A popular sugar additive may have fueled the spread of not one but two superbugs” Amina Khan, January 3, 2018, Los Angeles Times, latimes.com
