Long term care providers recently were alerted to a new finding that trehalose, a natrually occurring sugar used as a food additive in hundreds of foods, could “fuel outbreaks” of a dangerous, sometimes life-threatening infection, Clostridium difficile (“C. diff.“).
Trehalose is extracted from corn starch and helps feed certain strains of C. diff. The additive was approved by the FDA in 2000, which matches an increase in C. diff outbreaks, researchers found.
“If a hospital or long-term nursing care facility has an outbreak of C. difficile caused by a RT027 or RT078 strain, then patients' diets should be modified to restrict trehalose consumption,” said Robert A. Britton, Ph.D., of Baylor College of Medicine. For more, read the story.
