The Germs That Love Diet Soda
I thought this article from the New York Times was great and wanted to share. As someone with Crohn's Disease gut-health is something that is always on my mind and also something I pay attention to in the media. I've pulled some highlights out below.
By Moises Velasquez-Manoff
"Our sugary, greasy diet diverges so much from the diet humans evolved eating... that the microbes of westernized populations may no longer mesh well with the human body."
"There are lots of reasons to avoid processed foods. They’re often packed with sugar, fat and salt, and they tend to lack certain nutrients critical to health, like fiber. And now, new research suggests that some of the additives that extend the shelf life and improve the texture of these foods may have unintended side effects — not on our bodies directly, but on the human microbiome, the trillions of bacteria living in our guts. These substances may selectively feed the more dangerous members of our microbial communities, causing illness and even death."
"Two of the most problematic C. diff strains have a unique ability to utilize a sugar called trehalose. Trehalose occurs naturally in mushrooms, yeasts and shellfish, among other things. It has historically been expensive to use, but in the late 1990s a new manufacturing process made the sugar cheap. That was good news for companies that manufactured prepackaged foods, because trehalose works great for stabilizing processed foods, keeping them moist on the shelf and improving texture. Since about 2001, we’ve added loads of it to everything from cookies to ground beef."
"...the Food and Drug Administration isn’t organized to address diseases that might stem from long-term tweaking of our microbes and the chronic inflammation that ensues."
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