More dangers of processed foods - Trehalose

Trehalose is a "natural" sugar that is found extensively, but not abundantly, in nature. Certain mushrooms and other products that seem to resist dehydration and spoiling use it as a sugar replacement.

It is not an artificial sweetener, but actually a sugar replacement that extends the shelf life of processed foods that contain it. Until about 2000 it was very expensive to extract, but processes have been developed that allow it to be obtained inexpensively. The FDA has allowed manufacturers to add it to processed foods.

And as often is the case, our attempts to change the natural way of things has unintended consequences. In this case, researchers have found that the presence of trehalose has caused the emergence of two previously rare types of C. difficile bacteria as epidemic virulent strains of potentially fatal diarrhea. These strains genetically grow better with Trehalose.

Nature 2018 Jan 18

This bacteria is notoriously difficult to cure and spreads rapidly, especially among sick patients. These newer strains are even worse.

The simple thing to do is, once again, to avoid those processed foods! Hopefully this product will be go the way of other poisonous additives soon.

Spreading the Flu by Breathing

This years's flu virus is more virulent than previous years, and there have been a higher than usual number of deaths. But do you need to be exposed to a cough or sneeze to catch it?

Flu is spread by the inhalation of viral particles from someone who has the flu. But not everyone gets terribly sick, and it can even manifest as a mild upper respiratory illness in some people. Why others get critically ill still has not been determined.

Researchers decided to see if simply being near someone who has the flu can be dangerous. In a recent publication, http://m.pnas.org/content/early/2018/01/17/1716561115.full, they found that there was live flu virus, suspended in tiny water droplets, present when an infected person simply breathes; not necessarily coughs or sneezes!

In addition, vaccinated persons were MORE likely to have infectious particles; possibly because they were less ill!

Sometimes you can't avoid exposure. The current vaccine is not as effective as we would like (20-30%) but even if you do catch the flu you are less likely to get severely ill. And the vaccine does not cause you to get sick - it contains no live particles!

So get the vaccine, and wear a mask near someone who has the flu (and they should too) for at least 3-5 days!

Even One Cigarette is Toxic!

In a recent study, BMJ 2018;360:j5855 researchers examined the association between smoking and heart disease or stroke in millions of generally healthy people (using 141 studies).

They found that even one a day caused 50% of the risk of smoking a pack, or 20 cigarettes a day! This was after accounting for other risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol.

Apparently tobacco is toxic even in very small doses!