[dwills]

A missing piece of information is that trehalose is a rather new additive. It was very expensive to manufacture until about 20 years ago when a new cheaper process to make it was found. And voilà, because it appears safe and is somewhat useful, it starts showing up in all sorts of products without any labeling indication. And the fallout is just now being noticed. One of the commenters used the phrase "food science" ... hah! We're the guinea pigs!

[bunderbunder]

Not missing. In paragraphs 5 and 6, the article explains how, just before c. diff infections started to get more common, a new method for producing it that dropped the price by over 99% was developed.

[sjg007]

I wonder if Japan had higher c.diff rates before global use since trehalose was common there first.

[jeroen]

> With tinkering, syrup scientists at Japan’s Hayashibara chemistry company finally figured out a novel enzymatic method to make it on the cheap from starch. The method brought costs down to just $3 per kilogram. By 2000—just before the rise of C. diff.—the company got approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to use it as an additive in food. Approval for use in Europe came the following year. Manufacturers started pouring trehalose into a variety of foods, from pasta to ground beef to ice creams.

[ehnto]

We really are the guinea pigs. The supplement and sports nutrition industry can essentially mix whatever sounds good for marketing and throw it over the wall.

[defo_nonconvex]

Thank Orrin Hatch.