The pathogen C. diff — the most common cause of health care-associated infectious diarrhea — can use a compound that kills the human gut’s resident microbes to survive and grow, giving it a competitive advantage in the infected gut. 

A team led by investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has discovered how C. diff (Clostridioides difficile) converts the poisonous compound 4-thiouracil, which could come from foods like broccoli, into a usable nutrient. Their findings, published March 25 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, increase understanding of the molecular drivers of C. diff infection and point to novel therapeutic strategies.

Food fraud occurs when products that do not meet consumer expectations reach the market and, in extreme cases, this can lead to health problems. To combat this misleading and critical practice in the food sector, a team from the University of Barcelona has published new studies presenting technologies to verify the geographical origin of two food products: virgin olive oil — emblematic of the Mediterranean diet — and pine nuts, the most expensive nuts on the market.

BUFFALO, NY - March 25, 2025 – A new review was published in Oncotarget, Volume 16, on March 13, 2025, titled “Signaling pathway dysregulation in breast cancer."

New research suggests that when hungry, people focus more on the tastiness of food and tend to ignore nutritional information, which may contribute to poor dietary decisions.

BUFFALO, NY — March 25, 2025 — A new research paper was published in Aging (Aging-US) on January 31, 2025, in Volume 17, Issue 2, titled “Cysteinyl leukotriene receptor 1 modulates retinal immune cells, vascularity and proteolytic activity in aged mice.”

A team from the Monell Chemical Senses Center and Rutgers University have published a study in the British Journal of Pharmacology that indicates anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen could be another way to reduce the risk of metabolic diseases by inhibiting the sweet taste receptor throughout the body.