Switching to sulfur stops deadly bacteria growth
Modified sugar prevents growth of Clostridium difficile while retaining useful properties
Switching an oxygen atom to sulfur within the sugar trehalose prevents it from being metabolised by Clostridium difficile bacteria, inhibiting their growth. Trehalose is widely used as an additive in food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, and the modified form retains many of its positive properties.
The 1,1-glycosidic link between the two glucose units that form trehalose makes it very stable. This stability allows trehalose to withstand high temperatures and harsh conditions used in food and cosmetics processing that could cause other sugars to react and break down.