Thanksgiving is a time for most people to give thanks for family and friends, eat pecan pie, and wat
Thanksgiving is a time for most people to give thanks for family and friends, eat pecan pie, and watch football.For all of us here at The Yuck Factor, it’s also a time to scour the web for the most interesting microbe info about the holiday–– and it turns out there’s a lot to learn!Researchers recently compared the DNA of sweet potatoes from all over the world, and they found that the same cultivated potatoes in your sweet potato casserole are a naturally occurring transgenic food crop! “It appears that a type of bacteria similar to the kind used by modern scientists to create many GMOs found its way naturally to cultivated sweet potatoes many generations ago and modified its DNA.” Sweet potatoes: the original GMO? Check out their extensive study here. Speaking of modified foods, some scientists from the University of Illinois are working to create a red wine that has all the benefits that have been proven in other studies—such as preventing blood vessel damage and clots, and reducing cholesterol—without the risk of a hangover from the toxins in wine. This product would surely be well-appreciated at many Thanksgiving shindigs. Their wine is a long way from hitting shelves, but you can read about their study here.For those who are big fans of turkey at Thanksgiving, we have good news–– the meat naturally contains a unique kind of good bacteria that can actually act as an antibiotic, helping heal ailments ranging from strep throat to gastrointestinal disease. Learn more about how this happens here.A team of scientists at the University of Minnesota is studying the turkey’s microbiome in an effort to create healthy turkeys without using foreign antibiotics in the birds. If the Turkey Microbome Project is successful, we could be eating antibiotic-free turkey for Thanksgiving in a few years! Learn about their mission here.You might be interested to know that the gut bacteria diligently digesting your mashed potatoes is probably very similar to your family members’, including some bacteria that predict hereditary disease and obesity. Scientists at Kings College London discovered a link between DNA and gut bacteria through a study of twins. See how they did it here.Reblog this post to add your own favorite Thanksgiving microbio facts and news! Happy Thanksgiving from The Yuck Factor! -- source link
#science#thanskgiving#microbiology#turkey#microbiome#sweet potatoes#genetics#red wine#gut microbiome#bacteria#antibiotic