Tangentially related, apparently xylitol gum can reduce cavity risk by killing off bacteria (which cannot digest but cannot differentiate xylitol from regular sugar) in the mouth.
mdasen 18 minutes ago [-]
Xylitol is really cool that way. The bacteria waste energy trying to convert it to a form they can use, but they just end up with at a dead end with xylitol-5-phosphate. Once they realize that they need to get rid of it, they convert it back to xylitol (so it can cross the membrane easier and probably to keep the phosphate). Of course, that means the xylitol is back to fool some other nearby bacteria into wasting its energy.
They end up wasting their energy on work that won't help them reproduce and needing to waste more energy getting rid of it.
shevy-java 2 hours ago [-]
Sounds like an ad. "Eat this gum, it is so healthy."
stogot 2 hours ago [-]
Gum is often made of plastics so won’t be surprised if cancerous themselves
fernly 2 hours ago [-]
It says, "involving chewing gum made from lablab beans (bean gum)".
Taiwanese researchers found that a carbohydrate-binding protein (i.e. a legume lectin) from lablab beans effectively blocks the infections of influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2.[60] Researchers from Finland and USA found that extracts from chewing gum manufactured from lablab bean seeds had broad-spectrum anti-viral properties, likely due to the binding action of Flt3 Receptor Interacting Lectin (FRIL) on viruses; the anti-viral effect was similar to that of purified FRIL
jerbearito 1 hours ago [-]
Lol they didn't read the article.
dyauspitr 1 hours ago [-]
Hunh I always assumed it was just some kind of modified natural rubber but it’s literally plastic (PVAc, PIB) that release microplastics into the saliva.
Rendered at 02:09:03 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
They end up wasting their energy on work that won't help them reproduce and needing to waste more energy getting rid of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lablab --
Taiwanese researchers found that a carbohydrate-binding protein (i.e. a legume lectin) from lablab beans effectively blocks the infections of influenza viruses and SARS-CoV-2.[60] Researchers from Finland and USA found that extracts from chewing gum manufactured from lablab bean seeds had broad-spectrum anti-viral properties, likely due to the binding action of Flt3 Receptor Interacting Lectin (FRIL) on viruses; the anti-viral effect was similar to that of purified FRIL