Beer, beans and seafood: Wastewater exposes hidden maps of community diets

MedicalXpress | 七月 21, 2026

A new study suggests what's flushed down the drain can offer a real-time snapshot of what communities are eating. Researchers at Duke University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed tiny fragments of plant and animal DNA from wastewater samples from 19 North Carolina communities representing 2.1 million people to reveal how economics, immigration and geography influence what's on our plates.