Ingredients of our daily diet—including caffeine—can influence the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. This has been shown in a new study by a team of researchers at the Universities of Tübingen and Würzburg led by Professor Ana Rita Brochado. They discovered that bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli) orchestrate complex regulatory cascades to react to chemical stimuli from their direct environment, which can influence the effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs.