Science Friday: Honey is a mycotoxin inhibitor | Strong intestinal barrier prevents cancer? | U.S. Ag. policies = obese kids

I think this is probably a good video for those of us who aren't doctors or medical researchers to understand what pre and probiotics are

Effect of dietary honey on intestinal microflora and toxicity of mycotoxins in mice

Substituting sugars with honey in processed food can inhibit the harmful and genotoxic effects of mycotoxins, and improve the gut microflora.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1431562/

Stronger intestinal barrier may prevent cancer in the rest of the body, new study suggests

PHILADELPHIA— A leaky gut may be the root of some cancers forming in the rest of the body, a new study published online Feb. 21 in PLoS ONE by Thomas Jefferson University researchers suggests.

It appears that the hormone receptor guanylyl cyclase C (GC-C)—a previously identified tumor suppressor that exists in the intestinal tract—plays a key role in strengthening the body's intestinal barrier, which helps separate the gut world from the rest of the body, and possibly keeps cancer at bay. Without the receptor, that barrier weakens.

A team led by Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Jefferson and director of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Program at Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center, discovered in a pre-clinical study that silencing GC-C in mice compromised the integrity of the intestinal barrier. It allowed inflammation to occur and cancer-causing agents to seep out into the body, damaging DNA and forming cancer outside the intestine, including in the liver, lung and lymph nodes.

Conversely, stimulating GC-C in intestines in mice strengthened the intestinal barrier opposing these pathological changes.

[...]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/tju-si021712.php

How U.S. agriculture policies contribute to childhood obesity

By Susan Perry | 03/15/10

Talk about throwing down a gauntlet.

In the March [2010] issue of Health Affairs, editor Susan Dentzer charges that “America is guilty of child abuse” for allowing almost one in three of its children to become either overweight or obese.

One of the causes of this obesity epidemic, she notes, is a U.S. agricultural policy “that has spurred production of cheap sugars and refined grains while doing little to encourage production of fruit and vegetables.”

The connection between our “cheap food” policy and our children’s alarming weight gain is explained in the current issue of Health Affairs by David Wallinga, MD, director of the Food and Health Program at the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. I spoke with him on the topic last week.

[...]

http://www.minnpost.com/second-opinion/2010/03/how-us-agriculture-policies-contribute-childhood-obesity