Researchers are now raising the possibility of deliberately exposing new-born children to a cocktail of microbes to give their immune systems the cancer-fighting abilities once acquired from grubby housing conditions.
Studies of broad-leaf vegetables like lettuce have shown that when attacked by plant viruses, they fight back using compounds called salicylates. Related to aspirin, these compounds are thought to be natural anti-cancer agents. Vegetables grown under strictly controlled conditions - as they are for supermarkets - are however protected from the infections that trigger the release of these compounds.
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