Fiber Activates A Cell To Fight Cancer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Dietary fiber activates not one, but two molecular actions that can stave off cancer, U.S. researchers said. The study, published in Cancer Research, found fiber-eating bacteria in the colon produce a metabolite -- butyrate -- that activates cell receptors -- GPR109A -- that not only trigger cell death but also shut down an inflammation-causing protein. "We know the receptor is silenced in cancer but it's not like the gene goes away," study corresponding author Dr. Vadivel Ganapathy of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta said in a statement. Butyrate affects another cancer halting mechanism. In 2004, Medical College of Georgia researchers identified another gene -- SLC5A8 -- that transports but...