In recent years, we have often seen news reports saying that “it is harder to get cancer if you eat a lot of vegetables”. Everyone thought that this was due to the increased vitamin intake, and this is view is not mistaken… However, they have also been found to contain something else other than vitamins.
That something else is completely unrelated to vitamins and minerals and has never been discussed in nutritional science.This new discovery has been termed ‘biological response modifiers (BRMs)’.
Observation of BRMs and advances in tumour immunology showed that they are substances that enhance the activity of “white blood cells (source of the body’s protection = immunity)”, the main cells that fight diseases in the body. It was also noted that lactococci are particularly rich in BRMs.
Various methods have been developed to examine how BRMs boost white blood cell function. Nihon Berumu Co., Ltd. has focused on measuring the activity of TNF (tumour necrosis factors), produced by ‘macrophages’, the main white blood cells.
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