Consumer Reports Rates Pesticide Exposure in Fruits & Vegetables
The consumer products testing group Consumer Reports (CR) has issued ratings on 49 fruits and vegetables to get the health benefits from these foods while minimizing the risk of ingesting toxic chemicals. CR analyzed five years of data from the Department of Agriculture on 24,000 samples of fruits and vegetables covering about 450 pesticides.
Advancement in Stem Cells to Treat the Gastrointestinal System
Scientists from the University of Sheffield and University College London have made a breakthrough in understanding the formation of the enteric nervous system (ENS) of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. Dysfunction of the ENS is linked to a wide range of conditions such as Parkinson’s, Hirschprung’s disease and autism. The scientists were able to generate enteric neurons in the lab using human pluripotent stem cells and successfully implant them into mice engineered to lack an ENS. The neurons took hold in the mouse GI tract and became functional. The findings pave the way for new regenerative treatments for GI diseases in humans.
