LAST week I featured a couple of things that were bad for your health that we’ll never have to worry about on Guam. This week I thought we’d continue the ‘feel good’ scenario.

Immunological diseases, like eczema and asthma, are on the increase here on Guam and they represent a major challenge for 21st-century medicine. A new study by British researchers has shown that spending early life in a complex farm environment increased the number of regulatory T-lymphocytes, the cells that damp down the immune system and limit autoimmune responses.

Many previous studies have suggested that growing up on a farm is linked to developing fewer allergic diseases. But until now, it hasn’t been possible to demonstrate direct cause and effect. Does a farm environment actively protect against allergies, or are allergy-prone families less likely to live on farms?

In the study, piglets were nursed by their mothers on a farm while their siblings spent their early life (from day one onwards) in an isolator unit under very hygienic conditions and were fed formula milk. Pigs were used because they share many aspects of physiology, metabolism, genetics and immunity with humans.

The researchers demonstrated that compared to their brothers and sisters in the isolator, the farm-reared piglets had fewer T-lymphocytes, the immune cells which drive immune responses, in their intestinal tissues. They also had significantly increased numbers of a subset of these cells, the regulatory T-lymphocytes, which pacify immune responses and limit inflammation.

The researchers say that although it’s not exactly clear what caused the increase in immune regulation in the farm-raised pigs, their previous studies suggest that intestinal bacteria play a pivotal role in the development of a competent immune system and these bacteria are obtained from the environment during early life.

I was raised on a farm, am rarely sick and have no autoimmune diseases. According to one doctor, I have a “Godzilla immune system” (don’t you love those fancy doctor terms?). So all that time you spent on the ranch was probably good for you even if you didn’t think so at the time! And on an island where it seems every other person has diabetes, the next story is really good news.

Metformin, a drug widely used to treat Type II diabetes, may help prevent primary liver cancer according to researchers at the University of Maryland. Primary liver cancer is a deadly form of cancer that’s on the rise worldwide and is the fastest-growing cause of cancer-related deaths among American men.

Patients with Type II diabetes have a two- to three-fold increased risk of developing primary liver cancer. Also at risk are people who are obese, have hepatitis or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Metformin is currently being studied in connection with the prevention of a variety of cancers but this study is the first to focus on liver cancer.

The research demonstrated that metformin prevents primary liver cancer in mice. Mice treated with metformin had significantly smaller and fewer tumors than those who did not receive the medication. Because of their findings, the researchers believe metformin should be evaluated as a preventive agent in people who are at high risk for liver cancer. Many patients with diabetes already take this medication, with few side effects.

In the study, researchers found that mice treated with metformin in their food developed 57 percent fewer liver tumors than mice that didn’t receive the drug and the size of the tumors was reduced by about 37 percent.

Since many people on Guam take metformin (also known as glucophage), this is good news indeed!