--BSM 1st posted by Celcius----

Epidemiological studies implicated high-saturated dietary fat and protein as a
risk factor for colon cancer and established that high fiber, high fruit and
vegetable content are protective [17,18]. The success of the dietary fiber
hypothesis [20,21] is particularly intriguing in light of the recognition that
the actual protective agent is not the fiber itself, but the cell wall
components, phenolic polysaccharides and polyphenols [22-27]. The protective
phenolic lignin and hemicellulose components are present in widely different
concentrations in the cell walls of various plants and are released by bacterial
enzymes in the human colon [23]. Such compounds have been isolated, e.g. from
rice bran and green tea, and their cancer protective effects demonstrated
[24,25,27]. Processed rice bran, however, had no such protective effect [28].
Many of these compounds have antioxidant, anti-mutagenic, anti-carcinogenic and
anti-inflammatory effects that may be responsible for their anticancer effects
[29].

A readily available source for such phenolic polysaccharides can be located in
the nutritional and medical practices of the 19th and early 20th centuries
[30,31]. Sugar cane molasses, a widely used nutrient, was served as a sweetener
instead of purified sugar, stirred into milk and eaten instead of jam or jelly.
It was also a popular medicinal agent:recent analyses demonstrated it to be a
rich source of micro- and macronutrients [32]. Blackstrap molasses, its most
concentrated form, was used for the therapy of a variety of diseases, including
cancer [31]. Anecdotal evidence suggests that cancer was very rare among sugar
cane plantation workers who were regularly consuming the raw brown sugar [33].
Blackstrap molasses is rich in a variety of essential minerals including iron,
zinc, selenium, magnesium and potassium as well as the majority of the vitamin B
complex [33], deficiencies of which confer a major cancer risk [34]. Molasses
also contains high concentrations of amino acids and linoleic acid [35], an
essential lipid that has a documented anti-tumor effect [36,37].

Cane molasses is fed widely to domestic animals [35]. A feeding study on the
phenolic carbohydrate compounds of cane molasses suggested that they are
beneficial to both ruminant and non-ruminant animals [38]. The feeding of 8%
sugar cane bagasse to broiler chicken demonstrated weight gain and carcass
quality as well as elevated immunoglobulin levels [39]. Recent data on cane
molasses appear to lend support to historical accounts concerning its
effectiveness as both preventative and a possible curative agent for some
cancer.





http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=305362




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