IL6 and necrotizing enterocolitis: As shown in Fig. 1f–h, the oral administration of I3C during pregnancy significantly reduced the severity of experimental NEC in the pups, as manifest by reduced histological injury (Fig. 1f), reduced blinded NEC severity score (Fig. 1g), and reduced expression of Il6 (Fig. 1h) and Tnf-α (Fig. 1i) in the intestinal epithelium.