Glyconutrition – The Healing Power of 8 Sugars by Maria Aristidou

If you carry out an internet search on Glyconutrition you will see immediately that Google goes crazy – over 400,000 results found!

What exactly are glyconutrients?

Here is the science part: a glyconutrient, in technical terms, is a monosaccharide; monosaccharides are used to create glycoforms; glycoforms cover the outside of virtually every cell in the body and are used by cells for cell to cell communication. Scientists and researchers believe that it is because glyconutrients are not readily available in our diet that our cells cannot communicate effectively. For this reason the immune system begins to attack and kill healthy cells leading to auto-immune disease like MS, arthritis, asthma and so on.

Glyconutrients (also called carbohydrates, sugars or saccharides) are plant monosaccharides which occur naturally in plants. There are over 200 of these sugars, yet only two – galactose and glucose – are commonly found in the foods we eat. Only eight, however, have been identified as essential to optimal human health. They are:

• Mannose
• Galactose
• Fucose
• Xylose
• Glucose
• N-acetylglucosamine
• N-acetylneuraminic acid
• N-acetylgalactosamine

Each has their own function, from wound healing properties to antibacterial and antifungal properties.

The discovery of glyconutrients has been hailed as the most important discovery for the immune system in the last 100 years – ‘the biggest revolutionary change in the war against disease’, Michael D. Schlacter, MD – seemingly having at last cracked the code by which cells in the body communicate with one another. This ‘new science’ seems to sending shockwaves through the entire medical industry and has been referred to as the missing link between health and disease. The prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) called Glycomics (the scientific study of glycobiology) one of the top 10 technologies which will change the future.

Glyconutrients are believed to be the key to effective cellular communication and proper cell functioning. Being neither vitamins, minerals, amino acids nor enzymes, they are regarded as being in a class of their own as nutritional supplements derived from plants. Glyconutritional supplements are formulated based on new understanding in the biochemistry of how the human body maintains health at the cellular level.

It is important to keep in mind, however, that as important as they seem to be, glyconutrients are, of course, only part of what is necessary to a healthy body. But research on this fascinating subject shows what an interesting aspect of essential biochemistry glyconutrition is and seems to be very much in a class of its own.

Copyright 2007 Maria Aristidou is in her second year of a BSc Complementary Health Science degree course. She is complementary health practitioner of Reflexology, Indian Head Massage and Chirokinetic Therapy. If you’d like to know more about glyconutritional supplements Maria can be contacted at: mariaaristidou@aol.com