Miracle Sugars that Heal

Glycobiology: The New Frontier in Medicine
"Let Food by Your Medicine and Medicine your food"
Hippocrates, The Father of Modern Medicine

An article by Dr. Karen Kelley

Did you know that the average American adult consumes 130 lbs of refined sugar per year and the average child – 350 lbs? These extra cellular sugars deplete the immune system by reducing the natural killer cell activity (these are the soldiers of the immune system), by the following percentages: 7 tsp (1 coke) –25%; 16tsp (slice choc. cake)- 65%; 32tsp (banana split) – 95%! In a recent study on children, sugar was found to be the cause of most behavior problems in 77% of the cases.

While these purified sugars have long been associated with human disease, there is a totally different class of sugars called intracellular sugars, the natural unprocessed form found in abundance in organically grown, tree/vine-ripened fruits and vegetables. These sugars, called glyconutrients (“glyco” meaning “sweet” or “sugar”), are plant-based monosaccharides (carbohydrates) that are found to be essential for cell-to-cell communication and necessary for achieving and maintaining optimal health. Many scientists have heralded these gluconutrients as the most important discovery of this century for the immune system. They are not vitamins, minerals, proteins fats, herbals, hormones, homeopathics or enzymes. They are a new class of nutraceuticals derived from nature that have been formulated based on a new understanding in biochemistry of how our bodies maintain health at the cellular level. In fact, these sugars will not make you fat or raise your insulin levels and are safe for diabetics and actually have been shown to help you burn fat!

Let’s talk about why cell-to-cell communication is so crucial to our health. Cells must be able to communicate their needs in five major areas:

For this communication to occur, cells use at least eight necessary carbohydrates to comprise letters and words. These sugars attach to certain proteins to form glycoproteins, which cover the surface of every cell in the body and provide the cells with the ability to transfer coded messages to sustain life and maintain health. As Dr. Emil Mondoa states in his book – Sugars That Heal, “Virtually every change within our multicellular bodies from conception until death is to some degree mediated by this language of sugars.” In his article entitled, “Capitalizing on Carbohydrates” – BioTechnology 1990, John Hodgson stated “Almost without exception, whenever two or more living cells interact in specific way, cell surface carbohydrates will be involved.” Furthermore, the 1996 edition of Harper’s Biochemistry reports – “About 200 monosaccharides (carbohydrates) are found in nature however, only 8 are found in …chains of glycoproteins” Just as there are essential proteins called amino acids and essential fats called fatty acids, there are also 8 essential carbohydrates.

With over 20,000 research papers being published each year on glycoproteins, scientists are referring to these sugars as “Miracle Sugars”, “Super Carbs”, “Sweet Messenger Molecules” and “The Missing Link” to fighting disease, preventing infection, burning fat, and boosting the immune system. These breakthrough discoveries have impacted anti aging, chromic degenerative diseases, autoimmune disorders (lupus, MS, diabetes, arthritis, fibromyalgia); immune deficiencies (chronic fatigue, cancer, AIDS, infections); genetic disorders (Tay Sachs, Downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, autism); obesity, and learning disabilities in children and adults (ADD/ADHD). Recognizing the importance of these sugars, the majority of the March 23rd 2001 issue of Science Magazine including its cover, was devoted to “Carbohydrates and Glycobiology.” In fact, the only difference between each blood type is one carbohydrate molecule.

Adding these glyconutients to the diet has impacted many health problems that have not responded to conventional medical treatment. This discovery is so important that the pharmaceutical companies are now diligently trying to synthesize these biological sugars in the lab, but so far have been unsuccessful.

Despite the fact that we are more health-conscious than we have ever been before we are eating healthier, consuming more vitamins and other nutritional supplements and making more visits to alternative health care providers, degenerative and autoimmune diseases, antibiotic resistant infections and the use of Ritalin, antidepressants and pain medications are still on the rise.

So lets take a look at some alarming statistics: The top 4 killers (represent 94% of all deaths)

The Top Causes of Death:

The reality is that every disease category is increasing and we are fatter and sicker than ever before. The dilemma is that no single nutrient or combination of nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fatty acids, amino acids, and enzymes) have changed the health statistics significantly and none of them can replace these “SUPER CARBS.”

So, WHAT’S MISSING? Six of the eight essential sugars are missing form our modern diets. Did you know that 5 of these sugars are found in human breast milk which has been known to be vital to building a healthy immune system in the newborn? An article from Sweden in Discover- June 1999 even proclaimed, “human breast milk kills cancer cells.”

Since healthy cells make healthy bodies, the better they communicate, the healthier we will be. The body is already preprogrammed to maintained health, all it needs is the raw materials to heal, repair, regenerate and regulate itself. While toxins, stress, drugs, viruses and other invaders can inhibit the body’s ability to form proper cell-to-cell words, adding these glyconutirents to our diets can provide the missing building blocks. The 2 sugars that are found in most diets are glucose and galactose. The other missing 6 are: mannose, fucose, xylose, N-acetyl glucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylneuraminic acid.

At this point you are probably asking yourself two questions: 1.) If glyconutrients are the missing link to these health challenges and they are naturally occurring sugars in fruits and vegetables and herbs, why aren’t we getting them in our diets? 2.) Why hasn’t my doctor heard about them or told me about them? To address the first question, we must look to the MYTH OF A WELL-BALANCED DIET. Although the American Cancer Institute and the American Heart Association have stated that “cancer and heart disease can be prevented by eating 2-4 servings of fruit and 4-6 servings of vegetables daily”, what they didn’t say was that these fruits and veggies must be grown organically, in non-depleted soil, unaltered genetically, picked at the peak of ripeness, and eaten within 24 hours in order for their vital nutrients (including phyto and glyconutrients) to be available to us in optimal amounts. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) falls alarmingly short of meeting our nutritional and health needs.

The answer to the second question is simply because prior to 1996 there was very little known about these sugars and much of the early research was either ridiculed, misunderstood, underestimated or ignored. Most physicians, including myself, were taught that carbohydrates were solely a source of fuel. It wasn’t until recently that scientists discovered that these Super Carbs are actually information-rich molecules that are essential for virtually all biofunctions and cellular interactions. In our current Information Age where our technology is expanding exponentially, it is impossible to keep abreast of all the current research in one’s own specialty, much less in every area of health. It is often our patients who bring these new discoveries to our attention via articles, Internet searches, or testimonials from family and friends.

A case in point was one of my patients in the sports injury aspect of my practice, shared an article from the May 1999 issue of Muscle and Fitness entitled “Super Sugars” which stated that “glyconutritionals provide for optimal immune function without which your recovery from intense training may be compromised.” It is known that one’s immune system is stressed by intense physical exercise making one more susceptible to infections and interfering with tissue repair. In the area of spots nutrition, world-class, elite athletes as well as weekend athletes have reported greater endurance and the energy to train harder and longer and yet recover quicker when using glyconutirents. According to Michael Cohen, the head coach for Team Savannah’s Weight Lifting Team, where thousandths of a second means the difference between winning a Gold Medal or no medal. “ athletes are probably 10-15% better because of using glyconutrients. I’d say we’re about 18 months to 2 years ahead of where we would be without them.

In conclusion, let me share with you a quote form Paracelsus, The Father of Pharmacology: “All that mankind needs for good health and healing is found in nature, the challenge of science is to find it.” Whether your goal is to prevent disease, live longer and better or overcome a serious illness, glyconutrients could change or even SAVE YOUR LIFE!

For More information on glyconutrients read: Sugars That Heal – Dr. Emil Mondoa; Miracle Sugars –Rita Elkins; The Missing Link- The Facts About Glyconutrients – Dr. Neecie Moore and visit these websites: www.glycoinformation.com and www.glycoscience.com.

Dr. Karen Kelley is the Director of the Holistic Healing Arts Center in Foley, Al. She has been in the field of complimentary medicine for the past 30 years and has used glyconutritionals in her practice for the past 5 years with astounding results.

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