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What are glyconutrients?
Glyconutrients are sugar molecules that are essential to normal cell function.They have several functions:
- energy: the energy that you use is produced from sugars
- tissue structure: all tissues even muscle and cartilage have sugars.
- Cell membranes: of particular concern is the cell membrane, the envelope that surrounds each cell. The cell membrane
- keeps the cell contents in,
- outside harm out,
- regulates what gets into the cell and in what quantity.
- allows communication between cells
- chemical action: many of the functions of the body are mediated by catalysts, chemicals that make chemical reactions happen. You know these catalysts as "enzymes" and "co-enzymes". Of particular interest to medicine are the enzymes involved in producing immunity chemicals. In the body these enzymes are formed from amino acids, sugars, and sometimes metals. Calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, strontium, sulfur, vanadium and zinc are metals required in small amounts by the body to form enzymes. For instance vitamin A requires an enzyme containing zinc to make it function. The reasons why we need glyconutrient supplements apply equally to trace minerals in our diet.
History: We evolved as hunter-gatherers. Our diet tens and hundreds of thousands of years ago was largely vegetarian. We were slow animals so our hunting produced meat occasionally rather than on a daily basis.
After the last ice age there was a "Garden of Eden" period when humans were still few in number, and the land available for gathering was vast. We ate seeds, fruits, vegetables all growing naturally from the rich soil left by the glaciers. We ate as the food became ripe, at the peak of nutrititive value. The skeletons of some of the people who lived then show a people who were as tall as modern man, many of whom lived as long as modern man in spite of sabre-toothed tigers and other hazards!
Then our population multiplied. Agriculture became prevalent. We grew a few crops instead of the great number of choices nature offered us previously. Subsequently agriculture became mega-agriculture as it is today, with soil depleted by decades and centuries of overuse, and the introduction of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers to make up in abundance what we lack in nutrition.
GLYCO-NUTRIENTS WERE ABUNDANT IN OUR "GARDEN OF EDEN" PHASE AND ARE ABSENT OR REDUCED IN THE ERA OF MEGA-AGRICULTURE.
What saccharides are needed?
Essential monosaccharides include mannose, fucose, xylose, glucose, galactose, N-acetylneuraminic acid, N-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylglucosamine and arabinose, another beneficial sugar.
Glucose and fructose are readily available in our diet, sometimes in overabundance! The others have been lost through our agricultural processes. We pick fruits before they are ripe, before the sugars are formed. We ripen them artificially en route to the supermarket, so that they look good. But you and I know that they do not taste like they used to do. Nor are they as nutritious.
Symptoms of lack of glyconutrients.
Every normal function of the body requires the appropriate amount of glyconutrients. Here are a few.
ARTHRITIS can be from wear-and-tear, "osteoarthritis". Your orthopedic surgeon may treat you with injections (visco-supplementation) using a very expensive substance which is a long-chain poly saccharide, based on hyaluronic acid. These injections are very effective but may have to be repeated at 3-6 or -12 month periods depending on the severity of your arthritis.
Many people have been taking glucosamine for arthritis and report good results.
Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus arthritis are inflammatory in nature and represent a breakdown in the immune system.
Taking glyconutrients helps both of these processes: they help your body build better cartilage in your joints and make your immune system more able to fight off malfunction.
Liver function. Folic acid is a vitamin neccessary for normal liver function. Folic acid helps the liver detoxify poisons including alcohol, and uses saccharides in the process. There is a discussion ongoing at present as to whether women on breast cancer meds (which affect the liver) can have alcohol. Some studies have shown that women who have a healthy diet and take folic acid can tolerate alcohol better, and not be more prone to recurrence. The "mediterranean" diet of people from Italy, Spain, Prtugal and Southern France protect women from the liver effects of alcohol. Their diet is naturally higher than the diet of North Americans in glyconutients. They eat ripe produce freshly picked from an amazingly wide variety of plants. Where our salads may have three or four ingredients, mediterranean people may choose from twenty to thirty plants depending on the season. All picked from natural landscapes - no chemicals!
Brain function. The brain works on two main chemicals - oxygen and sugars. This is self explanatory. We all know how poorly our brain functions when we have "low blood sugar" - poor concentration, forgetfulness, sleepiness, agitation, anxiety.
Glyconutrients and cancer
Beware of any organization that tries to sell you their product as a cure for cancer.
That being said, there is no doubt that glyconutrients have a supportive roll in cancer prevention and treatment. Cancer cells often show damage to DNA and chromosomes. Mice fed glyconutrients show less damage than normal mice. Cancer is an aging process: if a man lives long enough he will get prostate cancer, but he might have to live to 120 years: the same for women and breast cancer. Glyconutrients keep the cells younger. The cell membrane is stronger and less open to invasion. The immune sytem works better.
You immune system is your first line of defence against cancer. Some "miraculous" cures do happen where people with medically proven cancer suddenly become cured, "spontaneous remission". The immune system in these people suddenly changes and successfully defeats the cancer.
Good cellular health is undoubtedly a boost to the body's natural defence against cancer.
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