The following article gives an excellent overview of the ins and outs of glyconutrients, as well as some valuable information about why these critical nutrients are missing from our modern diets. As we continue to hear more and more about the hazards and ineffectiveness of pharmaceutical drugs and other conventional medical treatments, it is encouraging to reflect on the potential benefits of natural alternatives such as glyconutrients. The answers to the staggering health problems that we as a society face today are not found to be found in drugs or other toxic substances, but rather by returning to a diet and lifestyle upon which we were naturally created to thrive.
Glyconutrients: what are they? What are they used for? What is the science behind them?
Source: Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine
Publication Date: 01-AUG-07
Have you been doing everything that person in the white coat suggests, yet you still suffer from chronic health challenges? The flu used to be a 24- to 48-hour bug, and then it was gone. Today, the flu can last ten days to two weeks and sometimes kills people. Cancers, type 2 diabetes, and many other health problems in adults and children are on the rise globally. One out of four kids in the United States is clinically obese. What's going on?
Traditional medicine has no answers to sky-rocketing increases in autoimmune, cardiovascular, and degenerative diseases. There is growing evidence that many of these diseases point to a single dietary deficiency of "glyconutrients," newly discovered molecules that are important for a healthy immune system and cellular communication. Cellular communication is how the body heals itself. Glyconutrients are non-toxic foods that allow communication within your body, identifying cells to attack and destroy as well as those to protect and nurture, and informing your digestive system on which foods to absorb into the bloodstream and which to ignore.
The first glyconutrient molecule was discovered in 1981. Other glyconutrient molecules were virtually undetected until the early 1990s, when science and medicine broke the code determining how all cells in the body communicate with one another to perform their complex functions. Researchers are calling the discovery of these glyconutrients the most important medical breakthrough in over 500 years. Even the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is calling Glycobiology (Glycomics) one of ten emerging technologies that will change the world for the better!
So, why doesn't your doctor know about glyconutrients? When did he or she graduate from medical school? Until recently, most doctors were given less than an hour of nutritional training before receiving their medical degree. Since October 1999, five Nobel Prizes in Physiology have been awarded in this area of science. In 1996, Harper's Biochemistry, a medical textbook for doctors, first added a chapter on glyconutrients to their 24th edition. Today, glyconutrient technology is being taught in universities and medical schools throughout the world.
Until recently, too, we thought that the only role for the 200+ known carbohydrates was to provide energy to the body. Now we know that the eight glyconutrients, which are also carbohydrates, are in a class by themselves. These specific eight molecules are biologically active sugars or plant carbohydrates (monosaccharides) that coat the surface of every one of the trillions of cells in the body. They are not vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, herbs, enzymes, or homeopathic drugs.
The eight glyconutrients include the following:
* xylose
* fucose [not fructose]
* galactose
* glucose
* mannose
* N-acetylglucosamine
* N-acetylgalactosamine
* N-acetylneuraminic acid [a sialic acid]
Today's American diet is deficient in several of these important monosaccharides, which are necessary for cellular function. They are simply gone from the food chain! In abundance are glucose and galactose. Glucose comes from such foods as wheat, rice, and sugar cane. Galactose comes from milk products, and if you don't consume dairy, you are probably deficient in this monosaccharide, too.
Why is our modern diet missing several of these glyconutrients? Because most of our so-called "fresh fruits and vegetables" are grown in nutrient-depleted soils, green-harvested (which means they are picked "green" and lack the nutrients that come from being vine-ripened), sprayed with pesticides, stored for weeks or months, over-processed, over-cooked, artificially ripened, gassed, genetically engineered, frozen, canned, refined, pasteurized, etc. If you buy "organic," all you are getting is "pesticide-free," but most of the fruits and vegetables still lack nutrients for the same reasons.
Toxins are another of many things in our environment that interrupt the body's ability to obtain these eight essential sugars. One of the most well-known toxins comes in a little brown bottle with a white cap: the pharmaceutical drug. All drugs are toxic! If they are not toxic, then they are not a drug. Pharmaceutical companies are aware of this emerging glyconutrient technology and are spending billions trying to duplicate these natural food molecules. However, decoding glyconutrients will be far more complex than decoding the human genome. And only live glyconutrients--in nature, not in synthetic form--will work in the human body.
What happens if the body becomes deficient in these molecules? In today's market, glyconutrients are available as dietary supplements. Look for those that are high-quality and contain as many of the essential eight as possible. The body also has a back-up system that will produce the missing glyconutrients through slow enzymatic processes. But when this system breaks down, the body's ability to heal itself on a cellular level also breaks down. Our inability to fight infections, viruses, bacteria, and toxins is seen as the main reason for the rise in health challenges such as overactive immune disorders, underactive immune disorders, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders, and many other conditions.
Glyconutrients are the "spark of life" for the baby's immune system, safe for newborns. In fact, six glyconutrients exist in mother's breast milk, and the body makes the other two. When babies are not breast-fed, they have higher levels of health problems throughout their entire life.
When the body is functioning properly, it means good cellular communication exists. When the body is not functioning property, it means there is dysfunction and cellular miscommunication--and a dysfunctional body means disease.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-33205832_ITM
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