Glyconutrients - What are they?

You may be like the vast majority of people and have never heard of 'glyconutrients'. Until someone told me about them a couple of years ago, I had never heard the word 'glyconutrients'. What are they? What do they do? Why do we need them? I had lots of questions because it was all so new to me, and if they were as good as I was told they were, I needed to know more.

I was given lots of good information to read through and some websites to visit. Researching on the web always brings up many conflicting opinions about everything but I decided not to be put off by any negatives and to just delve further and further into the science behind it all. The more I read, the more it seemed to make sense to me.

Here are a few simple answers for you.

What are they?
Glyconutrients, or glyconutritionals, are dietary supplements that contain natural, nutritious plant sugars. They are sometimes also referred to as carbohydrates or saccharides.

"Glyco" is derived from the Greek word for "sugar" or "sweet" so they are "sweet nutrients" or sugars. Most people think of sugar as being bad for us – and the refined table sugar (sucrose) that we find in most processed foods, and that we use so often, can be detrimental to our health. We do need sucrose but not in excessive amounts.

These glyconutrients or "healthy sugars", however, are found in fruit and vegetables and provide the body with much needed nutrition. They are not vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, herbs, enzymes or homeopathic drugs. They are a class of necessary carbohydrate nutrients, discovered not many years ago, that play an essential role in offering health support, at the cellular level, for our overall wellness.

It was back in 1996 in Harper's Biochemistry that the breakthrough technology called Glycoscience or Glycomics was first identified. It was noted that of the 200 carbohydrate monosaccharides found in nature there were eight that were "necessary biologically active sugars" that should be added to our diets to promote proper immune function and cell-to-cell communication within our bodies.

What do they do?
The simplest way to understand this is to think of our cells talking to or communicating with each other. Their language is one of touch, written in saccharides on the cell surfaces.

Basically, these sugars combine with other molecules to make glycoforms such as glycoproteins, when combined with proteins, or glycolipids when combined with fat.

These glycoforms project from the cell surface like thousands of different fingers which will either understand the required functions of the adjoining cell, or not. If the cells are communicating correctly, the body functions smoothly. If not, it doesn't. It's as simple as that.

These glycoforms on the cell surface create a complex cellular messaging system, work to keep our hormones in balance, fight off disease invaders, enable blood to clot, and give our cells their structural support network. They support our immune system so that our bodies can restore and repair themselves.

Why do we need them?
It has been suggested that Glyconutrients are the vital 'missing link' in our diets.

Conclusive, scientific understanding of how our body uses these saccharides is still incomplete. However, as there is a rapidly increasing interest in Glycobiology, so there is a growing body of highly credible evidence indicating the importance of these glyconutrients or saccharides.

They help produce energy and play a key functional role in supporting our body's general state of health.

The diverse health benefits that are evident when we include glyconutrients in our daily diets, illustrate just how important glyconutritional (saccharide) supplementation is for our continued good health.

Have a look at this video. It will show you just how our cells work and their need for glyconutrients.

GLUCOSE is readily available in our diets (converted from white sugar, fructose, & starchy foods), and is the one we are most familiar with and is the worst for our health. This refined white sugar offers empty calories and in most cases is oversupplied in the form of sugar cane, rice, corn, potatoes, wheat etc.

GALACTOSE is readily available in our diets. It is obtained from the conversion of lactose (milk sugar) & is also easily obtained from dairy products UNLESS you suffer from lactose intolerance.

FUCOSE is not readily available in our diets but is found readily in breast milk and several medicinal mushrooms. It has numerous well-documented benefits for the immune system.

MANNOSE is not readily available in our diets. It plays a profound role in cellular interactions and has been known to lower blood sugar levels. It is absolutely vital for proper immune defences against microbial invaders, and it has a natural anti-inflammatory effect.

XYLOSE is not readily available in our diets. It is often seen in sugarless gums, candies, etc as it has a sweet taste but does not cause tooth decay. It has recently been added to nasal sprays and appears to discourage the binding of allergens and pathogens to mucous membranes. It also has known anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and may help prevent certain cancers.

N-ACETYL-NEURAMINIC ACID is not readily available in our diets but is another sugar that abounds in breast milk and dramatically impacts brain function and growth. It, too, boosts immune function and has documented anti-viral actions. Interestingly, in certain disease states, the ability to digest this sugar is impaired.

N-ACETYL-GLUCOSAMINE is not readily available in our diets. It is particularly beneficial for cartilage regeneration and joint inflammation. Glucosamine, a well-known natural medicine for arthritic conditions, comes from this sugar compound. It has many additional therapeutic effects, and deficiencies or malfunction of this sugar have been linked to diseases of the bowel.

N-ACETYL-GALACT0SAMINE is not readily available in our diets. It is the least known of the essential sugars although it appears to inhibit the growth of some tumours, and like the other sugars, plays an individual role in keeping cell communiqués clear and promptly delivered.

However, the conversion process is complicated and pollution and stress, among other things, can break down the process. During the conversion process, our cells are exposed to tens of thousands of free radical hits each day so it requires time, energy and a host of other micronutrients to complete the conversion. Viruses can also interfere with our body's ability to make these conversions.

Since our body has more than a trillion cells and fully regenerates all of its cells in approximately 1 year, any miscommunication or slowdown could cause major health problems. With millions of cells regenerating each day, it's easy to imagine what could happen if during this process, the cells didn't regenerate correctly.

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