Glyconutrients

[mario91]

Hi everyone

Some of you might already have heard about Glyconutrients.

I've been reading about them on the internet. And what are they? They are 8 complex sugars that are said to be essential for our health, most precisely for the health of our cells. They are: xylose, fucose, galactose, glucose, mannose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylneuraminic acid.

But, according to what I've read, the problem is that, nowadays, our diets only supply us with 2 of these complex sugars (glucose and galactose), because our foods are often grown in nutrient-deficient soil, picked before they ripen naturally, and other unnatural factors such as cooking and processing.

So, how can you ingest a sufficient amount of glyconutrients? They say the only way is to eat foods like shitaake mushrooms, fenugreek, certain seaweeds, soy lecithin, aloe vera, echinacea, psyllium seeds, whey protein isolate, among others. Or take a supplement/powder made from these foods.

I've even read about some doctors and biologists saying that the lack of these glyconutrients are a strong influence on most of the chronic diseases of our days, and that when their patients started taking a glyconutrients supplement, they became much better of their issues.

You can read more here: www.glyconutrientsreference.com, but there are lots of other sites, just google it.

So... what do you think about this??

[overkees]

Im sorry, there is nothing essential in glyconutrients. Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catabolism there is a diagram there and you can just say that every sugar or glyconutrient follows the path of saccharides. In sugar most of these saccharides are called monosaccharides and this is what makes them the most digestable, because they can be immediately used for energy conversion.

Then you might say that they could be used for anabolic properties. Glyconutrients arent needed for any of the processes in the body to form new enzymes or proteins or whatsoever. Because sugar can be stored only into glycogen depots around our muscles and in our liver. Which is only used for energy. So everyone who claims glyconutrients are essential is either wanting to sell you something or not well-informed.

All the "researches" that were done for the sake of glyconutrients were sponsored by mannatech, which sells the supplements. They are not properly peer-reviewed. And if they were they would be the biggest hype in years and all the magazines would be full of m.

Again, eating fruit contains the best ratio of nutrients : toxins so for energy needs go for fruits. For build up purposes (anabolic) you eat fats and proteins and cholesterol.

[RRM]

xylose, fucose, galactose, glucose, mannose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylneuraminic acid...
These 8 essential glyconutrients combine with other molecules eg proteins and lipids, to form glycoforms or glycoconjugates which coat cell surfaces.

The term "glyconutrients" does not exist in biology. The name is invented by Mannatech.
Conclusions from independent studies:

"All of the sugar building blocks that we need in our body are made from the most common foods we eat."
...
""There are authentic, scientific studies that have looked at people drinking these kinds of materials, and it doesn't really do anything except increase flatulence."
...
"lack of published clinical benefits"
...
"The authors' concern was that the public would be susceptible to the "scientific-sounding label" of glyconutrient, which may "generate a feeling of security and credibility...despite the lack of acceptance among many glycobiologists of the term."

In a lawsuit they were accused of "issuing a series of material misrepresentations",
and Mannatech settled the lawsuit by paying $11.25 million.

Glycosylation ... when you take glyconutrient supplements you are attempting to glycosylate all of the cells in your body.

They dont know what they are talking about.
Wiki: "In biology, glycosylation refers to the enzymatic process that attaches glycans to proteins, lipids, or other organic molecules.
It is an enzyme-directed site-specific process"
"The term glycan refers to a polysaccharide or oligosaccharide.
Glycans can be homo- or heteropolymers of monosaccharide residues, and can be linear or branched.
Glycan may also be used to refer to the carbohydrate portion of a glycoconjugate, such as a glycoprotein, glycolipid, or a proteoglycan.
So, the subjects of this process are molecules, not entire cells.

[mario91]

Just what I thought... just another marketing scam trying to mess around with our health...

Thank you overkees and RRM for clarifying this!