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The Healing Power of 8 Sugars: An Amazing Breakthrough in Nutrition, Sciences and Medicine

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The Healing Power of 8 Sugars: An Amazing Breakthrough in Nutrition, Sciences and Medicine by Allan C. Somersall (Editor)

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." Arthur Schopenhauer German philosopher (1788 - 1860)

This new book, "The Healing Power of 8 Sugars" clearly shows we are entering into the third stage in which the philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer explained that a truth will become accepted as self-evident. In this new book twenty doctors combine their wisdom and explain for their fellow doctors and especially the layman how glyconutrients (natural plant sugars) are utilized by the body in the battle against disease.

"The Healing Power of 8 Sugars" covers many subjects ranging from the use of glyconutrients during pregnancy, to child development issues to sports medicine, inflammation and disease cases. The science of glyconutrients is very technical, yet these doctors do a remarkable job of bringing the science down to a lay level without neglecting the concerns and issues that will appeal to the medical and scientific audience as well. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review, February 2003, "If you don't have glycosylation, you don't have life." Significantly, this book unlocks the mysteries of glycosylation (the adding of a polysaccharide (chain of sugars) to a polypeptide (chain of amino acids) in order to make a glycoprotein) and how glyconutrients are vital for this process.

As I read each chapter I would often think "that is the best yet." That is, until I started working my way through the next chapter. This book is absolutely remarkable and I predict it will become a nutritional best seller and one of the most important books of the year on nutrition. Maybe the most important of any year. There is a reason why The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which produces the highly respected MIT Review, released their February, 2003 issue entitled, "10 Emerging Technologies That Will Change the World!"

These doctors have put this "emerging technology" in front of the public in an easy to read work showing how glyconutrients will change the face of health care forever in the area of nutritional science. Moreover, this book will surely impact the exploding field of Glycobiology, which is the study of how sugars impact living systems. And finally, with this work, the term "glyconutrients" has entered into the public lexicon.

Enjoy, this book is a gold mine of cutting edge nutritional knowledge.

As an instructor and researcher in the field of health, I have read every book I can get my hands on covering the amazing topic of glycobiology. Many are very excellent -- "Sugars That Heal" and "Miracle Sugars" for example -- but this one is my favorites!

It includes the expert writing of 20 doctors in each of their own perspective specialties. It is fascinating to learn of the ways that glyconutrients are improving lives in regards to so many various aspects of health -- immune function, cardiovascular health, dental health, during pregnancy, in childbirth, for babies, for those with cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, back pain, the list goes on and on.

While other books also address these various topics, this book is especially effective in getting to the heart of the critic reading. These are doctors with prestigious degrees and medical backgrounds -- some who have practiced at the top rated hospitals in the U.S. for over 50 years! And they are the ones who have come to realize that glyconutrients, above all, allow the body to heal and repair itself.

A truly remarkable book that I have shared chapters out of for all my friends (and skeptical physicians!) An easy, straightforward read and clear picture of how glycobiology pertains to you!

This is the best book I have read on subject of glyconutrients, written by 20 different doctors from their clinical use of glyconutrients and the results that have had with many different types of clients. This book would convince the skeptics about the health benefits of glyconutrients. This book is a must to read!

THE HEALING POWER OF 8 SUGARS is a collection of essays about the new science of glyconutrients written by an eclectic group of health professionals. The claims of health benefits due to the addition of glyconutrients as food supplements are impressive.The authors suggest their use will be most beneficial when used in conjunction with medications and treatments prescribed by medical doctors.

There are separate chapters on the effects of glyconutrients on the immune system,infectious diseases,pregnancy,cholesterol,cardiovascular disease,cancer,chronic disease,arthritis,sports injuries,dental health,natural healing and aging. Are the claims too good to be true? We will find out in due time. Meanwhile, anybody interested in achieving better health will probably benefit from reading this book.The most interesting chapter, in my opinion, is the one written by Dr. Rayburne Goen, a retired cardiologist who began taking glyconutrients seven years ago at age 85 when he suffered from numerous ailments including arthritis, high blood pressure and prostate cancer. His personal testimony is inspirational - to say the least.

This is the best and worst type of science book.

There are 19 chapters, each by a different physician or researcher. Some cover how glycobilogy relates to various diseases, though many are simply listings of personal stories and case studies from single physicians' practices.

The chapters that relate to different diseases usually have many references from published research about how glycobiology works in those diseases. In that, the book is a somewhat useful overview of science.

However, even these "science" chapters are short on one thing: Useful and practical advice. It is one thing to discuss how sialic acid works in inflammation in the body in various biochemical reaction, and another altogether to provide evidence or research of using supplemental glyconutrients to treat disease. This is like reviewing all the biochemical reactions that selenium takes place in in the body, but not discussing whether and/or how much and/or what type of selenium one should take to optimize health. It is only in the last chapter, Chapter 19 ("Clinical Trials..") that actual clinical trials using supplemental glyconutrients are discussed. From this it is VERY clear that the actual clinical research is EXTREMELY SPARSE.

Now, that isn't to say taking glyconutrients will not prove helpful--- just that they haven't been show to be helpful YET.

"Wait a minute!" I hear you saying, "What about the other 18 chapters discussing case studies?" Yes, that is anecdotal evidence--- which, however, is not PROOF. Still, if you wanted to give these things a try, you still might rely on those stories. However, you can't even DO that--- because the book is VERY VAGUE and gives no specific information on how to do that.

For example, all the case studies presented are of the followng kind: "John Jones had many years of arthritis. Within three months of starting on glyconutrients at my suggestions, his pain had resolved 90%." Wow, that sounds GREAT! However, nowhere in the book do ANY of the researchers or doctors ever define by what they mean by "glyconutrients." I mean, I want to TRY glyconutrients. I want to know EXACTLY WHAT PRODUCT YOU USED, EXACTLY WHICH OF THE EIGHT SUGARS YOU USED, HOW MUCH YOU USED, AND AT WHAT TREATMENT SCHEDULE. In EVERY SINGLE CASE STUDY they leave this very vague. "I started taking glyconutrients in 1998, and my longstanding eczema improved."

Totally USELESS to me.

That's like saying "I started taking vitamins and my diabetes was cured." Yeah, OK--- WHICH vitamins, HOW MUCH, HOW FREQUENTLY.

I began to wonder if there was some sort of conspiracy, because in a 291 page book and probably 150 case studies, not ONE TIME do ANY of the doctors get specific about what they gave their patients.

Very suspicious... and very useless to me.

2 1/2 stars for the basic science.

The absolute beauty of The Healing Power of 8 Sugars is that it has chapters for the beginner who is trying to grasp what glyconutrients might do for them on a personal level, yet has chapters that go into great detail for the medical community and the scientific minds that want more. Many of the doctors have had years of experience with this "Distruptive Technology" seeing often changes with patients and within their own families. These are changes that were once thought to be impossible. It shows that many are wanting to move from the sickness industry to wellness.
Some of the stories almost bring you to tears as you live through the stories of how people just like you and I now have a quality of life that they thought was lost or that they never had initially.
You will use this book over and over again as a reference and to prove to friends and loved ones that there is hope.

This book reads more like an infomercial for some glyconutrient supplement product than a thorough and interesting survey of the subject. Most of the information is based on anecdotes, is poorly organized and there is not much depth. Not much research cited to support the claims. What is presented is not tied to the reader in a relevant, useful way-factoids without any clear way to employ them to better one's health. I'd like to contrast this with the horribly titled but nevertheless amazing Fats That Heal Fats That Kill by Udo Erasmus. I was hoping this book would be similar in scope, relevance, and quality but it does not even come close.

Great book to give you an overview of the BASE of all health and why Glyconutrients are just the begining of your restored health.
I recommend this book on the introduction alone. What one doctor was put through when he dare challenge the hierarchy of "science" and "medicine" and those that dwell in its Ivory Tower speaks volumes about our current health condition in the U.S.A.

This book seems to be a good summary of the topic of glyconutrients.

However it is annoying for what it misses. The book talks about 8 essential sugars but does not clearly define them.
Essential normally means that the body can not make them. It is not clear... but it appears that the body can make them from glucose... if that's the case then they are really "provisionally" essential... and the limitations should be spelled out clearly. They weren't.

Likewise for a book about 8 sugars and how all sugars are similar there is not one diagram!!! Ouch!!!

This is more of a problem when you realise that there are many ways to draw these sugars and it's not immediately obvious which way to visualise them.

This books suffers from multiple author syndrome... each section is a fragment and the whole lot doesn't come together neatly.

Another missing bit is food. The authors mostly assume that you have to supplement to get these sugars. While this may be true it would be useful to spend a discrete chapter talking about which foods contain the sugars. Surprisingly when you check you may find that many of the sugars are available in foods that you do eat... but perhaps not commonly. Just adding a bit more of these to your diet might be quite achievable and really helpful eg.

After I realised that echinacea contained a few of these desirable sugars I added it to my mums diet and she says her knees no longer hurt.

The role of glyconutrients in the diet is truly useful to know. So this book really does serve a useful purpose.

I do know one guy who had MS and swears that Ambratose cured him... this was years ago... and he still doesn't have it... so the word on the street certainly seems to support this kind of supplementation.

What came out of the book for me was that glyconutrients seem to be most useful in autoimmune diseases. That helps put them in perspective. Very helpful... thank you.

Yes there were plenty of case studies... but the book did not focus on them to the exclusion of everything else. They were reasonably well balanced... and I enjoyed reading them along with the explanations of how the glyconutrients were working.

This book is now probably slightly dated. Wish they'd do an update as there appears to be a fair bit of new research.

The only comprehensive list of research I could find was on the Mannatech page.

There are a number of critiques of glyconutrients complaining that no research exists. The problem seems to be that glyconutrients appear in the research under a variety of guises. The term glyconutrient seems to be only gaining popularity now. The research is often hidden under other names such as fungi and sea weed supplements... which can make finding it difficult... but it does exist.

If you'd like to understand glyconutrients better then this is a good book to read.

:-)

This is a book everyone who is concerned about good health needs to read. It is about the vital role of glyconutrients in the structure and function of every cell in the body. Read about the science and the benefits. A critical message for such a time as this. What to be healthy? Read this book and apply its message.