Customer Reviews

Sugars That Heal: The New Healing Science of Glyconutrients

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We are increasingly learning that the changes in our diet in the last 100 years towards more processed foods are undermining our health. We get too much of some things (like saturated fats, white flour, and simple sugars) and not enough of other things (like essential fatty acids, vegetables, fruits, and water). Sugars That Heal describes the evidence that is building that some people are having their health undermined by consuming too few of certain essential sugars (such as mannose, xylose, fucose, N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, and N-acetylneuraminic acid. These sugars have many important functions in the body, several of which relate to the proper functioning of the immune system and the nervous sytem.

In a healthy body not under stress, all of these sugars can be created using enzymes in the body from simple sugars like glucose. In bodies under stress, it appears that these enzymes become short in supply for converting sugars and the body receives too few of the essential sugars that are missing from the diet. These sugars need only be consumed in small quantities, and do not affect glycemic levels in the blood.<P The book describes how the importance of these sugars was discovered over the last 100 years, beginning with the use of vaccines to attack cancers by Dr. William Coley. The active ingredient in these successful vaccines was found to be a lipopolysaccharide by the National Cancer Institute in 1943. By taking the fat molecule off of the sugar, the resulting compound was easier to absorb without negative body reactions.

Essential sugars are found in many food sources including aloe vera, corn, wheat, leeks, carrots, radishes, red wine, coconut meat, tomatoes, breast milk, apples and grapefruit. There are also various supplements you can buy. The book describes which ones to buy, and how to start taking the supplements. You are encouraged to work with your physician if you take these supplements. They may not be appropriate for pregnant and nursing women, those on blood thinners, and those taking Indocin. If you are allergic to any of these foods or to the ingredients in the supplements, you can have an allergic reaction. Some people will also experience loose bowel movements and other side effects from the supplements.

I thought that the weakest part of the book was in not providing more information about how to create the minimum sugar consumption solely through food.

There are extensive discussions of how these essential sugars may help people with various illnesses including arthritis, diabetes, kidney failure, heart failure, hepatitis, various cancers (including reducing the side effects of cancer treatments), HIV, and high blood pressure. The book also discusses how these sugars may improve the functioning of joints (by rebuilding cartilage), memory, weight loss, and energy levels (for those with chronic fatigue syndrome and Fibromyalgia).

In most cases, these are in vitro and animal studies with the sugars, so how they will work on humans isn't known yet. However, Dr. Mondoa does describe individual case histories based on his clinical practice. In other cases, there are human studies. One of the most impressive was in China with reversing declining kidney functions. Another one with children in the United States showed a reduced rate of colds. Yet another shows that cartilage can be regrown. Another human study shows that aloe vera helps with Type II diabetes, cholesterol and triglycerides. So, there's probably something there, but we really won't know the full scope of what it is until many more human trials occur. Presumably, the next twenty years will fill in many of the gaps. In the meantime, it certainly looks like a wise thing to do to be sure that you are not lacking in these essential sugars.

I plan to share this book with all those I know who are suffering from the diseases mentioned here. I think this information is not well known in the medical community. For example, my father was experiencing loss of kidney function. His nephrologist at a well-known teaching hospital told my father he would be on dialysis within six months, and that diet didn't help. Yet there was already a Chinese study of humans showing that diet was very helpful. Ignorant of the Chinese study, my father changed his diet to include more fruits and vegetables of the sort described in the book and was back to full kidney function within a few months. The nephrologist never did understand what happened, and just told my father to keep doing whatever he was doing. I found the descriptions of the research to be very carefully articulated. So if you take this book along to your physician, she or he should be able to find the information to decide if some dietary or supplement changes would be in order. Since so many people are on blood thinners, these changes will have to be carefully done for those people. Since these sugars may help conditions requiring the blood thinners, perhaps some patients may be able to stop with the blood thinners at some point. Your physician can help you make a good decision.

Although this book doesn't talk about exercise, that is also an important component of any recovery program.

After you finish reading this book and decide what to do next to improve your health, I suggest you also think about how you can fill your day and mind with more healthful experiences and thoughts. Whom have you shown love to today? Whom have you given an essential hug to? Whom have you complimented who needed to be encouraged? Whom have you prayed for?

All of these ways of sharing will make you feel better too! Fill your life with all the essentials!

Dr. Mondoa and Mindy Kitei do a wonderful job of explaining the new science of glycobiology and glyconutrients. They use explanations that are easy to understand and apply. While reading the book, I identified so many symptoms that were described as being indications of improper cell to cell communication due to the lack of the 8 necessary sugars. The authors explained that the sugars are missing in today's diet because of green harvesting, over processing, cooking, and preserving. I decided to at least check out the information and give it a try.

After reading this book, I changed my diet to one that is closer to low glycemic and added glyconutrient supplements. Before making the change, I asked my internist to do baseline blood work. One month after making these changes, my blood work was checked again. My triglycerides and total choesterol had dropped 35-40 points. Within the next six weeks, the sun damaged skin on my forearms shed twice. Because of a severe sunburn in 1984, I had been going to the dermatologist every six months for the last 10 years because of kerotosis and pre-cancer spots. When I visited my dermatologist several months after improving my nutrition, he said my skin looked so good I wouldn't have to come back for a year. The pre-cancer spot on my arm that he had been watching was almost normal in color and texture as the skin under my arm. My internist verified my dermatologist's statements. After 5 months of adding glyconutrients, my good cholesterol doubled. My blood work continues to improve. The arthritis in my thumb, elbow, and knee is gone.

I just want to encourage others who may be suffering from similar ailments to read this book and make your own decision regarding improving your nutrition. I for one am glad that Dr. Mondoa and Mindy Kitei took the time to research this new technology and share what they learned in easy to understand language. I have recommended this book to my own doctors. They have been interested in my progress and continue to monitor my health. This should be a must read for all healthcare professionals.

Just a short comment. I have done my own literature review of glyconutrients and highly concur with the author's conclusions and recommendations. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in real cutting edge science in the field of nutrition. In my opinion, so much of the information in the health and wellness movement is frankly overstated or pure hype. However, the information found in this book is well researched. Glyconutrients are already being used to enhance and modulate natural immune response in many animal applications - salmon fry to felines as well as in humans and are the basis for the healing properties of many natural medicines. Go to Pubmed and use this search string "plant polysaccharides biological response modifier" to start your own search or just buy the book.

I picked up this book the first day it was available and read it from cover to cover that night. I have been interested in these "sugars" and using them since 1997, I was thrilled to read the information that Dr. Mondoa discusses. For almost 18 years I suffered from chronic fatigue immune disorder syndrome and fibromyalgia - within six months of ingesting these "sugars" every single symptom was gone to the amazement of my treating physician. It was thrilling to read this book and to know the sources to obtain the products so our bodies can heal. I have ordered two more copies to give as gifts!! A study was done in Nov/Dec 97 which identified the elements in human breastmilk - five of the "essential sugars" are in human breastmilk - its exciting! Now we all can read it for ourselves and educate many more people and physicians to the natural healing we all need and deserve! Be blessed!!

I bought this book after doing quite a bit of due diligence on the topic of glycomics and highly recommend it to anyone that is breathing. It is full of great information about this topic that is emerging as the missing link to optimal health and nutrition. In my research I found a few sites that are excellent resources as well glyconutritionfacts.com, glycoscience.org, and glycoinformation.com. Check them out but definitely pick up a copy of this book, you and your loved ones will be thankful you did.

This book provides valuable information that is hard to find and it is quick and easy to read. I have been on the book's website tracking down sources for the nutrients. The book explains many facts about our health, diet, and the effects of sugars that was not easily found elsewhere. I investigated several other books on glyconutrients and I got the impression that the authors were more concerned with book sales than providing information. Sugars That Heal seemed to be focused on provided well researched information... and they did a good job of doing it.
The only thing that I didn't like was that there was a disclaimer in each chapter citing that pregnant women should not do glyconutrients and that you should check with your doctor, etc. I know that it is necessary in these times, but it was still annoying.

Like the author, I had an experience with a dramatic improvement
(involving the health of my daughter}after taking glyconutrients. I questioned, how can this be? I did exhaustive research on the subject, and basically found all the information presented in this book. For an average person without a background in science, nutrition, and health this would have been a formidable task. I have such a background and it was still difficult to piece together the information, to answer all the questions raised by a class of nutrients which can have such far-reaching benefits to health. These nutrients, available in food need more study, but people can benefit now by learning more and altering their diet, or taking a supplement. There is information presented here that can help improve the health of many people. The information represents the "tip of the iceberg" in a field of cutting-edge science. It is information which seems too good to be true. You know the saying "If it seems too good to be true...it probably isn't true", well, in this case, for many individuals, glyconutrients may not only improve their health, but possibly even save their life. This is not the final word on glyconutrients, but it is a good start. I wish it had been around when I started my quest to find out more, it would have saved me a lot of time!!

My naturopath doctor told me the main ingredients in Mannatech's Ambrotose were arabinogalactan and mannose, so after searching on the internet I came up with this book about glyconutrients. It gave me enough research information I needed to try it, although not enough about breast cancer. It is written in laymen's terms too. I am sending it to a friend I know who has breast cancer with hopes it will help. The book is easy to read and casual, which I like. It tells of research done on many illnesses, most out of the United States. It also tells of stories of successful treatment on illnesses, but not research. I have been taking these healing sugars for 2 years, with no re-occurance of cancer, and 'my numbers' at the doctor are always really good!

The authors have done an incredible, thorough review of the literature on glyconutritionals. I have known for years the power of these sugar-based substances to heal -- and maintain optimal health. Nutritional supplement companies are getting the picture, such as the giant Mannatech, Inc.
The book is balanced and devoid of hype. All assertions are backed up by scientific validation. If you are serious about the quality of your life -- get this book.

In short, when you're ill, toxic, malnourished or under a great deal of stress or trauma, your body may fail to manufacture the tiny amounts of biological sugars that must be incorporated into the receptors. The cell receptor sites are made of glycoproteins -- glyconutrients and protein in varying combinations. These have specific function. Cellular function absolutely relies on correctly formed cell receptors; in fact, 86 diseases have been linked to malformed receptors. In particular, lupus has been linked to a deficiency of mannose.

Dr Mondoa does a good job of putting forth this information in a way everyone can understand. Quite simply: if you have cells....you need glyconutrients.