Weird how sugars seems to be the flavour of the day

August 23, 2007

Tags: flu, glyconutrients, plant sugars, vaccines, wellness
Posted in: food, glyconutrition, health

How weird is that. Sugar, once deemed the enemy of everyone seeking to be healthy is now put forward as an aid to health. To be more correct a specific plant sugar seems to aid a vaccine work better. Sucrose is still the enemy but specific bilogically active sugars seem to be the flavour of the day. Read below.

Sugar could help fight flu

Posted Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:00am AEST
Updated Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:02am AEST

Researchers are hopeful of boosting the fight against influenza with natural plant sugars. (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)

Research has shown that a component of the natural sugars in plants could make flu vaccines up to 100 times more effective.

The head of the Diabetes and Endocrinology Department at Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, has discovered that it can safely boost the effectiveness of commercial influenza vaccines.

He says the natural sugar helps stimulate the human immune system.

Professor Petrovsky says it has the potential to offer much higher protection against influenza-A and to extend vaccine supplies.

“It actually only requires a much smaller does of vaccine, which means that vaccine supplies which currently can be quite stretched would go a lot further,” he said.

“Hopefully everyone would be able to receive a vaccine, not just high risk groups.”

The hospital is looking for people to trial a vaccine containing the substance.

“It could potentially be available within a year or two,” Professor Petrovsky said.

“I think if we did face a flu pandemic then we’d be doing everything we can to see it made available immediately rather than to have to even wait that long.”

Professor Petrovsky thinks it could work equally well in the avian flu vaccine.

We know that not only is he right but he’s about 15 years behind the times as a company in the USA used just the same technique in the fight to help a vaccine used in poultry - it increased its effectiveness by 20% or more.

Paul barton

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