Why is our health - both individually and nationally - deteriorating? Some diseases are increasing at epidemic rates: asthma, hay fever, allergies, auto-immune diseases, diabetes and rates of obesity have risen dramatically in recent years. Is it bad luck or could it be missing nutrients in our diet?

July 10, 2004 -- The Greek word "Glyco" means "Sugar". Most people think of sugar as being bad for you. However, there are actually TWO kinds of sugars. One is the refined or "extracellular" sugars which have been long associated with human disease. The other sugars are "intracellular" which can be found in fruits and vegetables and provide the body with nutrition it needs. These sugars, also known as “complex carbohydrates” have been studied for years. However, only recently have we begun discovering their purpose in the body.

To maintain a healthy body, cells must "talk" to each other. Their language is one of touch, written in saccharides (or simple sugars) on the cell surfaces. These simple sugars combine with other molecules to make glycoforms such as glycoproteins when combined with proteins or glycolipids when combined with fat. Of the 200 monosaccharides that occur naturally in plants, 8 have been discovered to be components in the cell surface glycoforms (see Harper's Textbook of Biochemistry--1996). Like thousands of different "keys" projecting from the cell surface, they will either unlock the required functions of the adjoining cell or not. If the right keys