What are
Glyconutrients, and How They Help with
ADHD?
Craig Broussard
Of the last
eight Nobel prizes, four have been awarded for reasons
relating to glyconutrients. These eight essential
sugars are proving to have incredible possibilities in
the areas of both health and medicine. This makes
them a part of a group called Nutraceuticals – meaning
that they are a combination of nutrition and
pharmaceuticals.
Nutraceuticals are natural, food-based
substances that have been designed to have
pharmacological effects on the human body. The
term was coined by the Food and Nutrition Board of the
Institute of Medicine, in order to take in all of the
natural, standardized, non-toxic dietary supplements
that are used in order to better a person’s
nutrition.
To understand
the word “Glyconutrient”, it can be broken down to its
sub-parts. “Glyco” means “sweet”, and is therefore
used to refer to a carbohydrate or sugar molecule.
“Sugar,” “carbohydrate”, and “saccharide” are all terms
that are used equally and interchangeably.
Nutrients are the parts of food that provide the body
with essential nourishment, such as vitamins, fats,
carbohydrates, sugars, and minerals. Therefore,
glyconutrients are the types of foods and nutritional
supplements that provide sugars and other glycoforms
(the large carbohydrate molecules that bond with
proteins or lipids to coat the surface of all kinds of
living cells) that are essential to the body.
Unfortunately, however, these glyconutrients are rarely
adequate in most diets today.
These
glyconutrients impact the body in a substantial way,
having a very positive effect on the immune
system. Several diseases, disorders, and symptoms
are currently being treated with great success by
glyconutrients. For example, when used in
conjunction with surgeries, chemotherapies, and/or
radiations, they have shown to reduce the undesirable
side effects of such treatments so that the patient can
heal and recover more rapidly than with the treatments
alone.
The sugars
contained in all glyconutrients are also an important
part of the functioning of the brain and nervous
system. On this vein, they have been found not
only to help with sleep problems, but will also provide
comparably successful results among ADD/ADHD patients,
without the negative side effects and possible abuse and
habit formation seen in the typical treatments that
involve stimulant medications.
In fact, among
the results seen in ADD/ADHD patients is not only a
reduction in hyperactivity and increase in focus, but
also a decrease in other symptoms related both directly
and indirectly to ADD, such as anxiety and
depression.
The potential of
glyconutrients is absolutely astounding, and scientists
are currently racing to keep up with the possible uses
that they offer. For the ADHD community, it is a
breath of fresh air – the same kind of discovery that
penicillin offered the rest of the world.
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