Glyconutrients

If you are like me, you might like to go to a local shop and buy glyconutrients. But this is not possible and it is unlikely you will see them in the supermarket anytime soon. There is only one supplier of glyconutrients - Mannatech, and you can only buy them online.

Most people like to shop around and get the best price on glyconutrients before they buy them. This is simply not worth doing. With Mannatech the only supplier, and no such thing as wholesale prices, you might as well buy glyconutrients directly from Mannatech. The online suppliers that claim to offer discounts and specials or wholesale prices are scammers that are operating on one form of deception or another.

If you decide you are going to buy glyconutrients from Mannatech, it starts to get complicated. Mannatech sells its products via multi level marketing (MLM) and you have to buy the glyconutrient products through/from/under a Mannatech Associate. Any Mannatech Associate would want you to buy the glyconutrient product through them, because they get commission on it. Even if you go directly to Mannatech and order products, you will be randomly allocated to an associate who will receive the commission from your purchase.

If at this point you have decided you still want to buy the products - because glyconutrients are too important for your health so you will have to put up with the problems of MLM. There are many options when buying glyconutrients, not just in terms of products, but in terms of the packs or deals you can get. The simple guide to buying from Mannatech is the more you buy, the cheaper you get the products.

What this all means is that you cannot buy glyconutrients in supermarkets, and you can’t get an amazing deal shopping online. My advise is to simply review the options for buying from Mannatech, and ignore the misleading and deceptive cons that can be found on the web.

There are some interesting views on the web about what people think of glyconutrients and autism. Here is a small collection gathered from all over the web.

Researchers have concluded that over 70% of all disease and aging are caused by Oxidants, also known as free radicals, from polluted air, water, toxins, chemicals, stress and much more.

At this time, glyconutrients are not as yet scientifically proven to work with autism and the best move at this time would be to get more information from your doctor, before going ahead with their use.

Because each child with autism is different, the GFCF Diet will work for one child, but have absolutely no effect on another. Studies on the GFCF Diet have shown mixed results, because of this.

Research accumulated over several decades has led to the discovery and establishment of an entirely new category of essential nutrients that is radically changing the way medicine will be practiced. This new category of nutrients is allowing the body to correct and/or prevent health challenges in ways even the most optimistic health care professional never thought possible.

Glyconutritionals are not designed for use in the treatment of disease or in place of a doctor’s care or proven therapy. Glyconutrients are designed to support human physiology through improved nutrition. Glyconutritionals and Nutraceutical products are nutritional supplements which are not meant to substitute a well balanced diet and regular exercise. Glyconutritionals have been developed based on a solid foundation of science and on the principle that real nutrition can effectively support the body’s natural physiology to maintain wellness. Everyone, regardless of state of health, can benefit from improved nutrition.

Sugars, generally speaking, are given a bad name due to refined sugars serious negative health effects. Within the human body there are actually eight essential sugars, just as there are essential amino acids and essential fatty acids. The eight known essential sugars, referred to as ‘glyconutrients’.

“Sugars that heal” it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it’s the key to one of the most important breakthroughs in recent medical science. We’ve all been bombarded with warnings about the evils of consuming too much sugar.

In August 1996, researchers at Mannatech™ took a giant step in securing a proprietary position in the rapidly changing, constantly expanding nutritional supplement industry with the filing of a new set of composition and use patent claims for a unique nutritional supplement—Ambrotose® complex

Mannatech began its meteoric rise in the world of network marketing with the development of a proprietary substance called Manapol®. The company offers a scientific rationale for the use of this product, claiming that various sugars - technically, monosaccharides and polysaccharides - provide specific sugars to the body that help support the immune system and facilitate cell-to-cell communication. In 1996, the company introduced its Ambrotose Complex®, a blend of Manapol and additional glyconutrients.

Supplement Facts

Serving Size 1 Capsule (0.6 g)

Amount Per % Daily Serving Values

Ambrotose® complex 150 mg (patent pending) Arabinogalactan (Larix decidua) (gum), Manapol® aloe vera gel extract (inner leaf gel), gum ghatti and gum tragacanth. † † Daily Value not established. Other ingredients: Brown rice flour, silicon dioxide, stearic acid, gelatin.

Describing Ambrotose, the company’s website states the following:

Ambrotose is a glyconutritional, a blend of specific plant saccharides that provides support for the immune system. These saccharides are necessary for the body’s creation of glycoforms, the structures on cell surfaces used to ‘talk’ to other cells.

Ambrotose later evolved into Ambrotose Complex®, which, according to the company, is a mixture of Arabinogalactan (a gum from the Larix decidua tree), Manapol, which is a gel extracted from the inner leaf of aloe vera gel plant, gum ghatti, and gum tragacanth.

In this article I will go in search of the miracle - the miracle sugars called glyconutrients or glyconutrionals.

The first thing to realise is the checkered past of glyconutrients. Discovered in the 1990s in studies in glycobiology, glyconutrients have been packaged, patented and marketed to the world in the form of Mannatec’s product Ambrotose (and related products).

Glyconutrients are also called the eight essential sugars, miracle sugars, essential carbohydrates, and probably many others. Whatever you want to call them, the miracle lies in the fact they can supplement our bad modern diet. Even if you think you eat well you don’t. The lack of variety, freshness, and cooking has reduced the number of the different glyconutrients we get in our diets. This miracle sugar simply gives our bodies these essential sugars.

Many of the current medical conditions that plague our society are exacerbated by a lack of the all the essential glyconutrients – quite simply our bodies do not have what is required to keep itself healthy – especially with all the stress and chemicals it is exposed to.

Depending on what you think is a miracle, then this could be because it offers a possible solution to many health concerns. Many things about the marketing of this product get in the way, but that does not change the fact that they are truly miracle sugars.

When I heard about this I felt a moral obligation to tell as many other about it as possible. It was recently brought to my attention that a product called Ambrotose, produced by Mannatech Inc, has been proven by independent studies to be an effective treatement of Lupus, MS and Chronic Fatigue; among other auto-immune diseases, such as our less common Myasthenia Gravis. Ambrotose is a complex of naturally occuring mono-sacharides and poly-sacarides that have been put together in a caplsule form or in a powder. It is completely non-toxic and has no side effects.

I learned of its ability to work on CFS,Lupus, and MS patients in helping to naturally modulate the immune system, as I listened to the Nugent Report, a radio show based in California. One of the doctors interviewed was a Dr. Darryl See who had done extensive research on Ambrotose compared to drugs and to about 400 other natural compounds. He and all the other doctors were simply amazed at how effective it is. It either got the Chronic Fatigue patient off all other drugs and living a normal life within six moths or it greatly reduced the amount of drugs the patient had to take. Chronic Fatigue is different in symptoms than Myasthenis Gravis, but similar in cause…a immune system that is not correctly modulated. When patients recieved what their bodies needed to get the immune system to function properly they no longer exibited the symptoms to the extreme degree as they did before taking Ambrotose. And in many instances, after being on Ambrotose for a matter of months, they no longer needed drugs at all.  From medhelp.org
I start suspecting that there is something not right about the promotion of a product - such as glyconutrients - when there is hardly any studies published on Medline regarding glyconutrient supplementation by itself and its effects on human health and cancer prevention and treatment, yet the internet abounds with websites promoting the concept or the products. I can only find two published studies on glyconutrients. Both of these studies have been done in vitro - basically a test tube study - as opposed to a live human study, and one study could well be a fraud. Recently I had a friend ask me about glyconutrients and then we had several emails asking about glyconutrients. So, I decided to look into it. I checked the index of Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, a textbook on nutrition, and could not find the words glyconutrient or glyconutrients in the index. I found the word glycoprotein but no glyconutrient. From Ray Sahelian

October, 2006

Texas Attorney General probing Mannatech
By Herb Greenberg, MarketWatch
Oct 27, 2006

SAN DIEGO (MarketWatch) — The Texas Attorney General’s office is investigating and has considered taking legal action against Mannatech, a fast-growing manufacturer of nutritional supplements, whose stock has been one of the year’s sizzlers.

Its lead product, Ambrotose — formally known as a “glyconutritional” — is a type of sugar pill that has been touted for its ability to treat all sorts of ailments, including Down’s Syndrome. The product is sold through company’s 490,000 person direct-sales network.

An Oct. 24 memorandum in response to a public information request says the state’s top cop has “anticipated filing suit against Mannatech” for a number of alleged violations.

The public information request was filed by someone who has sold short Mannatech’s shares.
The memo further states that the company has been under investigation by the attorney general’s Consumer Protection and Public Health Division since July 2005 regarding possible violations of the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act “and other related consumer protection statues.”

Subsequently, the Texas Department of State Health Services contacted the attorney general’s office “with similar concerns…” Among those concerns, the memo says, are “unproven health claims” allegedly made by Mannatech about its products, “such as the ability to cure or treat cancer” and other ailments.
“The claims being made are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, making the claims potentially in violation of both state and federal law,” the memo says. “There is also concern that Mannatech does not disclose certain health risks associated with its product.”

Mannatech General Counsel Keith Clark did not return my call Thursday. A spokesman for the Attorney General wouldn’t comment beyond the memo’s disclosure. He explained the detail regarding the investigation was included in the memo to explain why certain information should be exempt from the public information request.
In September the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reported that two former Mannatech employees who had been quoted in a shareholder class action lawsuit against the company had also been interviewed by the Texas Attorney General.

The story also quoted Mannatech Chairman and Chief Executive Sam Caster as saying that legitimate statements relating to lifestyle improvements are often misunderstood as cures. “We walk the fine line of always stating our case appropriately and always training our people: ‘We’re not into the treatment, cure or mitigation of disease,” he said. “We’re into the improvement of quality of life. Now, who can benefit from good nutrition? Sick people, well people, everybody. Everybody benefits from good nutrition.”

Glyconutrients are a rapidly rising star in the world of alternative medicine. There are a number of good studies and many anecdotal reports and case histories reporting the effectiveness of glyconutrients in dealing with arthritis.

At the moment twenty-one million people in the US suffer from arthritis. There has been a lot of research that identifies the relationship between arthritis and nutrition. Without the proper nutrients, our organs and body systems begin a slow process of degeneration. Glyconutrients have the potential to slow and even reverse this process and allow the body to regenerate.
Testimonial for Glyconutrients and Arthritis:
Thelma had fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, wasn’t sleeping at night, allergies, asthma, fibroid tumors, and high blood pressure. She was on 15 medications that were making her sick. When she started on glyconutrients she was feeling better after three weeks. Within five months she wasn’t in pain and was off of her medications.

Ambrotose® complex is Mannatech’s proprietary brand name for a family of dietary supplements that support the body’s immune system to help achieve and maintain optimal health and wellness. Among these products are Advanced Ambrotose™, Ambrotose AO® and original Ambrotose® complex.

On August 16, 2005, Mannatech received its first United States patent for beneficial nutritional saccharides related to its Ambrotose® complex technology.  Mannatech continues to pursue additional patent filings related to its Ambrotose® complex technology and products.

The U.S. patent on Ambrotose® will join Mannatech’s growing international patent portfolio, which currently includes 18 countries that have issued a patent related to Ambrotose® complex.

In addition to the United States, the company now holds registered patents on its Ambrotose® complex in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

“It’s been a lot of work, but things of great value are worth waiting for,” commented Dr. Bill McAnalley, researcher and lead inventor of the Ambrotose® complex. “In granting this patent, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has confirmed that Ambrotose® complex is novel and useful, and Mannatech’s sales growth reflects the product’s value. I’m so grateful for the opportunity God has given me to help make a difference in the lives of so many people.”

Patent Breaches

Mannatech filed the patent-infringement lawsuit in the U.K. against Bion and its principal in February.

In an order filed with the High Court of Justice patents court in London, Bion agreed to stop breaching Mannatech’s U.K. patent on technology related to Ambrotose complex, a unique glyconutritional formulation Mannatech introduced in 1996. Bion also agreed to stop the manufacture, sales and importation of all dietary supplements related to glyconutrition “in any form and by any means.”

“Mannatech will defend its intellectual property and vigorously pursue infringements,” said Bettina Simon, senior vice president and general counsel of Mannatech.

Our bodies use glyconutrients to prevent infections and diseases, and slow the aging process (Glyconutrients Reference). This is primarily because glyconutrients enable cell to cell communication and allow the body to naturally regenerate. Mannatech’s Ambrotose Complex has been enhanced for anti-aging benefits and is called Ambrotose AO. Ambrotose AO contains antioxidants which have been shown to reduce the causes of aging.

Other people say other things:

It has been brought to my attention that the reversal of the downhill slide in health that usually occurs in the 6th decade of life can be reversed. If a person starts glyconutrient supplementation at any age and uses them continuously the process of degeneration may be postponed 20-25 years.

Sadly, we are all going to die but what a blessing if our last couple of decades could be lived in good health without debilitation progressive loss of functions. The body at the cellular level is not necessarily matched with external looks. Your body may regenerate internally. You can look younger through age reversal. 

Glyconutrients can help your health and the Immune System to modulate itself, give you energy and they are one of the very few natural products around that can genuinely help to slow down aging, so they can be said to be anti aging.

Researchers have concluded that over 70% of all diseases and aging are caused by oxidants (Free Radicals).

The antioxidant combination may work synergistically in the body to support good health and reduce damage to DNA, cells and tissues, which may lead to premature aging.

Most reviews of Ambrotose give it 9 or 10 out of 10. There are though some specific good and bad points to Ambrotose that deserve mentioning.

Good Points
Products like Ambrotose Complex contain Arabinogalactan and other plant-derived polysaccharides (complex carbohydrates) which have immune stimulating properties. Arabinogalactan is a naturally occurring carbohydrate found in most plant life, though it is most abundant in the larch tree (Larix sp.). It may increase natural killer (NK) cell and macrophage activity and inhibit bacteria from attaching to cells. Other ingredients sometimes included in these formulas include: aloe vera gel; astragalus root; maitake mushroom extract; bovine colostrum and whey extract.
1. Not an unpleasant taste
2. Gives great energy levels
3. Strengthens immune system, (no colds or coughs/flu for approx 3 yrs)
4. No unsafe upper limit; take as much as you want.
5. Lots of scientific validation & doctor’s recommendations (see glycoscience.com)
6. Used by NHS GPs, Physicians, Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners alike (I know one UK NHS GP who uses to help with own cancer issues)
7. Even babies can take it (mixed in formula)
8. Brilliant for auto-immune conditions and immuno depressive disorders alike as it has immunomodulating ability and is not a regulator as such.
9. Doesn’t interfere with body’s natural physiology. (No side affects)
10. Provides missing nutrients (Building blocks) for the body to get to work protecting, defending and healing itself.
11. Is really just a food (carbohydrate)
12. Good for diabetics
13. Brilliant for weight loss
14. Good for sports people
15. Friends have used it and got good results with just tiny amounts. (source: reviewcentre.com)
Bad Points
Usually the problem most people have with non pharmeceutical produts is not recieving a “quick fix”. Most of the people that I know who have taken enough of the products for at least 4mths have seen excellant results. If you are going to use Ambrotose give a chance to help your body heal itself, chances are it took several years to get to point you are at now.

1. If tackling a known medical condition can need lots (3 tablespoons a day with terminal cancers etc) so expensive for some. (One friend with MS needed a lot although it did bring improvements)
2. Can take 3 months or more before benefits are obvious, but boy, when they kick in it’s amazing!
3. Relatively unknown in many circles, especially NHS GPs
4. Doctors are sometimes very scathing of anything that isn’t a drug and so they can sometimes be very objectionable about using it (unless they have done their own research into it). So it can be difficult to get doctor to agree to allow you to use it.
5. Only very few double blind Placebo tests yet (plenty of peer reviewed and positive case studies though)
6. Sold through MLM so people prejudge with suspicion.
7. Really most effective if taken as part of an ‘Optimal Health Plan’ using ‘Catalyst’ (Vitamins & Minerals), PLUS (Herbal Amino Acid), and ‘Ambrotose AO’ (Anti-Oxidant product), due to synergistic relationship between products, otherwise people tend not to experience benefits before they give up thinking it doesn’t work.
8. Only legally available through one company due to patent protection.
9. Can be awkward to mix (powder) unless you drip water or juice on to a little in a cup then mix to a paste and then add more fluid.
10. Being sold in the way it is, there are some people representing the products that have dollar signs in their eyes and have little sensitivity to people’s needs and conditions. Fortunately there are some really lovely caring people who help others with this if you look around.
11. Doesn’t do magic; if diet is rubbish then no amount of any supplements will correct that.
12. Because it is replacing missing nutrients, if you stop taking it, the deficiency that caused the symptoms in the first place may return.
13. Capsule form can be less effective for some people, or needs too much to make a difference. (source: reviewcentre.com)