N-acetylglucosamine may help combat MS (Glyconutrition has its day in court)

[HysteryDiagnosis]

There have been many attacks on supplement companies that produce either aloe based extracts or sugar based nutritional therapies. They have been referred to as scam artists, snake oil salesmen and so forth.

I would like to present this article to show how and why when people have had their MS symptoms reduced or eliminated by glyconutrients that there is a reason for the results seen.... and it certainly is not the placebo effect. It is simple glycoprotein correction and activation and immune system modulation and regulation.

http://www.lef.org/whatshot/2011_10.htm#N-acetylglucosamine-may-help-combat-MS

October 01, 2011. In an article published online on September 29, 2011, in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers at the University of California, Irvine report that N-acetylglucosamine, a form of glucosamine (commonly used for arthritis), could be helpful in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that affects an estimated 2.5 million men and women worldwide.

In their introduction to the article, Dr Michael Demetriou and colleagues remark that “Current treatments and emerging oral therapies for multiple sclerosis (MS) are limited by effectiveness, cost and/or toxicity.” In previous research, the team found that inherited and environmental risk factors converge to influence the manner in which specific sugars are added to proteins that regulate the disease.

The current study utilized a mouse model of MS-like autoimmune disease. Dr Demetriou’s team found that orally administered N-acetylglucosamine suppressed T-cell hyperactivity and autoimmune response when given after the onset of the disease via greater sugar modifications to T cell proteins. “This sugar-based supplement corrects a genetic defect that induces cells to attack the body in MS making metabolic therapy a rational approach that differs significantly from currently available treatments,” explained Dr Demetriou, who is an associate professor of neurology and microbiology & molecular genetics at UC Irvine.

An earlier study conducted by Dr Demetriou found that supplementation with N-acetylglucosamine was associated with a reduction in the growth and function of T-cells responsible for autoimmune attack in a mouse model of diabetes. Other research found improvements in autoimmune inflammatory bowel disease after two years of treatment with the compound. “Together, these findings identify metabolic therapy using dietary supplements such as N-acetylglucosamine as a possible treatment for autoimmune diseases,” Dr Demetriou stated. “Excitement about this strategy stems from the novel mechanism for affecting T-cell function and autoimmunity — the targeting of a molecular defect promoting disease — and its availability and simplicity.”