The Story:
Sugar has a bad reputation in the discussion of healthy nutrition. It causes weight gain and increases the likelihood of diabetes, heart trouble, and a lot of other undesirable developments. Nobody ever even says “on the other hand” at this point. On the other hand, perhaps they should.
Significance:
The human body contains some cells that eat away at bones, consuming about 10% of bone mass each year. This is not disease, it is part of a normal cycle. Each year, also, other cells build up and replace that bone.
One of the symptoms of bone marrow cancer is that one’s bones become perforated. The bone consuming cells become too numerous and they overwhelm the work of the bone restoration gang.
New research indicates, somewhat surprisingly, that sugar consumption may be critical to the preservation of bones. Scientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology say that experimental mice with bone cancer who are receiving sugar water have smaller perforations in their bones than those who don’t receive that sugar water.
In Pill Form:
The experiment above described employed a specific type of sugar: other sorts are said to have been ineffective. And the result, on mice, leave us years away from any use on humans. But this is a fascinating finding that something very simple and natural may prove valuable in the treatment of an awful disease.
