BOOK REVIEW

The Healing Power of ⁸SugarS: An Amazing Breakthrough in Nutrition, Science and Medicine

Compiled and Edited by Allan C. Somersall PhD, MD

The Natural Wellness group, Ontario USA 2005 ISBN 0-9737317-0-2 Available through Amazon.co.uk starting from £8.32

This book promises much on the cover - “Doctors reveal the missing link in nutrition” and “What Doctors want YOU to know about Glyconutrients, the 8 Sugars vital to your health” all add to the implication that this is a really important book in nutrition and health. And it is. A collection of chapters by twenty health professionals, detailing different areas where glyconutrients have shown positive benefits to health outcomes and reasons why this may be, this book is an excellent read for the nutrition enthusiast and professional alike. The language used aims to be open to the public but the substance of the text frequently requires a level of understanding of basic biochemistry to get the full import of the information.

The quality of information in the chapters is variable – the majority are excellent, especially if you have a science background and can understand the more technical details - but there are a few chapters that use loose terminology, potentially leading to a level of confusion as to what certain substances actually are. The term “sugar” is misused in several chapters, even to the extent of describing aspartame as a “synthetic sugar”, which it most certainly isn’t. As a book designed to be informative to the lay person and the professional alike, it would benefit from being consistent and accurate in its descriptions of substances. Similarly, in chapter 11 it was implied that synthetic sugars get turned into triglycerides in the body – this is true of most sugars, synthetic or natural, if the sugars are taken in excess of what the body requires. It is not true of aspartame or any non-carbohydrate artificial sweetener and that paragraph is misleading in what it implies rather than what it actually says.

Some chapters are perhaps more useful than others – one in particular seems to be continuing much of the somewhat outmoded terminology of Good and Bad substances (namely sugars and cholesterol) and doesn’t get to glyconutrients until over halfway through the chapter. The chapter on Dental Health finally addresses the terminology of sugars – perhaps this would have been more useful in the introductory stages of the book.

Chapter 16, entitled A Pathologist Looks Back, should be compulsory reading for all nutrition professionals who have to deal with the medical profession on any level – it is an open and honest explanation of ‘how the doctors are taught to think and work’ and although it is American, it has much relevance for other nationalities, I am sure.

Glyconutrients themselves are available in certain foods, detailed in Appendix A. Appendix B is marginally less useful as, although it describes primary, secondary and tertiary sources of the eight vital sugars, there are no guidelines to quantities required or ratios between each of the sugars. Within the text of the book it is stated several times that one cannot take an excess of the sugars – but a little guidance on an adequate amount would improve the book. Overall, this book is an excellent resource full of valuable information in various areas of health and illness and with many interesting case histories, most of which show wonderful results - the one down side appears to be that, in most cases, cessation of the glyconutrients resulted in return of the poor health conditions. This appears to make them more of a “patch” than a “fix” but one that is essential to continue if one wants to enjoy good health. However, it would be interesting to know what benefit routine consumption of glyconutrients would have on health prior to degenerating into a disease state, if a way to obtain such knowledge could be found. It is also the case that, as with so many things, glyconutrients should not be judged in isolation - it may be that the people who improve whilst on them and degenerate again when they come off them require improved levels of other vital nutrients as well to maintain the health improvements.

Ann Woodriff BSc (Hons), MSc, Dip Raworth, ITEC, IIHHT is a part-time lecturer on the BSc (Hons) course in Nutritional Therapy at the Centre for Nutrition Education. She worked in the NHS for 10 years as a laboratory scientist in haematology and transfusion before re-training as a complementary therapist in massage, reflexology, dietary therapy and aromatherapy. She currently divides her time between her busy clinic, her lecturing and college administration and sub-editing of the journal, The Nutrition Practitioner.

Taken from: The Nutrition Practitioner 2 Summer 2005