The National Academy of Science states that every disease affecting humans significantly involves glycans (glycobiology sugars). Every disease? Almost all disease can fit into two categories. Disease is either autoimmune or degenerative. Some examples of autoimmune include Hashimoto's, multiple sclerosis (MS), myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis—there are more than 100 of them! 

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the body doesn't produce enough insulin or doesn't use insulin properly, leading to high blood sugar levels. This insulin imbalance prevents glucose from entering cells to be used for energy, causing it to remain in the blood. It is a disease of sugar, but most people are unaware of how a lack of  structural sugars associated with glycobiology can cause this disease. 

​The National Academy of Science observed in 2012 that the "elimination of any single, major class of glycans [8 biological sugars] from an organism or cell results in death." And that death is immediate because essential cellular communications are disrupted. Daily operations necessary for sustaining life cannot happen. I used to think the nucleus was the brains of the cell. But scientists can remove a nucleus (a process called denucleation) and the cell can still live for months. Red blood cells don't even have a nucleus and they live for four months! Without a nucleus, the cell can't reproduce on its own and cannot repair itself because there is no DNA code inside to tell it what to do. Without instructions, it can't perform these functions. But it can live day to day and perform the purpose it was designed for (like carrying oxygen throughout the body until it wears out). 

Every molecule, cell, or organism that interacts with a cell must do so in context of the glycocalyx. The glycocalyx is the surface membrane surrounding the cell. All interactions with the cell occur via cell-surface, sugar structures called cell receptors (glycoproteins or glycolipids) on the glycocalyx. Even more amazing, nearly every biological process supporting the life of the cell involves these sugars. Enzymatic reactions, transcripting DNA into mRNA, initiation and continuation of metabolic processes all entail sugars communicating and identifying needed actions within the cell cytoplasm.
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Communication from outside the cell to inside the cell is like a man typing on his laptop or cell phone. The keyboard represents the sugars and is the interface between the outside world (what the man wants to do) and the inside world of the computer (responding appropriately to handle the request from the outside world and take care of business on the inside to get things done).

The National Academy of Science stated that "every living cell on the planet is covered with a dense and complex array of glycans." This array of sugars is called the glycocalyx in humans. It also represents the cell wall in plants. Humans have somewhere around 200 different types of cells classified into four tissue types: epithelial (internal surface linings), muscle, nerve, and connective. Each type of cell has a different structure, size, shape, function, and organelles (factories within). Scientists currently estimate there are 37 trillion cells constituting the adult male, human body. Each one of these cells had a shroud or beard of sugars covering its surface. And it isn't just human cells. Every cell in every animal has sugars covering their surface. Every plant on planet earth has cell walls comprised of sugars on their surface. Humans have 39 trillion microbes (bacteria) within their body. That quantity is more than the number of cells that make up our body. That means, we are more bacteria (by number) than we are human cells! Fortunately, bacteria are a lot smaller so you don't see them very easily.