Fascinating Aspects of Glycobiology—Part 2 (Sugar as a Nutrient?)

Larry A. Law

Glycobiology is the study of sugar. Most people have never heard of this science and would question why there needs to be an entire field of science dedicated to studying sugar. We all grew up believing sugar was just used for energy. Then, we learned that sugar can actually make us fat by way of a recently discovered (2010) biological process called de novo lipogenesis. 

​We have many misconceptions about the role of sugar in the body. Most of us know that too much sugar is bad and causes lots of problems. But, there are good sugars that surround every single cell in the human body. In fact, they surround every animal cell, line every plant cell wall, and surround every bacteria and virus too. Without these sugars, life could not exist. 

The Reason Behind My Study

​It is difficult for people to even know there are sugars in the body because they get called so many different names in the scientific and medical literature. Researchers use names like glycocalyx, cell receptors, cell-surface sugar-structures, antennas, glycoproteins, glycolipids, cell adhesion molecules, glycans, etc. Sugar turns out to be a very complex subject! But shouldn't someone have told us that there are sugar nutrients we need in our diet and that they are as important as vitamins and minerals? 

Let me share a little background as to why I began an in-depth study of this field of science. As I mention in the preface to my book There's An Elephant in the Room—Exposing Hidden Truths in the Science of Health, my wife Angie's immune system was extemely compromised. Angie had struggled and declined for 15 years. This motivated me to search for something that could help her. Her multiple doctors had run out of options—they said, "nothing else could be done." I never dreamed I would stumble across a field of science that would alter the course of our lives so significantly. Throughout my entire professional career, I loved science. But I had never heard of this science before. I was learning about something as basic as how the immune system communicates and yet it was completely new to me, the general public, and Angie's doctors. I realized it wasn't just about whether Angie had bad genes or if she had caught something toxic in the air! It was that the communication system within her body had broken down. Her cells and her immune system were not talking clearly. There was a language above the DNA that turns the genes on or off (epigenetics).

The Eight Sugars

​These nutritional sugars of glycobiology represented the letters or the vocabulary of that language (epigenetics). Their presence and correct positioning on the outside of her cells was the critical key player in her immune system's ability to prevent or fight disease. I was flabbergasted. And I learned a ton of other fascinating things that completely blew me away.

There were only eight sugars used by the cells to make cell receptors. Glucose and galactose were familiar to me. But mannose, fucose, xylose, n-acetyl glucosamine, n-acetyl galactosamine, and n-acetyl neuraminic acid or sialic acid were not familiar. Stay tuned and I'll share some of the amazing things they do alone and in combination with each other.

​Below is a depiction of the sugar mannose (one of the eight) in its right (D=dextro) and left (L=levo) orientation. Even though the atoms are the same, the reflected transposition creates a molecule with entirely unique properties in the body. In fluid, the ends wrap around and form a ring. Simple sugars are complex!​

Next week I will discuss how one sugar missing on a red blood cell represents the difference between life and death!