Over the past few years, stem cells have been getting a lot of attention. What makes them so interesting is their ability to stimulate the production of many types of healthy cells. That means that a single stem cell can turn itself into brain cells, liver cells, skin cells, pancreas cells, and so on.

In February of 2003, an article about stem cells was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). A team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Center reported, for the first time, that undifferentiated donor stem cells were able to cross the blood brain barrier and morph themselves into neuronal cells.

This was an especially important finding because, of all the cells in the body, neuron cells are the most advanced and complicated. This is significant because it means that if stem cells can morph themselves into brain neurons, then, chances are they can transform themselves into other types of cells too.

In a separate but related area of science, there is a growing body of evidence that a specialized area of nutrition called glyconutrition is very likely responsible for causing the body to manufacture its own stem cells from its own bone marrow. This research is being overseen by Dr. Reg McDaniel M.D. at the Fischer Institute.

Until the JAMA article came out, Dr. McDaniel's team were in quite a quandary as to how people with varying neurological disorders such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Children's Cerebral Palsy, Down's Syndrome, and Autism, were all experiencing increases in brain function when glyconutrients and other micronutrients were added to their diets.

After the initial discovery that stem cells stimulated the growth of neuron cells, researchers wanted to know if these newly created neuron cells worked correctly. To do this, they turned their attention to children in comas. One was a boy who had been in a coma for three years. Glyconutrients were added to his feeding tube and within five days his doctor started seeing changes in his brain function.

All this is became even more noteworthy when it was discovered that this wasn't an isolated case. Other cases have been reported in which children have been awakened from long-term comas after receiving glyconutritional supplements introduced through feeding tubes.

Following up on these findings, a group of pediatric neurologists have begun a glyconutrition study on 20 children who are in comas.

In yet another case study, a six-year-old boy had been in a coma for three years. During that time his EEG measurements were virtually flat. Glyconutrients were introduced into his diet and over a six-month period, his EEG activity increased significantly. Here again was a clear connection between the introduction of glyconutrients and restored neurological brain function.

In another study, Sara, a premature infant with fetal alcohol syndrome, who also had heart defects and cerebral palsy at birth, underwent a dramatic turn for the better when glyconutrients were introduced to her regimen. In this case, Sara was born prematurely and the only way to introduce glyconutrients into her little body was to rub a special glyconutritional cream into her skin. This went on until she was well enough to go home from the hospital. After that, her mother regularly added glyconutrients to her formula.

When she was four years old, she was examined by her pediatric specialist. Amazingly, he found no evidence of fetal alcohol syndrome or cerebral palsy. Even better, her little heart had developed normally and no longer required surgery.

One of the interesting aspects of this particular case history is that Sara was photographed when she was born and her face showed the obvious distorted characteristics of a child with severe fetal alcohol syndrome. By the time she was four years old, all of her facial anomalies disappeared. Her IQ also increased from less than 80 to over 100. For a child born with fetal alcohol syndrome, this type of recovery is virtually unprecedented.

Now, while these individual case histories are quite remarkable, they do not in and of themselves constitute scientific proof. However, they have generated a lot of hope and more importantly, have stimulated interest on the part of the medical community to conduct new studies and research in this exciting and fast growing area of nutritional technology.

(Note: Dietary supplements are designed to improve nutrition rather than to treat disease. However, scientific research has established a connection between nutrition and many disease conditions.)