Besides being used as sweetener and preservative, new research shows sugar is more effective than modern medicine.
Innovative University of Wolverhampton senior lecturer, Moses Murandu, is researching the healing effect of sugar on cuts and wounds. He carried out the research into the effect of sugar on patients’ wounds on the vascular ward at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, funding the study himself for six months.
Murandu, 43, grew up in Zimbabwe, where he watched his father treating wounds and reducing pain by pouring granulated sugar directly into wounds. But when he moved to the UK, he realised that sugar was not used for this purpose.
“When I was a child, my father used sugar or salt and I grew up without realising that something that works so well is not widely used,” he said.
His research found granulated sugar poured directly on leg ulcers, bed sores, and amputations promotes healing when antibiotics and other modern medicine have failed.
It works because bacteria needs water to grow, so applying sugar to a wound draws the water away and starves the bacteria of water. This prevents the bacteria from multiplying and they die. Moses found that a 25 per cent sugar concentration ensures the microorganisms cannot survive.
Explaining why sugar instead of salt is more effective Murandu, said:
“While salt is painful, sugar is not and reduces the pain drastically. The patients we have tested it on in the pilot study have said that they never knew such a simple method could make such a difference to their quality of life.”
One of the patients who received sugar treatment on a wound as part of the research was 62-year-old Alan Bayliss from Birmingham.
“I was a little sceptical at first but once I saw the sugar in operation, I was impressed,” he said.
Bayliss had undergone an above-the knee amputation on his right leg at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and, as part of the surgery, a vein was removed from his left leg leaving a wound which would not heal properly.
Murandu, who is studying for a doctorate at Birmingham University, was contacted and asked to treat the wound with sugar and the outcome was impressive.
“It has been revolutionary. The actual wound was very deep - it was almost as big as my finger,” said Bayliss.
“When Moses first did the dressing he almost used the whole pot of sugar, but two weeks later he only needed to use four or five teaspoons.
“I am very pleased indeed. I feel that it has speeded up my recovery a lot, and it has been a positive step forward. I was a little sceptical at first but once I saw the sugar in operation and how much it was drawing the wound out, I was impressed.”
The randomised control trial at three West Midlands hospitals is only half way through. So far, 35 patients have been treated with sugar treatment.
Murandu, and his research team are pleased by the results so far.
“I believe in sugar and the nurses and doctors who see the effects are beginning to believe in it too.”
Staff nurse Jonathan Janneman commented on the effect the treatment is having on the patients:
“He could see the cavity in his leg as well as having been unwell and through operations. But the sugar has given him something to hold on to.
“It is amazing that something as simple as sugar has given him a morale boost.”
Sugar has also featured in both folk and traditional South Asia medicine. It has been used to treat ailment ranging from coughs to constipation. The roots and stems of sugar cane are used in Ayurvedic medicine (one of the world’s oldest medicine originated in India).
They treat skin and urinary tract infections, bronchitis, heart conditions, loss of milk production, cough, anaemia, constipation as well as general debility. They also lower blood pressure and use to cure hiccups.
Though eating sugar cane either as juice or as raw cane, can lead to tooth decay, some compounds in the juice may protect teeth from the worst effects of sugar.
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