Glyconutrients And Health, Advertising Wizard. Glyconutrients are simple sugars, a term used by the multi-level marketing company Mannatech, and other glyconutrients supplement vendors, to describe dietary supplements that contain a blend of simple sugars or monosaccharides which are found in glycoproteins.
As Mannatech uses the term in labeling many of its products, glyconutrient refers to mixtures of polysaccharides, such as exudate tree gums and high molecular weight aloe vera extracts containing fermentable dietary fiber and plant extracts, as well as simple sugars or starch.
The company's SEC filing more precisely identifies the contents of Ambrotose, its lead product, as 'a glyconutritional dietary supplement ingredient consisting of a blend of monosaccharides, or sugar molecules.'
In the marketing literature, these sugars are said to be a blend and the precursors of the following eight simple sugars: Xylose, Fucose, Galactose, Glucose, Mannose, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, and N-acetylneuraminic acid.
The glyconutrients are identified in the textbook Harper's Biochemistry as providing the composition for glycoprotein structures which are the basis for cell-to-cell communication.