Rhamnose sugar by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Rhamnose is a natural sugar. Rhamnose has been thought to be an inert sugar not metabolized by the human body. However, while conducting an investigation on gut permeability in children undergoing cardiac surgery, increased concentrations of rhamnitol were found in the urine samples. Therefore, rhamnose is probably not an inert sugar and appears to be partially metabolized into rhamnitol by the human body. If you have an interest in having a natural sugar substitute without calories, consider stevia for more information. You can also buy Stevia-Clear-Liquid here.

L-Rhamnose isomer
Rhamnose occurs in nature in its L-form as L-rhamnose which is unusual since most of naturally occurring sugars are in D-form.

Where does L-Rhamnose come from?
L-Rhamnose can be isolated from Buckthorn (Rhamnus) and poison sumac. Rhamnose is also found as a glycoside in a variety of other plants.

Pharmacological properties of rhamnose-rich polysaccharides, potential interest in age-dependent alterations of connectives tissues.
Pathol Biol (Paris). 2006 Sep;54(7):420-5. Laboratoire de recherches ophtalmologiques, Hôtel-Dieu, université Paris-V, 1, place Parvis-Notre-Dame, 75181 Paris cedex 04, France.
Rhamnose -rich oligo- and polysaccharides were tested for their potential pharmacological properties using human skin fibroblasts in serial cultures. The substances tested were shown to stimulate cell proliferation, decrease elastase-type activity, stimulate collagen biosynthesis, and protect hyaluronan against free radical mediated degradation. These reactions appear to be triggered by the mediation of a specific alpha-L-rhamnose recognizing lectin-site acting as a receptor, transmitting signals to the cell-interior. The rapid increase of intracellular free calcium after addition of Rhamnose -rich oligo- and polysaccharides and preliminary data using micro arrays appear also to confirm this contention.