Blue M&Ms – Miracle Cure?
health food?
While wading through the remains of your Halloween candy, there is undoubtedly a pack or two of M&Ms left over. If you are tempted to finish them off, just tell people you are eating them for health reasons. Then wash it down with some blue Gatorade. It could even help a quadriplegic walk again. Say what?
Ok, admittedly, these sound like crazy statements. And they are, in a sense. They are certainly exaggerated. But in a recent study published in July in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America, researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center reported that mice – in whom spinal injuries had been induced – in fact learned to walk again after being injected with the blue dye that is used in “foods” such as blue M&Ms and blue Gatorade. (There was one temporarily small downside: their skins turned blue for a while. No worries. No one minds a little Smurf/Smurfette Mouse that is learning how to walk again. They might be actually kind of cute.)
But how does the blue coloring work?!?? Supposedly, an ingredient in the blue dye, Brilliant Blue G, inhibits inflammation – a large part of what causes irreparable damage in spinal cord injuries. By inhibiting the inflammation, one may be able to reduce or inhibit injury, in the future.
Hmmmm, intriguing. It certainly bears more research. I have only one question, though: ummm, why are they “inducing” spinal injuries in mice? Seriously? I’m not really a rodent fan, but is this really necessary? Are they throwing mice against the wall? Snapping their little necks? Come on now, there must be a better way to further medical research for humans without turning us into the Dr. Mengele of Minnie and Mickey.
Now, when your friends are complaining this weekend about how much Halloween candy is still sitting around the house, you can offer them this interesting tidbit about the candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
Read on:
msnbc.com – Blue food dye helps heal spinal cord injuries
WebMD.com – Blue Dye in M&Ms Helps Spinal Cord Injuries?
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