Originally published August 2022. Updated August 2026 with current structure and citations.
Dr. John E. Lewis has been conducting clinical research at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine on the effects of polysaccharides for the better part of the last 20 years. He and his colleagues have studied whether consuming certain polysaccharides on a daily basis supports normal cellular function. Many of you may be dealing with fatigue or low energy, feel unfocused or lethargic, or simply not feel well. You may have tried other dietary supplements or remedies to help you feel better, but you still have not made any progress. If you have not been taking a product like Daily Brain Care, then you may be missing out on the polysaccharides that these complex carbohydrates or sugars supply. I will share with you some background information about why polysaccharides matter and how Daily Brain Care delivers them.
Nutrition for Optimal Health
Optimal health can only be achieved through proper nutrition that includes the right amounts of the correct macronutrients, micronutrients, and phytonutrients. All of these nutrients are required by our cells to enable them to function properly. Ultimately, starting with each individual cell all the way up to our entire body, we need certain amounts and types of these different nutrients to function correctly and optimally. I will talk about the distinctions among these diverse types of nutrients in another post.
What are Polysaccharides?
In this post, I want to focus on your need for including polysaccharides in your diet, as I know how important they are for achieving and maintaining optimal health. In case you are not familiar with them, polysaccharides are simply a type of carbohydrate, which is a macronutrient. Polysaccharides are complex (i.e., poly) in their chemical structure meaning that they have many different carbon bonds that hold them together. Polysaccharides are complex carbohydrates that may be familiar to you, occurring in foods such as vegetables and whole grains. Polysaccharides are different from monosaccharides (i.e., mono = single or simple sugars) like fructose. The polysaccharides that I have studied most closely come from aloe vera and rice bran, and both of these polysaccharides are typically uncommon, if not entirely absent, in the modern diet. Do you know anyone who eats aloe vera? I do not! In fact, to consume them in the amounts used in research, you would need a concentrated source such as a dietary supplement like Daily Brain Care, because the amounts available from their natural plant sources in an ordinary diet are considerably smaller.
Why are Polysaccharides Important?
The field of glycobiology (i.e., the study of the biology, biosynthesis, and structure of carbohydrates, saccharides, or sugars) demonstrates the importance of polysaccharides and how they are used in so many more ways than just as a source of energy. The discoveries in this field are revealing the ways in which polysaccharides are utilized by every cell in the human body. In 1996, Harper’s Biochemistry listed several important saccharides as glucose, fucose, mannose, galactose, xylose, n-acetyl glucosamine, n-acetyl galactosamine, and n-acetyl neuraminic acid. These saccharides are crucial for proper cellular function, and yet we know that only two of them, glucose and galactose, are present to any great extent in the modern diet.
What Our Research Measured
My colleagues and I studied a concentrated aloe and rice bran polysaccharide formula in a twelve-month, open-label trial without a placebo group, in adults with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease (Lewis et al., 2013). In that population, we measured reductions in markers of inflammation, changes in overall immune function including an increase in the production of adult stem cells, and improvement in cognitive test scores over the twelve months. I describe the limits of that trial as plainly as the findings, because an open-label design without a placebo group cannot establish that any dietary supplement addresses a disease, and I make no such claim.
Some inflammation is necessary. You need it when you are ill or injured, as it is the body’s natural response to healing itself in an acute situation. However, long-term uncontrolled inflammation is associated with a wide range of chronic health problems, which is why supporting a normal inflammatory response matters. The immune system is in constant contact with all other major organ systems, so a healthy, surveillant, and well-functioning immune system is central to your overall health. Our stem cell making capacity declines with age, and measuring an increase in that production process was an exciting finding for our team.
Conclusion
Please remember that “a sugar is not a sugar,” meaning that all sugars are not created equally. The differences in sugars are dependent on at least two important characteristics: (1) their source and (2) their biochemical structure. The complex sugars that come from aloe vera and rice bran are vastly different from the simple sugars that come from overly processed corn. So, please do not confuse the word “sugar” with always meaning something bad or detrimental. If someone makes the statement that all sugars are bad for you, then it is not only ignorant, but wrong. Many sugars can be beneficial for you and if taken in proper amounts they can be part of your formula for achieving and maintaining outstanding health.
While it may be relatively easy for the average person to get enough nutrients to satisfy energy requirements (i.e., macronutrition), it is much more difficult to get the amount and type of polysaccharides that our cells use, because these polysaccharides, particularly certain types from aloe vera and rice bran, are not common in the modern diet. At Dr Lewis Nutrition®, we have a solution to meet every person’s needs at every stage of life. Daily Brain Care has been formulated to provide you with the polysaccharides that diet alone rarely supplies. Participants in our twelve-month trial reported few and only temporary adverse effects. As with any dietary supplement, speak with your physician before starting, particularly if you take prescription medication or are pregnant or nursing. Try Daily Brain Care today and support your health!
FAQs on Polysaccharides
What do polysaccharides do for the body?
Polysaccharides (i.e., carbohydrates or sugars) are compounds that provide nutrition for the cells. Like other nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fats, they are used by our cells to conduct the bioengineering of life, which simply means that they provide information to our genes that then guide our cells to function. Researchers have studied certain polysaccharides, such as those from aloe vera and rice bran, for their roles in immune function, inflammatory balance, and adult stem cell production, among other activities.
What is the most common polysaccharide?
Two of the most common types of polysaccharides that occur in nature are starch and cellulose. Starch is composed of thousands of glucose units, and we get starch in our diet when we eat whole and minimally-processed potatoes, rice, wheat, and corn. We are able to digest starch by certain enzymes in our digestive system. All plants are structurally bound together by cellulose, which is also formed by many glucose units. However, unlike starch, humans do not have the necessary enzymes in our digestive system to break down cellulose. Nonetheless, this type of indigestible polysaccharide is beneficial for helping us to properly eliminate other digestive byproducts.
Why are polysaccharides healthier?
Polysaccharides, like the ones from aloe vera and rice bran, differ from the more common monosaccharides (e.g., fructose) and disaccharides (e.g., sucrose) simply because they are more than just an energy source. Researchers have studied them for their roles in immune function, oxidative balance, and adult stem cell production, among other activities.
Why do cells need polysaccharides?
Cells use polysaccharides from sources like aloe vera and rice bran as raw material for normal function. The body is able to take other common saccharides from other plants and reconstruct them into a polysaccharide, but this is an inefficient process. The coded information from the polysaccharides from aloe vera and rice bran appears to be more readily used than saccharides of diverse types from other sources.
Note: You can read about the individual ingredients in the formula, including aloe polysaccharides and stabilized rice bran.
