NUTRA-SWEET TREATMENT FOR SICKLE CELL ANEMIA

NUTRA-SWEET TREATMENT FOR SICKLE CELL ANEMIA

LOS ANGELES (Wireless Flash) -- Here's some sweet news for sickle cell anemia sufferers: Nutra-Sweet may help counteract the effects of the disease. Researchers at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center say the artificial sweetener seems to reduce the effects of abnormal hemoglobin that reduces oxygen in red blood cells of SCA patients. However, the amount of Nutra-Sweet needed to counteract the disease has yet to be determined and head researcher Dr. Carl Manion believes doctors won't be prescribing diet soft drinks anytime soon. A sickle cell anemia sufferer would need to guzzle nine cans of diet soda within two hours to get the same dose of artificial sweetener as used in the study. Although Manion believes Nutra-Sweet has possible health benefits, he fears the negative press about the sweetener will sour folks on the idea before more research can be done.