Blue M&Ms 'mend spinal injuries'
The food dye that gives blue M&Ms their colour can help mend spinal injuries, researchers have claimed after tests on rats.
Published: 7:00AM BST 28 Jul 2009
The compound Brilliant Blue G blocks a chemical that kills healthy spinal cord cells around the damaged area - an event that often causes more irreversible damage than the original injury.
BBG not only reduced the size of the lesion but also improved the recovery of motor skills, the rodent tests showed.
Those treated with BBG were later able to walk, although with a limp. Rats that did not receive the BBG solution never regained the ability to walk.
On the downside, the treatment causes the skin to temporarily turn bright blue and BBG needs to be injected soon after the trauma. The test injections were given within 15 minutes.
The new findings by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in New York build on work reported five years ago by the same team.
They discovered that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) - a chemical that keeps our cells alive - quickly pours into the area surrounding a spinal cord injury.
But they found it overstimulated otherwise healthy neurons and caused them to die from metabolic stress, creating a secondary injury.
Injecting oxidised ATP into the site of the injury helped stop this, they found.
But neurosurgeon Prof Maiken Nedergaard, who led the research, said: "No one wants to put a needle into a spinal cord that has just been severely injured so we knew we needed another way."
The new approach of using BBG has answered this problem because it can be administered intravenously.
More tests will be needed to prove the safety of BBG before human clinical trials can begin.
But researchers are optimistic new treatments for acute spinal cord injuries could emerge in the next few years.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/5921266/Blue-MandMs-mend...
On the downside, the treatment causes the skin to temporarily turn bright blue and BBG needs to be injected soon after the trauma
Jil Sander
That mouse is sooooo cute
and it gives me another good reason to eat chocolate
1***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
WOW! That's wild!
2This is the strangest thing I have ever heard! And I totally agree, Sam, that mouse is darling!
3So we can help reduce the impact of a spinal cord injury, and become part of the "Blue Man Group"?
Cool.
4yes the mouse is very cute....if it's true is cool i guess
5That mouse is cute.
This is an interesting find. I love M&Ms.
6wanted to say WOW too and the mouse is cute!
7So if the Blue ones really heal, then what they say about the green ones....
8
9***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
confess I use to prefer the red M & Ms but now I'll be grabbing the blues!
thanks for
posting Sam 
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have".
10Thomas Jefferson
Wow, interesting
Love the mouse hehe.
11I keep visualizing someone loading up an IV with M&M's, selecting only the blue ones and someone else volunteering to take the chocolate out.
More seriously, why woudn't the patient tiurn blue, at least temporarily? A new generation of Smurfs!
I'm pretty sure that's a rat, too, judging by the face and blunt nose!
12ya'll are cracking me up & I say don't stop!!!
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have".
13Thomas Jefferson
rat ....mouse....still sooooo cute.
14i think the pigment makes you blue imagine what happens if you eat too many of them. Too much Beta carotene makes you orange.
***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Feeling Blue takes on a new hue...
15I am just thrilled that I have a medical reason to buy M&M's and eat them. Green & Blue- fix my back and then.......
16I wonder if i can get a prescription? Blue cross should pay for them don't you think?
***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Wow. Can you see this being the "new" tattoo? Side effect that creates a whole new set of bias' OR eliminates then.
Thinking about that makes me think of "Violet" in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
17with the gum and then we will all blow up to be M&M's and rolled out by oompa loompas.
18***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
I know you can order M&M's with your own saying on them because I got some for my parent's 50th anniversary party. You could have "Back Remedy" and "Woo-Hoo Pill" printed on blue and green ones.
19I can just see the bag of M&M's with an FDA seal. This product may induce happiness, horniness and cure your back so you can partake of the first two.
20***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Which one do you take for a bad day? Cuz I need some of those.
21Peanut butter ones - you smash them first, then eat them
22or maybe the yellow ones cause they are the color of sun
***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
yeah peanutbutterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
23I practically sleep with PB M&Ms. :guilty:
24
25And it's amazing how much cuter a mouse/rat can look with blue ears and a blue nose!
26Laura does your boyfriend know?
remember chocolate is a vegetable and you need 5-6 servings of vegetables /day
27***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Sam, yes. He buys them for me!
28hmmmm does that make it a threesome? or 2+ how ever many are in the bag?
29***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
LOL.
I was browsing the Sugar sites and this was posted on Fit: http://www.fitsugar.com/3619893
30Cheeky: Woo-Hoo pill? That's a good one!
31I just think it would be hot to have blue fingernails, but probably the fingers would go along with them.. as well as the toes.
I wonder how may I would have to eat! Anyone up for an experiment?
Fit is a copy cat
hope she does not eat the rat
okay we each have to pick a color but i think we would get sick before we looked like a bag of M&M's but in the name of science i will eat chocolate
32***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
I think you'd have to eat a lot. I've eaten a lot of PB M&Ms lately, trust me. It's the only (fun) thing that works with my guts.
33do you just pop them or like me smash them first and then eat them - great for stress
34***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
I just eat them.
35i actually gave them up for awhile - they were too addictive.
36***************
"I will marshal all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide." - In the Loop
Ahem, late again. Dang.
"just think it would be hot to have blue fingernails, but probably the fingers would go along with them.. as well as the toes." And nose and ears, according to Sam's avi!
I like them frozen ~ chocolate, PB, peanut or almond. I do not discriminate. I am an equal opportunity snacker.
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37"If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under." Ronald Reagan
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