All those years of eating M&M's and never thinking they were good for anything except that wonderful chocolaty goodness with the satisfying crunch. It turns out though that Blue M&M's are actually good for more than that. Scientists at the University Of Rochester have discovered that the dye used to make blue M&M's blue can possibly heal spinal injuries in humans.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the compound Brilliant Blue G blocks a chemical that kills healthy spinal cord cells around the damaged area. 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.
The idea is that as long as an iv of this BBG is given within 15 minutes of the injury, someone may be able to recover from severe spinal injuries. The downside? Your skin turns bright blue for awhile. You know what? If it can save me from a severe spinal injury I am willing to be a shade of blue for awhile.
But who thought to test this, I wonder. Like, seriously, who thinks of shit like this?
ReplyDeleteYou learn something every day. Thanks, Enty. I'm going to add m&m's to my disaster preparedness kit.
ReplyDeleteand the green ones are aphrodisiacs.
ReplyDeleteenty is smurf tones?
ReplyDeleteworks for me.
altho i hope it never, ever comes to that. may god always keep you healthy.
Finally, some good news...and we always called the green ones horny pills. When I was a kid the red ones were pulled due to a ban on red dye no.2. When the reds returned, I refused to eat them. I remember voting against the blue ones in favor of purple ones a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteYes, I put a lot of thought into candy. It's very important.
Giant 400 lb smurf?
ReplyDelete@Harriet Hellfire: Didn't you watch the movie "Cats & Dogs", so nutjob just tests everything imaginable, in his secret basement lab, hehe.
the fuck? i agree Harriet, how DO they know to test this?
ReplyDeleteCould I get the iv without the spinal injury? I've always dreamed of being a smurf.
ReplyDeleteMe too! "Blue me" all you want if I'm that hurt!
ReplyDelete@harriett--It does beg the question as to how much sh*t they must inject in lab rats to come up with the rare few substances that do anything helpful or productive...
And I thought that all they do is make a man hard enough to really fuck!
ReplyDeleteFor scientists it's not as surprising as you'd think. BBG has been used for years in molecular biology labs as a marker and has been known to inhibit some molecular pathways in cell lines (cultured cells in a plate, not whole animal experiments). The interesting jump is that it's effective through an IV - I'd think that a spinal injection would be necessary for such profound results.
ReplyDeleteAnd now you know why I don't post very often - let's move back to the more interesting comments!
Wow, peabee!
ReplyDeleteYeah...careful or that big brain of yours will make your head fall onto the keyboard and type out something like thissldkhaiogheiriugh
Comment more! I love scientific sh*t!
@ selenakyle:
ReplyDeleteYou'd be shocked to know what an IV of thissldkhaiogheiriugh would do to you. ;-)
peabee - thanks for the science lesson, I hadn't heard about it before. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wonder why they chose that for the dye for Blue M&Ms?
wow, so I am not fat from eating candy, I am just taking preventative measures to ensure the health of my spine.....neat! Me and my doctor are so going to have a chat!
ReplyDeletePeabee, wow that was great. What's your opinion on how Blake and Wino are still functioning?
ReplyDeletepeabee, welcome! I have an 8 year old son so we talk about weird science all the time.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, now you made me want to go watch that movie!
ReplyDeleteMan, I loved Weird Science! RDJ in all his coked out glory!
sorry, can't chat now. must go purchase blue m & m s
ReplyDeletebefore they close the online store on the 31st.
coincidentally i have an appt. w/ one of my orthopaedists tomorrow!!
This is REALLY awesome news though. Science rocks!
ReplyDeleteCheryl said... "When I was a kid the red ones were pulled due to a ban on red dye no.2. When the reds returned, I refused to eat them. I remember voting against the blue ones in favor of purple ones a few years ago."
ReplyDeleteBut Cheryl, purple is blue and RED mixed together! ;P
The blue ones are my favorites. I don't care what anyone says, they taste the best!
Even if it's indigo, yeah! Amazing. So much $ for research and here something so simple can help. I'm not saying research shouldn't be done. On the contrary, we need cures for these people.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the Blue M&M's. Red ones cause cancer. Blue ones help you walk again. Who cares if it is with a limp. Get 'em going!
ReplyDeleteThe dye used for red m&m's was never the poisonous kind. They just had to pull them because people were afraid of all red food during the scare.
ReplyDelete=)love m and m chocolate!
ReplyDelete