The Power of Blue

"Traumatic spinal cord injury is characterized by an immediate, irreversible loss of tissue at the lesion site, as well as a secondary expansion of tissue damage over time. Although secondary injury should, in principle, be preventable, no effective treatment options currently exist for patients with acute spinal cord injury (SCI)." This according to the current study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Eating and drinking candies and sports drinks won't get your walking from a serious injury despite what your nightly news might report. But the BBG (Brilliant blue G) dye used in these products has shown when injected to result in fast spinal cord repairs in rats. "15 min after injury reduced spinal cord anatomic damage and improved motor recovery..." There was one side effect though not toxic to the rats albeit just temporary. Rats who were injected with BBG temporarily had a blue tinge to their skin. The treatment is still more years away from useage.