Cure for Your Disease or Empty Promise?

She said her doctors were not pleased with her decision. "They pretty much said, 'If you were my daughter you would be doing chemo and radiation,'" said Rhoads.

Rhoads explained that she and one of her doctors agreed that she can always start chemo and radiation later if her cancer starts to grow, but for now she is sticking with Ambrotose.

Although she would never counsel others to forgo medical treatment, Rhoads believes so much in Ambrotose that she even began going on cancer survivor Web sites to recommend it to other cancer patients. .  

What Exactly Is Ambrotose

Mannatech says Ambrotose draws on a new cutting-edge field called glycobiology. Glycobiology is a legitimate science that looks into how complex carbohydrates promote cellular communication.

But two of its leading scientists, Dr. Hudson Freeze from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, Calif., and Dr. Ronald Schnaar from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, say there is a huge disconnect between this new science and what Mannatech sells.

"There are authentic, scientific studies that have looked at people drinking these kinds of materials," said Freeze, referring to glyconutrients. "And it doesn't really do anything except increase flatulence."

According to Mannatech, many people's bodies don't produce enough of the simple sugars needed for cells to communicate properly. By ingesting Ambrotose, Mannatech claims, people get the sugars they need.

But Schnaar says that except for a mere handful of people with a congenital deficit, virtually every person on earth produces enough of these sugars on his/her own. "All of the sugar building blocks that we need in our body are made from the most common foods we eat," he says.

He also says that there is little or no proof that these sugars, if swallowed, can be absorbed and broken down by the human body.

Mannatech strongly contests these conclusions, citing a large number of studies and research papers that can be found on the Web at www.glycoscience.org. But articles, published in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, have linked some of those studies to a research institute that Mannatech funds.