Sugar Said to Greatly Bolster Flu Vaccine

A prominent Australian doctor’s claim that sugar can dramatically boost the potency of flu vaccines is receiving a cool reception from the scientific community.

Dr. Nikolai Petrovsky, director of diabetes and endocrinology at Adelaide’s Flinders Medical Center, said his own immunity to influenza increased by 50-fold after he injected himself with vaccine sweetened with a plant sugar known as inulin, The Australian reported Tuesday.

While Petrovsky says the proof’s in the pudding and the south Australian government is ballyhooing it as the world’s best flu protection, others are not so quick to jump on the bandwagon since he has yet to submit his findings to a scientific journal.

His research sounds potentially interesting and I await some published results with interest, said David Isaacs, a member of the federal government’s Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunization.

Still, Petrovsky’s team tested his formula on 15 animal species, reportedly finding that levels of influenza virus antibodies were up to 100 times greater than what standard vaccination produced, he told The Australian. Human clinical trials are under way.