Sugar-coated solution to costs of treatment

It is a staple of every kitchen cupboard – but common sugar could also be a life-saver, thanks to a University of Wolverhampton lecturer.

Normal granulated sugar could become a regular sight on hospital wards helping to heal wounds as serious as amputations, ulcers and major cuts if the results of a revolutionary clinical trial involving more than 100 Midland patients is a success.

Moses Murandu, senior lecturer in adult nursing at Wolverhampton University's School of Health, hopes to get his pioneering treatment used in the NHS within two years.

He is testing his theory of using sugar to heal wounds at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham, and at Walsall Manor Hospital.

The trial involves 115 patients being treated with sugar, while 115 are treated normally. The 45-year-old has spent around £7,000 of his own money to get the research off the ground after no drug company would support him because sugar cannot be patented.

But Mr Murandu, who lives in Edgbaston with wife Mpolokeng and their children 16-year-old Kevin and three-year-old Collette, pushed ahead with the support of the university.

He completed a pilot study with 22 patients on the vascular ward at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, fun- ding the study himself for six months. Using sugar in a wound kills bacteria, rem-oves odour, reduces pain and helps wounds to heal.

The sugar costs just £1.50 a pot and could be used in the NHS within the next two years. It works because bacteria needs water to grow, and applying sugar to a wound draws the water away and starves the bacteria. As a child in Zimbabwe, Mr Murandu learned the power of sugar from his father who used it to heal wounds on his farm.

He said: "I was very surprised it was not used in the UK. I saw patients with terrible wounds and I said to the consultants about using sugar but they had never heard of it. I think it could make a real difference."

By Health Reporter Shaun Lintern