Cotton Candy Helps Inspire Medical Miracles

That sweet – typically pink – treat you find at county fairs, amusement parks and other summer venues is actually being touted as a medical inspiration.

After intensely examining the carnival delight known as Cotton Candy, medical professionals and researchers began seeing the swirl of tiny crystalline strands that make up the candy as a replication of the capillary system. The lead researcher, then Cornell University Graduate Student Leon Bellan, had been reviewing existing elements that created similar vein-like outputs such as cheese whiz and silly string. But it was the cotton candy that was the closest to the human capillary network in terms of size, consistency and structure.

Using a mixture of candy and an organic polymer, the cotton candy machine spins the substance into tiny intricate strands. The final product is soaked in hot water and alcohol to melt away the sugar portion (or what we know as cotton candy) leaving behind a hollow network of microscopic tubules that mimicked human capillaries. They tested the artificial capillaries with animal blood and found them to adequately work as part of the circulatory system. Studies continue on how to transplant the organ into the human body are currently under way.

In another research study, this one at Purdue University, the cotton candy machine and its application of forming artificial human capillaries further inspired its use for producing special fibers for other medical purposes. By using the high-speed, spinning function of the cotton candy machine, a fine string-like mass of healing compound was developed. Basically, the compound is made from a blend that consists of polysaccharides, carbohydrates whose molecules consist of a number of sugar molecules bonded together. While the process is much more complex than that, it has led to a successful treatment for surgical wounds, bed sores, acne and many more medicinal purposes. Sugars, such as in honey, have been known as healing compounds; therefore, it stands to reason that finely spun polysaccharides could lead to a useful medicinal product. The end result is still in testing phases but could be available in a few years.

While cotton candy has been exceptionally inspirational in the medical realm, don’t expect it to rock your world for a few years yet. In fact, right now, cotton candy available to the general public should only be used to satisfy your sweet tooth. The finely spun sugar was actually born in 1899 by a candy maker and a dentist. Their product, then known as Fairy Floss, was an overnight success at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. It wasn’t known as Cotton Candy until the 1920s.

Quite honestly, cotton candy is not a terrible snack. One ounce contains only 105 calories, no fat, no sodium, no cholesterol and 25 grams of carbohydrates. Compare that with other common carnival treats, and you have a pretty low-calorie food that satisfies your taste for sweets. For example, an 8-ounce funnel cake contains 730 calories, 25 grams of fat, 785 milligrams of sodium, 70 milligrams of cholesterol and 35 grams of carbohydrates. Think that taffy-covered apple is better? Well, a 5-ounce taffy-covered apple contains 290 calories, 4 grams of fat, 100 milligrams of sodium, 2 milligrams of cholesterol, and 45 grams of carbohydrates.

Cotton candy is quite the product. It’s a low-calorie sweet snack and it has inspired the start of some very helpful medical miracles.

  

References:

Chronicle Online. (2009). Weill Cornell, Ithaca researchers use cotton candy to create new blood-flow routes. Retrieved from http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb09/weillCottonCandy.html.

Li, V. (2009). From cotton candy to capillaries. Retrieved from http://cornellsun.com/node/36170.

Purdue University. (2012). Cotton candy inspires grad students to develop new wound treatment and company. Retrieved from http://purdueicc.org/stories/connell.php

Venson, C. (n.d.). How cotton candy works. Retrieved from http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/cotton-candy4.htm