Will the real methylglyo*al please stand up?

Firstly, a music video. I don't like Eminem that much, but my God-daughter Kerrie does and I love her to bits, so this one's for you hun! ;-D


A new substance just made an appearance on the internets. It's methylglyoacal (MG). It sounds rather a lot like methylglyoxal (MG).

I did a Google search for methylglyoacal. Did I mean...?

I did a PubMed search for methylglyoacal. Did I mean...?

The information originated from Pharmacology researchers link high-carb diet to Type 2 diabetes.

On the University of Saskatchewan's site, Dr. Kaushik Desai's Research Interests states: "Role of methylglyoxal (a byproduct of glucose metabolism) in oxidative stress, hypertension and insulin resistance." In his publications list, methylglyoxal is mentioned many times. I emailed Mark Ferguson, asking:

"Dear Mr Ferguson,
Is there a new substance called Methylglyoacal? Or is it a mis-print of methylglyoxal - twice?
Regards, Nigel Kinbrum."

To which I received the reply:

"Hello Nigel,
I'm going to go with the answer "no" … But we are looking into it.
Thanks for the head up."

The information in the above link was edited. At 02:21 on 11th March 2011, it still contained the word methylglyoacal. By 19:00 on 11th March 2011, it had changed to methylglyoxal.