在医学实践中，蔗糖常被医生用作婴儿镇痛剂，来缓解婴儿在医疗过程中产生的疼痛。但最新发表在医学专刊《柳叶刀》上的一篇论文则警告称，用蔗糖作为婴儿镇痛剂是无效的，长此以往可能导致婴儿的大脑受损。
在对婴儿进行注射、抽血化验和穿刺时，给其服用少量的蔗糖以缓解疼痛，是临床治疗中的一种普遍做法。过去也有研究证实这种做法是有效的，一些权威医学刊物上也发表过相关研究论文，证实了蔗糖的镇痛效用。但最近英国一研究小组则认为，这些研究仅靠婴儿在接受蔗糖时面部表情的变化来判定蔗糖的镇痛效果，远不足以证实蔗糖具有镇痛效用。
该研究小组对59名新生儿进行了对照试验。他们将新生儿随机分成两组，在对其进行医学穿刺前两分钟，分别给他们服用小剂量蔗糖和无菌水，在穿刺后对婴儿大脑和脊髓神经痛感水平的测量结果表明，这两组被试婴儿的痛感程度并没有显着差别，服用蔗糖的婴儿的痛感并没有得到缓解。婴儿的肢体肌肉反应同样表明，蔗糖不具备镇痛效用。
论文作者之一、伦敦大学学院的丽贝卡斯莱特博士表示，研究结果表明,蔗糖并不是一种有效的止痛药物。而越来越多的证据表明，疼痛对婴儿的神经发育会产生负面影响。因此，在未弄清蔗糖的影响之前，应该停止将其作为婴儿镇痛剂来使用。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐英文摘要：
The Lancet doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61303-7
Oral sucrose as an analgesic drug for procedural pain in newborn infants: a randomised controlled trial
Dr Rebeccah Slater PhD a b , Laura Cornelissen MSci b *, Lorenzo Fabrizi PhD b *, Debbie Patten BSc b, Jan Yoxen BSc b, Alan Worley MSc c, Stewart Boyd MD c, Judith Meek MBBS d ?, Prof Maria Fitzgerald PhD b ?
Background
Many infants admitted to hospital undergo repeated invasive procedures. Oral sucrose is frequently given to relieve procedural pain in neonates on the basis of its effect on behavioural and physiological pain scores. We assessed whether sucrose administration reduces pain-specific brain and spinal cord activity after an acute noxious procedure in newborn infants.
Methods
In this double-blind, randomised controlled trial, 59 newborn infants at University College Hospital (London, UK) were randomly assigned to receive 05 mL 24% sucrose solution or 05 mL sterile water 2 min before undergoing a clinically required heel lance. Randomisation was by a computer-generated randomisation code, and researchers, clinicians, participants, and parents were masked to the identity of the solutions. The primary outcome was pain-specific brain activity evoked by one time-locked heel lance, recorded with electroencephalography and identified by principal component analysis. Secondary measures were baseline behavioural and physiological measures, observational pain scores (PIPP), and spinal nociceptive reflex withdrawal activity. Data were analysed per protocol. This study is registered, number ISRCTN78390996.
Findings
29 infants were assigned to receive sucrose and 30 to sterilised water; 20 and 24 infants, respectively, were included in the analysis of the primary outcome measure. Nociceptive brain activity after the noxious heel lance did not differ significantly between infants who received sucrose and those who received sterile water (sucrose: mean 010, 95% CI 004―016; sterile water: mean 008, 004―012; p=046). No significant difference was recorded between the sucrose and sterile water groups in the magnitude or latency of the spinal nociceptive reflex withdrawal recorded from the biceps femoris of the stimulated leg. The PIPP score was significantly lower in infants given sucrose than in those given sterile water (mean 58, 95% CI 37―78 vs 85, 73―98; p=002) and significantly more infants had no change in facial expression after sucrose administration (seven of 20 [35%] vs none of 24; p&00001).
Interpretation
Our data suggest that oral sucrose does not significantly affect activity in neonatal brain or spinal cord nociceptive circuits, and therefore might not be an effective analgesic drug. The ability of sucrose to reduce clinical observational scores after noxious events in newborn infants should not be interpreted as pain relief
