(CNN) Meteorites that crashed into Earth billions of years ago contain sugars, researchers say, lending support to the idea that asteroids may hold some of the ingredients to life.

An international team of scientists found "bio-essential" sugars in meteorites, which also contain other biologically important compounds, according to a press release from NASA on Tuesday.

Asteroids -- rocky near-Earth objects which orbit the sun -- are the parent bodies of most meteorites. And the theory suggests that chemical reactions within asteroids can create some of the elements essential to life.

In a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers analyzed three meteorites, including one that landed in Australia in 1969 and dates back billions of years. Previous studies have also tried to investigate the meteors for sugar -- but this time, researchers used a different extraction method using hydrochloric acid and water.

The researchers found sugars like arabinose and xylose -- but the most significant finding was ribose.

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