The Next Big Thing in Health

The Next Big Thing in Health
Beta-glucan, a completely natural substance, boosts and strengthens innate and acquired immunity. That’s huge. Here’s the science.

Beta-glucan (on Amazon) 384 is the next big thing in natural health, and news of its capabilities is starting to trickle down into the mainstream. Here’s what you need to know about it.

What’s Beta-Glucan and What Does It Do?
Beta-glucans are polysaccharides in the cell walls of certain cereal grains, bacteria, fungi, and algae. Once ingested by humans, the immune system recognizes the beta-glucans as pathogen-associated molecular patterns or PAMPs. This means beta-glucan activates both innate and acquired immunity, which is a good thing.

Innate immunity is what you’re born with. It consists of cells like neutrophils, monocytes, natural killer (NK) cells, and 30 blood proteins known as the “complement proteins.” Together, they wage a concerted attack against invading pathogens.

Adaptive immunity, however, involves cells that require “training 4.” Each infectious exposure “teaches” T-cells and B-cells to produce antibodies that attack specific infections. These cells “remember” the infection and produce long-lasting immunity to it.

We initially thought that beta-glucans only activated innate immunity, which is great by itself, but the recent discovery that they also activate acquired immunity is really exciting.

In practical terms, it means beta-glucan has immunomodulatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and radioprotective (protects healthy tissue from radiation) properties. And since beta-glucan is essentially insoluble fiber, scientists posit that it might also have cardioprotective 6 effects through increased control of cholesterol, weight, and glycemic response.

Nuke The Suckers
Beta-glucan is NOT a pathogen of any kind. It merely tricks the immune system into thinking it’s being attacked. It puts the immune system on alert.

I’ll draw you an analogy: Some 25 years ago, the US Air Force had nuclear-equipped B-52H Stratofortress bombers in the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They were on permanent alert in case Russia got a little froggy.

The B-52s have since been grounded, but their situation was similar to what beta-glucan does. It puts the immune system on round-the-clock alert against any potentially harmful enemies. If something does have the temerity to “attack,” the odds of quickly repelling it are far greater.

Let’s say a virus has just invaded one of your cells. Almost immediately, the cell releases “cytokines,” which are like chemical Paul Reveres that alert other cells of the invasion.

T-cells and natural-killer cells come charging to the site of infection and destroy the infected cell so the viruses or bacteria inside will also die. While these T-cells are performing their duty, they’re also instructing B-lymphocytes to start forming immunoglobulins (antibodies) constructed to attach to that specific invader, much like a key fits a lock. The antibodies then enlist complement proteins to punch holes in the cell wall of the invader.

To remember the “lock” of this particular invader, memory T-cells are formed so that any future invasions by the same invader can be quickly squashed.

Of course, this system isn’t foolproof. If it were, you wouldn’t see people with flu, colds, or other infectious diseases. However, regularly ingesting beta-glucan seems to fortify the whole system, thereby increasing the odds of repelling a disease entirely or defeating it in less time than might otherwise be possible.

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Got Any Proof?
There’s been a ton of research on beta-glucan, with many human studies. Take, for instance, what happened when patients (from 25 to 65 years old) were given beta-1,3-glucan over 90 days:

3.3 fewer sick days.
70% fewer upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) symptoms: runny nose, plugged nose, sneezing, sore throat, cough, hoarseness, head and chest congestion, tiredness, headache, body aches, and fever.
10 fewer URTI symptom days.
45% fewer URTI symptom episodes.
80% lower overall severity of URTI symptoms.
That’s just one study, but 17 other studies found that people using beta-glucan had increased resistance against URTI. Another eight studies found that both recreational and elite athletes using beta-glucan before intense exercise had a far smaller than normally seen decline in immune system functionality.

Other studies found that beta-glucan even helped allergy sufferers, reduced outbreaks of herpes, and even lessened the pain in osteoarthritis sufferers. Age didn’t seem to be a factor in the efficacy of beta-glucan; it worked just as well in codgers as young people. Neither did using beta-glucan lead to any apparent side effects, which means it’s perfectly safe.

Can I Get Enough Beta-Glucan From Food?
The short answer is no, for several reasons. Oats contain beta-glucan, but oats, along with other beta-glucan-containing foods, have a mixture of beta-glucan isomers. That’s not terrible, but beta-1,3-glucan is much more potent.

Further, our gastrointestinal tracts aren’t prepared to adequately digest some of the cell walls of those natural grains like oats (or yeast, for that matter) to give the gastrointestinal system access to beta-glucan. In other words, they’re not very bioavailable.

And lastly, according to Dr. Vaclav Vetvicka, director of research at the Department of Pathology at the University of Louisville, “When beta-glucan is not adequately purified, it will contain numerous impurities, often acting against the biological effects of the molecules.”

All of this is why algal beta-1,3-glucan, extracted from Euglena gracilis, is the preferred choice.

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Algal Beta Glucan Is Best
Algal beta-1-3-glucan has no chemical side branches or particulate matter. Its cell wall is much thinner than oat or yeast, making it easier to digest. Lastly, the concentration of beta-glucan in the cell walls of algae is over 95%, compared to the 60 to 80% found in certain yeast.

Don’t get the idea that algal beta-glucan is just a bunch of dried seaweed, though. The Euglena gracilis is carefully grown and cultivated in stainless steel tanks using filtered water and food-grade nutrients. When the algae reach their “target density,” they’re removed from the fermentation broth and the algal cells are filtered out. The beta-1,3-glucan is then extracted, washed, dried, milled, and finally packaged.

This is exactly the form of beta-glucan Biotest uses in its I-Well (on Amazon) 384 immuno-support product.