With everything going on in our world, it’s important to make sure your immune system is always armed and ready to fight off any unwanted invaders. Taking vitamins and supplements, eating well, and exercising are a few ways to arm your immune system. We also have another way. Enter: Beta Glucans!
These natural defenders boost your immune system by optimizing its response to viruses, pathogens, and infections. Studies have shown that beta glucans act as immunomodular agents—meaning they can trigger a cascade of events to help regulate your immune system to make it more efficient, effective, and powerful.1
Beta glucans stimulate the activity of macrophages—versatile immune cells that ingest and demolish invading pathogens and viruses, stimulating other immune cells to attack.2 Macrophages also release cytokines, which are chemicals that, when secreted, enable the immune cells to communicate with each other. Beta glucans also stimulate lethal white blood cells (lymphocytes) that bind to tumors and viruses, releasing chemicals to destroy them.
Beta Glucans & Immune Priming
Through a unique mode of action called priming, specific, ultra high-quality beta glucans have the ability to prime your immune cells to spring into action and respond rapidly to various threats.
This priming activity is distinctive because the beta glucans energize the immune system without fully stimulating it; meaning, the immune system’s protective mechanisms are ready to respond rapidly to various threats, but are not fully active until your body really needs them. When an immune cell is primed, it effectively turns into a master of self-defense (what we like to call an immunity superhero) that springs into action at the moment it’s needed to better support your body’s natural immune responses.
Specific Beta Glucans That Deliver
As with most nutritional supplements, the source, form, and levels of various nutrients are critically correlated to the quality, safety, and effectiveness of any ingredient or product.
We have spent the last few years researching beta glucans given their important role in enhancing immunity, enhancing overall immune function, and the immune system’s correlation to overall health. Here are the specific beta glucans that we recommend:
Immudyne Nutritional NQ™ - This is a pure, organic, yeast-derived particulate beta glucan that activates all three of parts of the immune system: Dectin-1, Toll Like Receptors, and the Complement Immune System (versus only Dectin-1 receptors like most beta glucan ingredients on the market). Immudyne Nutrition NQ™ rapidly activates complement immunity, thereby bolstering your body’s immune response rate and defense systems.
Organic Mushrooms (Specifically Maitake, Shiitake & Reishi) - While many mushroom types and species provide beta glucans, we recommend these three for everyday immune system protection and enhancement.
The right forms of these mushroom species further prime immune cells for optimal immune response. They have the ability to put the immune system’s macrophages, neutrophils, and natural killer cells (specific immune cells with different functions) on high alert to activate a robust immune response to invading viruses, pathogens, and bacteria.3 4
Traditional eastern cultures have used mushrooms for thousands of years to support energy and robust health, and now there’s a myriad of clinical data available on the benefits of mushroom beta glucans on immunity and overall health.
Summary
For enhanced immune system support and protection, we recommend adding high quality beta glucans to your current supplement program. Adding these immunity superheroes to your health regimen will ensure your immune system is always on guard to fight any unwanted invaders that may come your way.
Footnotes
1 J Immunotoxicol. 2008 Jan;5(1):47-57
2 https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/immune-cells
3 Vetvicka V, Vetvickova J. Immune-enhancing effects of Maitake (Grifola frondosa) and Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) extracts. Ann Transl Med. 2014 Feb;2(2):14. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2305-5839.2014.01.05. PMID: 25332990; PMCID: PMC4202470.
4 Wang X, Lin Z. Immunomodulating Effect of Ganoderma (Lingzhi) and Possible Mechanism. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2019;1182:1-37. doi: 10.1007/978-981-32-9421-9_1. PMID: 31777013.
