How Beta Glucan works:

First, you must have a medical condition caused by your immune system not recognizing or dealing effectively with a problem.  For Beta Glucan to be effective, you need an impaired immune system. This can include any abnormal health condition that threatens life.

An impaired immune system simply does not recognize or does not deal effectively with something that does not belong in your body. 

Your body has billions of macrophages and natural killer cells.  Their job is to find, kill and remove anything foreign in your body.

Example, this is a cancer cell.  It needs to be killed and removed from the body; however, if this does not happen, the cell will divide.  There are two things wrong with this picture:  1) It has 3 natural killer cells doing nothing, and 2) You can see the cancer cell, but ideally, the cancer cell would be totally engulfed by natural killer cells and macrophages. 

The 3 natural killer cells in the above picture do not recognize the threat of the cancer cell. 

The human immune system has methods of combating infection caused by a variety of microorganisms, such as bacteria, cancer and fungi. Its first line of defense is macrophages, millions of immune cells that circulate throughout the body and identify and destroy foreign intruders. Beta glucan, which is extracted from the cell walls of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), binds with macrophages and triggers the  immune mechanisms.

This activation initiates a cascade of events leading to the expression of an overall heightened cellular immune response that includes: 

• Production of white blood cells in the bone marrow, including macrophages, neutrophils and monocytes, which attack and devour harmful invaders.

• Mobilization of immune cells to the site of a foreign challenge.

• Increased phagocytic capacity or the ability to engulf and destroy intruders.

• Communication of the presence of an invader to other cells of the immune system, including other macrophages, neutrophils and natural killer or NK cells.

• Presentation of antigens to B and T cells of the acquired immune system, which adapts or learns to defend the body against a specific threat.

• Transformation of B cells into large plasma cells that act as small factories secreting antibodies. Antibodies bind with foreign cells, identifying their presence for macrophages and other defenders that attack and kill the intruders.

• Solicitation of antigen-recognizing T-cells to destroy infected or mutant cells.

What generally will happen is the immune system components will then recognize the original threat and start doing its job.  Beta Glucan works differently than most immune products. It is an immune system modulator and works by forcing your immune system to "work" and into a higher level of activity.   

Beta Glucan has been intensely studied for over 30 years with, most of the research being on Cancer and the immune system.  None of the research was done with micro-doses such as 3, 5, or 10 mg.  There are considerable studies in humans with late stage cancers using 3,000 mg daily.

You have seen the spam:

"The broad spectrum of immunopharmacological activities of glucan includes not only the modification of certain bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections, but also inhibition of tumor growth." Nicholas DiLuzio, Ph.D. Department of Physiology Tulane University School of Medicine"

This specific published article used a dose of 3,000 mg a day, it is on a current website selling a 7.5 mg product.  It is common for websites to detail articles in a format to "suggest" the research was done on their product. 

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What are the differences between Beta Glucan products? 

Beta Glucan is made from Baker's Yeast because it contains a high percentage of the 1,3/1,6 molecular linkage.  In its raw form, Baker's Yeast is a large molecule entangled with fat and protein.  The immune system will not recognize raw Baker's Yeast because of the fat clinging to the 1,3/1,6 linkage.  The protein in raw Baker's Yeast can do damage to an already impaired immune system. 

The issue becomes how do you cleave off the fat and protein molecules without damaging the molecule containing the 1,3/1,6 linkage.   

It is easy to remove some of the fats and proteins.  You do end up with Beta Glucan (as defined by the FDA), but it is not very effective because it would still contain fat and proteins, some as high as 40% (zero would be ideal).  It is also possible to go to the other extreme, and remove most all of the fat and protein, but in the process the 1,3/1,6 linkage is destroyed. 

The object is to produce a product with the lowest fat and protein levels as possible and still keep a percentage of the 1,3/1,6 linkage intact. 

Beta Glucan - Continued

Beta Glucan Dosage Page