by Mikele K.
Article 5- December 13, 2019
Happy holidays from the Olive Branch! Today is December 13, 2019, and do we have an interesting article for you today. It’s been awhile since our last blog post, and I feel that this topic deserves a post in the archives for our customers. It is important that we are always challenging our minds to learn something new in our busy lives, and it allows us to learn something new to challenge our modes of thought to better our lives.
Learning Something New
Our last topic that was discussed was based on autoimmune disorders, and this topic will branch off of that to discuss immunity in somewhat detail. In this month’s article, we will touch lightly on the types of immunity, natural methods that assist in raising natural immunity, and a detailed look into a mushroom complex that is gaining popularity in the store as a semi-new product: AHCC. Can AHCC help you? Is AHCC right for you? Grab a cup of coffee, and walk with me as we learn about the immune-positive effects of AHCC.
Background
It’s been kind of a rollercoaster ride of temps here in Canton the last month or so. I sit here writing this article and think back just a couple days ago we saw snow with cold temps and black ice. What a nightmare. Most of us look at the holidays and cold weather with colds, flu, and illnesses that can wreak havoc on our family gathering plans that eventually catch up with us at some point or another. As most of us stay indoors more, the likelihood of bacteria and viruses being spread is extremely high as it is cold outside, warm inside, and air is not fresh and circulated like it is outside. The chances of any of us catching anything comes down to our body’s defenses being strong enough to fend off any foreign invaders, but many factors come down to how well our body’s defenses work efficiently:
- Diet
- Stress
- Lack of exercise
- Genetics
- Gut health
- Environmental factors
- Sleep
- And more
Our Immune System…in a Nutshell
Before we go any further, ask yourself a question: How would you rate your overall health? Good? Average? Or Poor? While many of us do everything we can to keep our bodies running at optimal efficiency, our immune systems aren’t perfect. However, our bodies are quite amazing at keeping invaders away. For example, did you know that our immune systems are divided into two types of responses? Yes, our immune responses are as follows:
- Innate – is an immediate non-specific attack against an attack – these are comprised of special cells called cytokines, natural killer cells (NK), macrophages, and dendritic cells
- Adaptive – takes longer to react, but provides a specific attack against an attack – these are comprised of B and T cells
OK, I promise we won’t get too technical here, so stick with me. What do those cells mean to me you ask? Well, your innate and adaptive immunity rests with those types of cells keeping us healthy when an invader presents itself. For example, this time of year we see a lot of immune boosting products go out the door such as:
- Sambucus
- Astragalus
- Wellness Formula
- Immuno Well Rx
- Zinc
- Oregano
- Umcka
- Allibiotic CF
- Immune Renew
- Elderberry products
All About AHCC
Finally, we get to the crux of this article: AHCC is another powerful immune boosting product that we will discuss from here on out. AHCC stands for Active Hexose Correlated Compound, and is extremely powerful in its immune boosting properties. AHCC supports the immune system by turning up the dial on your natural immune response. According to an article by ahccresearch.org states that AHCC can modify the innate and adaptive immune system response. In layman’s terms, AHCC allows us to better fight and withstand the impacts of a virus, bacteria, auto-immune attack, inflammatory response, or other disease such as cancer, hepatitis, or diabetes. That’s a lot…let that soak in.
AHCCresearch.org comments:
“AHCC has been clinically studied and tested to have positive benefits for people with cancer, diabetes, the flu, HPV, liver ailments, cardiovascular disease, stress, and inflammation. As an extra benefit, AHCC helps you better withstand the impacts of treatments for many of these debilitating diseases and conditions.”
Diving into AHCC a little more:
- It’s a functional food rich in alpha-glucans
- Manufactured in Japan
- Used around the world
- Modulates the body’s innate immunity and supports healthy immune function
- Shown to modulate the immune system by maintaining optimal natural killer cell activity, enhancing cytokine production, promoting T-cell and macrophage activity, and increasing the number ad activity of dendritic cells
So, in essence, AHCC can be used in healthy and people who are battling a multitude of diseases. In fact, ahccresearch.org also confirms:
“For healthy people, AHCC is useful in health maintenance and in preventing infection by aiding in the normal function of your immune system. In integrative oncology, research indicates that AHCC may lead to longer post-operative survival, help support patients through chemotherapy, reduce the negative effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and lead to an improvement in quality of life.”
Diving a little deeper with AHCC…stay with me here…
- AHCC helps with cancer according to the quote above. AHccresearch.org states that data from 100,000 treated cancer patients with various cancers that AHCC is effective and beneficial in roughly 60% of cases
- AHCC alleviates the side effects of chemotherapy such as hair loss, nausea, bone marrow suppression, and liver damage
- AHCC helps with Diabetes as well – in fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control, a clinical trial in Japan revealed that 13 patients who took AHCC for 6 months benefited from taking AHCC.
When it comes to AHCC benefits, AHCC has a long list of benefits, but its main arena of attention is in the cancer arena. For example, Barry Ritz, PhD of the natural medicine journal January edition 2011 is quoted:
“Overall, AHCC has been suggested to enhance prognosis and quality of life in a variety of cancers, as well as to elicit potentially positive changes in cytokine production and lymphocyte populations – most notably increased natural killer (NK) cell activity. From a clinical standpoint, the application of AHCC supplementation, or any integrative therapy, must be considered in the context of standard medical treatment.”
What’s very interesting about AHCC and cancer is that it increases NK cells, and without getting too technical here, NK cells are crucial in fighting cancer. Barry Ritz concludes his article in the Natural Medical Journal:
“In summary, the available literature clearly suggests that AHCC is an immune-modulating compound, with consistent effects on NK cell activity when induced by either the presence of an active tumor or a viral infection.”
In conclusion of this article, we have learned a lot about the immune system and how it is increased through natural means. We have also discussed the topic of the natural mushroom complex AHCC and its various uses on the human body. It is important to remember that when we are talking about a simple infection, or the topic of cancer, there are many facets of treatment to complement conventional treatments that can be included in your treatment plan.
The Olive Branch has a full array of immune boosting products in the store that includes:
- Sambucus
- Astragalus
- Wellness Formula
- Immuno Well Rx
- Zinc
- Oregano
- Umcka
- Allibiotic CF
- Immune Renew
- Elderberry products
The AHCC product that is discussed in this article is in stock at The Olive Branch:
Disclaimer: While we do not prescribe, nor recommend going against the advice of any medical professional, we do ask that you educate yourself. It would be helpful to have a heart-to-heart conversation with your family doctor to see what works best for you. The best possible outcome for this scenario would be to heal yourself naturally, and get off or avoid synthetic medications for treatment. There are quite a few treatments that greatly assist and can even help you get off your medications. This article is meant for entertainment purposes, and is not intended to replace any medical advice from a qualified medical professional.
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Sources used for this article:
https://www.ahccresearch.org/blogs/news/what-are-the-benefits-of-ahcc
Cheetham, M.D., P., & Lifton, D. (2015). The Patient’s Guide to AHCC. Salt lake City: Woodland Publishing.
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