Learn the Facts on AHCC and How this Functional Food Supports Your Immune System Health
AHCC is the world’s most researched specialty immune supplement. Derived from healing mushrooms, this functional food provides immune system support for people living with and without illness.
AHCC stands for active hexose correlated compound.
This natural supplement is used by oncology patients, people living with chronic Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, CFS, diabetes, auto-immune diseases and infections including HPV, Hep-C, and common flus and colds.
AHCC is for everyone, regardless of health status. Anyone who wants a strong immune system can benefit from AHCC. Whether you’re living with a chronic illness, have a stressful lifestyle, or just want some extra immune system support – AHCC is for you.
With this blog post, our aim is to help you understand the facts around AHCC – what it is, how it works, the research behind it, and what to remember when taking this nutritional supplement.
If you have any questions about AHCC, please post them on the AHCC Facebook community page or on Twitter We want to make sure that you know everything we know about this powerful functional food.
HOW IS AHCC MADE?
AHCC is a functional food made from a unique compound extracted from a hybridization of several species of mushrooms. At its core, AHCC is derived from healing mushrooms.
AHCC is made in Japan by Amino Up Chemical Co. Ltd. AHCC is a standardized extract of cultured Lentinula edodes mycelia and is rich in alpha-glucans.
This is how AHCC is made:
- The first ingredient of AHCC is shitake mushrooms. These mushrooms have a rich history of healing powers.
- The second ingredient is several hybrids from the Basidiomycota phylum of fungi.
- AHCC is made using only the mycelia, the hair like root structures of these mushrooms located below the ground.
- The various mycelia are cultured in rice bran extract until they form a colony. It’s important to note that rice bran extract has antiviral and immune system enhancing qualities.
- This colony is cultured for an additional 45 to 60 days.
- This colony then undergoes a series of patented steps that involve cultivation, decomposition by enzymes, sterilization, concentration, and freeze-drying.
This process was developed at the University of Tokyo Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences by Dr. Toshihiko Okamoto, along with the researchers at Amino Up Chemical Co. Ltd.
The final result of this carefully computer-monitored manufacturing process is the functional food supplement AHCC.
Watch this video about how AHCC is made to see the entire process.
THE FACTS ON YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Your immune system has essentially one job – to protect you from invaders that can make you ill. To do this, your immune system is always scanning your body to determine if bacteria, viruses, toxins, parasites, and other pathogens have entered your system or if any of your cells have mutated or become abnormal.
You have two basic types of immunity: innate and adaptive. Your innate immunity launches an immediate, non-specific attack against a threat. Your adaptive immunity takes longer to kick in but produces a specific response to a particular microbe.
Your innate immunity is your first line of defense and is made up of the following:
- Cytokines. These are chemical messengers that help your immune cells communicate and coordinate an immune response.
- Natural killer (NK) cells. These are the white blood cells (WBC) that recognize and destroy infected or abnormal cells by injecting granules into them, causing them to explode. Your WBC count is key in understanding your overall health – an elevated WBC count can indicate an illness and a low WBC count can put you at risk for illness.
- Macrophages. These are special WBC that engulf and ingest bacteria and cellular debris.
- Dendritic cells. These are the WBC that present foreign substances to B and T cells, initiating an adaptive response.
Your adaptive immunity is your second line of defense:
- B and T cells. Both B cells (which mature in bone marrow) and T cells (which mature in the thymus) are lymphocytes – WBC cells that are able to recognize previous invaders and destroy them with a specific response.
You want your innate and adaptive immune systems to be as strong and alert as possible. Most of us get ill due to compromised immunity. The more you can do to support your immune system – the better.
HOW DOES AHCC SUPPORT MY IMMUNE SYSTEM HEALTH?
AHCC supports your immune system health with its anti-inflammatory, immune system enhancing, immunomodulatory, and antioxidant properties.
AHCC modulates your body’s innate immunity and supports healthy immune function. AHCC is shown to modulate the immune system by maintaining optimal natural killer (NK) cell activity, enhancing cytokine production, promoting T-cell and macrophage activity, and increasing the number and activity of dendritic cells.
For healthy people, AHCC is useful in health maintenance and in preventing infection by aiding in the normal function of your immune system.
AHCC turns up the dial on your natural immune response. This allows you fight all kinds of threats to your health.
Watch this video to learn more about how AHCC works. Hear from Dr. Lawrence Kempf on how this unique and natural compound derived from Japanese medicinal mushrooms activates the immune system.
HOW IS AHCC RESEARCHED?
AHCC is supported by over 30 human studies and more than 100 pre-clinical in vivo and in vitro studies.
This natural supplement is used by over 1,000 healthcare facilities worldwide to reduce the incidence of infections in both healthy and immune-compromised patients, improve cancer patient outcomes, decrease chemotherapy side-effects, help control HPV infections, manage viral loads in Hepatitis-C patients, and help those with liver disease.
We urge you to visit the Research section on our website for an overview of the research into AHCC and details about pre-clinical and clinical studies of AHCC.
Read these articles to learn more about how AHCC is researched:
AHCC AND YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM HEALTH
AHCC is for everyone – and this includes you. Support your immune system naturally with AHCC – a clinically proven function food that boosts your immune system.
Your immune system is your first line of defense against infections, viruses, bacteria, and other illnesses. Be proactive in supporting your immune system health.
Read these articles to learn more about supporting your immune system health naturally: