Boost your natural immunity Protect yourself against infections, the effects of stress and modern diseases. UrĹĄka Zaloker Borut Ĺ trukelj
Vision Drawing on nature’s wisdom, we plan to offer the market products and services for the benefit of all. We hope to change ways of thinking, fostering collaboration between conventional and complementary medicine for holistic human health. Our goal is to create an environment where knowledge, responsibility, courage, trust, devotion, and loyalty will prevail, and we will share all this with you. Using nature’s wisdom, we will grow, develop, and generate well-being for all. Ars Pharmae® was set up in 2007 with the aim of tapping into nature’s wisdom and offering customers high-quality natural products in the form of food supplements with scientifically proven effects. Ars Pharmae® pools the knowledge of experts in pharmacy, medicine, and food technology. The company is also registered for research and experimental development in the natural sciences, technology, and medicine. Employees are involved in various research projects on food supplements conducted by the Faculties of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Food Technology. They also collaborate in scientific and research activities relating to food supplements that are performed at the University Medical Centers in Ljubljana and Maribor, and the Faculty of Pharmacy.
Contents Vision
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Introduction
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What Is the Immune System and How Does it Work?
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Immune Deficiency
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What are the Signs of Impaired Immune Function?
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Stress and the Immune System
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How Can We Affect the Activation of the Immune System and Its Balanced Functioning?
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Food Supplements as an Aid in Activating the Immune System
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a) Medicinal Mushrooms
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b) AHCC®
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c) Beta glucan
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Conclusion
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References
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Ante Zaloker, B. Pharm.
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Introduction Natural immunity is the body’s ability to defend itself against invasion by foreign substances or pathogens. The body is defended against infection-causing pathogens by both physical barriers and the immune system. Physical barriers include the skin and mucous membranes that prevent pathogens from entering the body. When despite these barriers, some pathogens still manage to enter the body, causing damage to tissues and organs with their activity, our body responds by activating the immune system.
What is the immune system and how does it work? The human immune system is an extremely precise system that operates throughout the body. It consists of various organs and tissues, such as lymph nodes, tonsils, adenoids, lymphatic ducts, spleen, bone marrow, thymus, and immune cell aggregates in the pulmonary and intestinal mucosa. In these tissues and organs there are various immune cells that constantly circulate throughout the body, effectively recognizing and destroying pathogens that enter the organism.
It is important that the immune system recognizes a pathogen in time to mobilize the defense cells and eliminate it from the body, thereby restoring the body’s balance.
The body’s immune response comprises all the processes that take place in the body in response to invasion by any foreign substance or pathogen. Such a foreign substance or pathogen can be a bacteria, virus, parasite, or the body’s own altered cell (cancer cell). One of the basic functions of the immune system is to distinguish the body’s own healthy cells from diseased or foreign cells. It is important that the immune system recognizes a pathogen in time to mobilize the defense cells and eliminate it from the body, thereby restoring the body’s balance. Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system is unable to discriminate between ‘self ’ and ‘non-self ’ and attacks its own tissues and cells.
Figure 1: The immune system in the body 4
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A weak immune system provides poor protection against infections and cancerous diseases.
Immune deficiency
What are the signs of impaired immune system function?
Immune deficiency is a disorder in which the immune system does not function at its optimum level. Impaired immune system function may be congenital or acquired. Innate immune deficiency is a hereditary immune system disorder. Generally, it becomes evident already within the first few years of a child’s life, for instance when the child suffers unusually frequently from infectious diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections, meningitis, or severe diarrhea. Acquired immune deficiency is more frequent, being a defect of the immune system caused by disease, certain medicinal products, or surgeries in a previously healthy individual. A weak immune system provides poor protection against infections and cancerous diseases.
The immune system is designed to defend the body against infectious and cancerous diseases. Therefore, people with a wellfunctioning immune system contract infectious diseases less often than people with weakened immunity, and have a good natural defense system. Those who suffer from infectious diseases more frequently (for example, more than five severe tonsillitis episodes a year) have weaker natural immunity. The type and course of an infectious disease tell us even more about the state of the immune system. Since uncommon pathogens rarely attack people with a normally functioning immune system, such an infection indicates that the patient’s immune system is impaired in some way. Infectious diseases also last longer and cause far more serious health problems in patients with a weakened immune system.
The organism’s defense mechanism also depends on a person’s age. Small children are more susceptible to communicable infections because their immune system is not yet fully developed. Older people, too, are more prone to contracting infectious diseases because immune function, along with other physiological functions, decreases with age. Figure 2: Illustration of one of the complex immune system processes
More serious immune system deficiencies often occur as a consequence of certain diseases, such as leukemia, lymphoma, cancerous diseases, HIV infection, and others. The immune system is also significantly weakened by treatment with medicines that damage immune cells, such as: • cancer treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, • treatment with cytostatics and corticosteroids, • some other treatments. Metabolic diseases (diabetes, kidney failure, and malnutrition) and chronic liver diseases (alcoholic cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis) also strongly affect the organism’s defense capability. Surgeries and injuries may also severely compromise the immune system, which may rapidly lead to serious infectious diseases.
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Signs of weakened immunity: • an increased frequency of infectious diseases, • becoming ill from uncommon pathogens (infections with microbes that are usually not harmful), • a longer course of disease, • a more severe course of disease.
Signs of serious immune system deficiencies: • diseases such as: leukemia, lymphoma, cancer, HIV infection, • treatment with certain medications (chemotherapy and radiotherapy in cancers, cytostatics and corticosteroids in autoimmune diseases), • metabolic diseases: diabetes, kidney failure, and malnutrition, • chronic liver diseases (alcoholic liver cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis), • surgical procedures, • injuries. 7
A healthy organism has only enough reserves to be able to withstand stress only occasionally without any major health consequences.
Stress and the immune system
Food supplements as an aid in activating the immune system
Stress is one of the greatest enemies of our immune system. It is the body’s innate mechanism that is activated when we are faced with threatening circumstances (injury, disease, cold, starvation, overexertion, harmful habits, and so on). Stress is a useful reaction, channeling energy into mechanisms that are critical for survival (fight, flight, wound healing). However, when under stress, the body’s functioning is highly directed. A healthy organism has only enough reserves to be able to withstand stress only occasionally without any major health consequences.
a) Medicinal Mushrooms
One of the basic reactions in stress is hormonal blockade of the immune system. Thus, stress temporarily reduces the body’s immunity. If a person is exposed to stress for a sustained period of time or repeatedly, he or she loses the ability to fight off infectious diseases. In such a person, the course of the disease itself is much more severe. Exposure to several different stressors at the same time, such as disease and malnutrition, strenuous physical exertion and fasting, puts an enormous strain on the body.
How can we affect the activation of the immune system and its balanced functioning? Immunomodulators are substances that regulate the functioning of the immune system.
We can boost our immune system by eating healthy foods (plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit, cereals), drinking enough fluids, avoiding harmful habits (drinking limited quantities of alcohol, quitting smoking), taking at least half an hour’s physical exercise a day, getting enough sleep and rest, and trying to reduce stress. Since our modern lifestyle often prevents us from following all of the above recommendations, experts advise taking food supplements, primarily those belonging to the groups of immunomodulators. Immunomodulators include some medicinal mushrooms, such as Ganoderma lucidum and Lentinus edodes, beta-glucan, and some others.
A number of isolated substances that help regulate the immune system derive from medicinal mushrooms that have been used in Asia in traditional medicine for several thousand years (primarily in Japan and China). For more than 20 years, preparations from medicinal mushrooms have also been used in the West (the USA, Canada, and Europe) as complementary or supportive therapy to our conventional treatment. The most studied medicinal mushrooms are Ganoderma lucidum (Lacquered Bracket, also known by its Japanese name Reishi or its Chinese name Ling Zhi), Lentinus edodes (Shiitake), Grifola frondosa (Maitake), Trametes versicolor (Turkey Tail) and Gloeophyllum odoratum (Anise Mazegill).
The medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum enhances natural resistance and the immune system.
Ganoderma lucidum is by far the most widely used medicinal mushroom in the East. Its other names, the Herb of the Emperors and the King of Herbs, are due to the fact that it was picked specially for the imperial family and used to treat and alleviate numerous diseases. The medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum was first described more than 2400 years ago in Shennong’s Pharmacopoeia, the first Chinese book on herbal medicine, which ranked it at the top of the most effective natural remedies. Ganoderma lucidum has thus maintained its reputation to the present day, when it is being increasingly integrated into conventional treatments as one of the most widely researched medicinal mushrooms in the world, primarily in Japan, the USA, and Europe. The medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum belongs to a group of substances known as adaptogens. These are natural substances that enable the organism to defend itself against harmful physical, chemical, and biological stressors by inducing non-specific immunity.
The main characteristics of adaptogens: • They are non-toxic and completely harmless to the body. • They regulate all the body’s functions independently of the body’s current condition. • Their long-term use does not reduce their positive effects.
Figure 3: Medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum 8
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It is important to distinguish between adaptogens (such as Ganoderma lucidum, Panaxginseng) and stimulants (such as Echinacea purpurea). Adaptogens reach the maximum performance level that is optimal for the organism and also maintain it. Stimulants, on the other hand, provide only a temporary excessive boost in the performance level, which is followed by a period of a characteristic drop or decrease in performance. Adaptogens do not produce oscillations and therefore do not burden the organism.
Figure 4: Difference between the activity of an adaptogen and a stimulant
As an adaptogen, Ganoderma lucidum also regulates the activity of the immune system. It maintains the immune system at its optimum level by acting on immune cells and specific immune system proteins. Such a mechanism of action is called immunomodulation. As an immunomodulator, Ganoderma lucidum thus increases the body’s defense capabilities, helping it to recognize cells that are foreign (viruses, bacteria, fungi) and its own altered cells (cancerous cells).
Ganoderma Lucidum Capsules are recommended for: • maintaining optimum natural immunity in healthy individuals - 1 capsule 2 times a day for at least 3 months • increasing natural immunity in people who are often ill - 2 capsules 2 times a day for at least 3-6 months • maintaining immunity after the end of treatment - 2 capsules 2 times a day for at least 6 months Ganoderma Lucidum Soft Capsules are recommended: • as a support to standard treatments of modern diseases (cancer, HIV, hepatitis, and so on) - 2 capsules 3 times a day for at least 6 months. Concomitant intake of vitamin c is recommended. 10
Scientific research studies over the past decades have proven that the highest concentrations of bioactive substances present in the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum are found in the spores. The development of various Ganoderma lucidum preparations has progressed in accordance with the findings of these studies: 1st generation of preparations – water decoction (herbal tea) In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the mushroom was sliced and boiled in water. This method is still used today by some people. In this way, only parts of the water-soluble components of the mushroom’s cap are consumed, while other fat-soluble content is discarded together with the dregs of decoction, and thus a large quantity of active ingredients is lost. 2nd generation of preparations – ultra-fine powder The first ultra-fine powder products from the medicinal mushroom were made in the 1970s. For this purpose, a grinding process with so-called ultra-fine technology is used that breaks down the medicinal mushroom into smaller particles. 3rd generation of preparations – spore powder The most significant bioactive substances of the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum are present in larger concentrations in spores. When spores are put to use for treatment, we get a product whose efficacy is markedly higher than that of powder. The shell of the spore is hard and solid. It is not soluble in water and gastric acid, which is the main obstacle to its absorption in the body. Therefore, research into the ways in which to break the spore shell began in the 1980s. 4th generation of preparations – shell-broken spore powder capsules In 1997, a process was developed that uses the most advanced physical technology at room temperature to break the spore shell. As no chemicals and high temperatures are used in this process, the bioactive ingredients are fully preserved. Shell-broken spore powder has since become the most popular product from the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum. 5th generation of preparations – soft capsules Scientific studies have shown that besides polysaccharides and organic germanium, triterpenes are the key bioactive substances in supportive treatment with the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum. In the beginning of this century, triterpene compounds were extracted from the oil phase because their concentration in spores is lower. In this way, soft capsules have been developed which are 20 times more potent than Ganoderma lucidum shellbroken spore powder.
Bioactive substances are fully preserved in the shell-broken spore powder (4th generation) thanks to treatment at room temperature.
Shell-broken spore powder capsules (4th generation) are the most state-ofthe-art and popular preparation from the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum.
Soft capsules (5th generation) are the latest and most potent preparation from the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum.
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AHCC® stimulates the body’s immune system.
b) AHCC®
c) Beta glucan
In the beginning of the 1980s, Japanese scientists from the University of Tokyo developed a biologically active hexose correlated compound, AHCC®, which is isolated from the mycelium of the medicinal mushroom Shiitake (Lentinus edodes). AHCC® was developed with the aim of obtaining a natural substance to be used as a support to standard treatment of diseases (e.g. cancer) associated with modern lifestyle.
Beta glucan is a natural polysaccharide that enhances the effectiveness of the immune system without overstimulating it, which makes it one of the most significant natural immunomodulators. Beta glucan activates phagocytes (specific immune system cells) in Peyer’s patches. Peyer’s patches are specialized areas of the gutassociated immune system that transport pathogens to immune cells in the digestive tract. Activation of these specific cells leads to a greatly increased immune response: - there is an increased synthesis of immune cells that attack pathogens, - there is an activation of immune cells that recognize pathogens, - there is an increase in the ability and number of immune cells that remove pathogens.
The Shiitake extract AHCC® has a unique composition, containing short-chain polysaccharides called alpha glucans, which are very quickly absorbed in the body. AHCC® is a potent stimulant of the immune system. It stimulates the excretion of signalling molecules of the immune system and the activity of particular immune cells that are essential for the body’s ability to fight against its own altered (cancerous) cells. Thanks to its powerful and fast action, AHCC® is one of the leading supplements besides the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum for boosting natural immunity in standard therapies. AHCC® is recommended by leading Japanese doctors and used in more than 700 hospitals and health care institutions all over the world. It protects and enhances the immune system during standard treatment of cancerous diseases (chemotherapy and radiation) and other diseases with a marked impairment of the immune system (hepatitis, HIV infection, liver cirrhosis). Good immunity is crucial for treatment, since it reduces the probability of severe infections. Furthermore, the use of AHCC® has proved to significantly improve patients’ quality of life, along with their general physical condition and ability to perform everyday activities.
Beta glucan activates the immune system.
The task of phagocytes (specific immune cells) is to recognize and destroy foreign cells in our body, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Thus, beta glucan is used to activate the immune system and hence to prepare us better for potential invasion of pathogens into the body. By helping our immune system more easily to recognize pathogens in our body, beta glucan enables faster and better recovery from infections.
Figure 6: Beta glucan binds to binding sites on the phagocyte surface, thus greatly enhancing the immune system
Figure 5: Medicinal mushroom Lentinus edodes
AHCC® in the form of Immunomax® capsules is recommended: • as a support to standard therapy and to mitigate its adverse effects: - in combination with Ganoderma Lucidum Soft Capsules 1 capsule 3 times a day - as an independent support to therapy 4–8 capsules 3 times a day • for boosting the immune system 1 capsule 2 times a day 12
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Conclusion Beta glucan increases resistance against bacteria and viruses.
Beta glucan in the form of Betaglucan Forte tablets is recommended: • for reducing the risk of all types of infections 1-2 tablets a day • for faster and better recovery from infections 2–3 tablets a day • before and after surgical procedures to reduce the risk of postoperative complications associated with infections 1 tablet 3 times a day Concomitant use of vitamin c is recommended.
The most effective and purest beta glucan that optimally activates the immune system is isolated from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (WGP® beta glucan).
Numerous clinical studies have shown beta glucan to be highly effective also in reducing the incidence of infections after surgical procedures (hospital-acquired infections). Approximately 25-27% of postoperative infections cause serious health complications. In an extensive clinical study, beta-glucan reduced postoperative infections in high-risk patients by as much as 39%. For this reason, beta glucan is recommended both before and after surgical procedures to reduce the probability of postoperative complications associated with infections. When deciding on beta glucan as a food supplement, we must pay attention to the origin of the raw material, this being highly significant for achieving the best effect of beta glucan. The most effective and purest beta glucan that induces optimal activation of the immune response is isolated from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (WGP® beta glucan). Moreover, the most important studies of beta glucan in the world have been done with yeastderived beta glucan. WGP® beta glucan, a patented whole glucan particle beta glucan that has been established for a very long time, has also been used in very significant studies of beta glucan safety and quality.
The modern lifestyle, dictated by global technological development, has a detrimental effect on the human body, which has been developing in harmony with nature for millions of years The toll this is taking on the human body is evident from a rise in abnormal, pathological conditions, a growing number of cancers, as well as a large number of modern diseases associated with unhealthy lifestyles (vascular diseases, high blood pressure, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, and so on). One of the key factors contributing to the development of such abnormalities is a weakened immune system, which can be boosted by a healthier lifestyle and food supplements from the immunomodulator group. The most important among these are preparations from medicinal mushrooms and yeast, as well as natural antioxidants from pine bark. It has always been known that “prevention is better than cure.” Still, if a disease does occur, we can do a lot to alleviate it by maintaining a correct diet, avoiding psychological and physical stress, and taking appropriate food supplements. When choosing the right and sufficiently high quality food supplement, a number of factors have to be taken into account, such as the origin of the active substances used and its manufacturer. Another important consideration is that the effects of the active substances in a food supplement be supported by studies conducted by credible institutions. Detailed information on the quality and action of a particular food supplement is available in pharmacies and specialized stores.
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