AHCC information and health benefit and use in cancer - a mushroom extract, not a vitamin - sale and discount product in 500 mg dosage, and review of medical uses for cancer treatment

Active Hexose-correlated Compound is a mushroom extract that has been tested as an immune enhancing, biological response modifier, liver protective and anti-cancer agent. AHCC was developed in Japan in 1989, and most of the studies with this compound have been conducted in Japan. Many patients find it to be helpful. However, one of the disadvantages of this product is the cost.

 buy AHCC immune product - 500 mg in each pill, 60 Capsules
 Source Naturals AHCC (Active Hexose Correlated Compound) is a proprietary compound produced by cultivation and enzymatic modification of several species of mushroom mycelia, including shiitake, grown in rice bran extract.  Considered a superfood supplement in Japan, it has been researched extensively for its immune enhancement properties. According to human and animal research it may increase natural killer cell activity.  it may also increase macrophage activity, enhance cytokine production, and support the healthy functioning of the liver as well as act as an antioxidant.


buy AHCC supplement discount sale

 

Studies in mice show AHCC supplementation
Enhances resistance to infection
Enhances natural killer cell activity
Protects the liver from injury induced by toxic or anti-cancer agents.
May have potential as an immune enhancing agent in the therapy of opportunistic infections.
Reduces breast cancer metastasis in mice when combined with chemotherapy agents.
This mushroom extract may even have antioxidant properties.
Studies in humans show AHCC:
Has protective effects on the liver in cases of liver injury, cirrhosis, or hepatitis.
Improves the prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Liver cancer
 Improved prognosis of postoperative hepatocellular carcinoma patients when treated with functional foods: a prospective cohort study.
Matsui Y. J Hepatol 2002.
In vitro experiments have shown that AHCC enhances natural killer cell activity, and may be considered a potent biological response modifier in the treatment of cancer patients. However, the effects in a clinical setting have not been reported. We seek to determine whether it can improve the prognosis of liver cancer patients following surgical treatment. A total of 269 consecutive patients with histologically confirmed liver cancer were studied. All of the patients underwent resection of a liver tumor. Of the 269 patients, 113 received AHCC orally after undergoing curative surgery. The therapy group had a significantly longer no recurrence period and an increased overall survival rate when compared to the control group.

Melanoma
Active hexose correlated compound enhances tumor surveillance through regulating both innate and adaptive immune responses.
Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2005.
Section of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, CAB Building, New Haven, CT
In this study, C57BL/6 mice were orally administered AHCC or water, followed by tumor cell inoculation. We showed that compared to pure water-treated mice, treatment significantly delayed tumor development after inoculation of either melanoma cell line B16F0 or lymphoma cell line EL4. Our results demonstrate that it can enhance tumor immune surveillance through regulating both innate and adaptive immune responses.

Dosage
Many of the studies in humans have used dosages of AHCC of about 3 grams a day but it is possible that lower dosages could also be effective. Long term human studies are not available therefore the ideal dosage for prolonged use is not known.

How often to take this product
If you have certain types of cancer, discuss with your doctor if this natural mushroom extract is appropriate for you. Your dosage and length of time of use could vary depending on the type of condition your doctor is treating you for.

How is it made?
AHCC is an extract of mycelium, obtained through the long-term cultivation of several types of basidiomycetes medicinal mushrooms including Shiitake. After undergoing enzymatic decomposition, concentration, and freeze-drying, it is obtained from the cultured liquid. Active components include glucans and an oligosaccharide. It is also a mixture of polysaccharides, amino acids, lipids and mineral.

Side effects, danger
No one has yet emailed us regarding side effects they have experienced with this mushroom extract.

In dealing with stage four colon cancer patient, are there any reported negative side effects of using AHCC. Patient is not on chemo.
  We have not yet come across any reports of AHCC side effects of any significance. It does not mean these side effects may not exist. After several years of having this product on the market, no one has emailed us having a bad reaction.

Interactions with dietary supplements and herbs
Are there interactions between serrapeptase and ahcc, what about sexual products such as tongkat ali
    It's hard to say, we have not seen any research combining them.

Review
More research with AHCC and cancer is needed before making any firm recommendations on effectiveness, dosage, frequency and length of use, interactions with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and the conditions for which this interesting compound can be useful. Thus far much of the AHCC and cancer research looks promising but few are have been done in humans.

Cost and price
I take a mushroom product called Host Defense by New Chapter. Host Defense by New Chapter is a synergistic blend of 16 medicinal mushrooms. I've been reading up on the web about AHCC. It is more expensive then any other medicinal mushroom product. I can't understand why it costs more when products like Host Defense, Source Natural Mushroom Defense, etc. has a blend of many mushrooms. Is AHCC that much better? It seems that a synergistic blend of many medicinal mushrooms would be more potent.
   It is expensive partly because many studies have been done with it and it costs a lot of money to do a study. There could be many other mushrooms or mushroom extracts that are as effective for cancer or perhaps even more effective, but since the studies are not available, we don't know about them yet. AHCC appears to be helpful for cancer, but then again there could be countless other mushrooms or mushroom extracts that could well be as good or better.

Various brands sold online or in health food stores
I have seen various forms sold online, Immpower AHCC and Kinoko AHCC. Which form is best?
   There are several AHCC products available, including ImmPower made by American Biosciences. According to the manufacturer, ImmPower is Active Hexose Correlated Compound developed by combining several species of mushrooms used in traditional Japanese healing to make one, extremely powerful, hybridized mushroom. This hybridized mushroom is grown in a liquid medium containing rice bran and enzymatically modified to be readily absorbable. Kinoko AHCC is made by Quality of Life Labs. Several other companies private label AHCC including Source Naturals and NOW Foods.Since there have not been any studies comparing the various AHCC products from these different manufacturers, we have no basis on which to base an educated opinion. For the time being our impression is that all of these companies have a good AHCC product and many may be purchasing from the same original source.

Researchers at Drexel University’s Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology successfully demonstrated an increased immune response to influenza infection in subjects given ImmPower which contains pure AHCC, a hybridized mushroom extract. This original ImmPower research, conducted by immunologists Dr. Elizabeth Gardner, Barry Ritz & colleagues, appears in Journal of Nutrition, November, 2006. The ImmPower supplement, distributed by NY-based American BioSciences, Inc., appears to boost the immune response to influenza, in particular, a vital part of the immune system called Natural Killer (NK) cells. This finding is of critical importance because an immediate immune response from NK Cells is responsible for lessening both the duration and the severity of the influenza infection. Though more than 32 studies have already been published, Drexel’s is the first to evaluate ImmPower AHCC in the context of influenza, demonstrating its efficacy in protecting against the flu’s consequences: * reducing the rate of infection, * reducing the severity of infection, both in terms of symptoms and damage to lungs, * speeding the rate of recovery and reducing the duration of illness, and * reducing the fatal consequences. American BioSciences, the first to introduce ImmPower AHCC into the US and still its largest distributor, worked closely with Drexel in helping design this study.

Testimonials
My brother has beaten SNUC (sinonasal undifferentiated cancer) -- oncologists were utterly dumbfounded since the survival rate is less than 10%. Ed was told he needed to be on Coumadin the rest of his life -- notwithstanding the risks associated with that drug or the fact there must be herbs that could do the same job without the risk... but we do not know where to turn for good information. (His vascular surgeon admitted that aspirin would have the same effect, but I don't trust aspirin either!) He was also told he might go blind in one eye within the next 6-9 months because of the intensive radiation on his optic nerve (where the tumor had wrapped itself) and the potential damage the radiation may have caused to the small arteries there. We knew he'd beat the cancer... and we know he'll beat potential blindness with the "right support" to those arteries now. (None of his doctors can advise him on things he could take to support those arteries... nor do any of them have connections with people who have worked with herbs.) Ed believes in herbs -- his sight was restored in his eye only 24 hours after taking AHCC. the oncologists "pooh-poohed" the notion that AHCC products caused the sudden turn-around in his sight and asked him to stop taking it during the chemo treatments. (They are fearful of anything they do not know.) He's back on AHCC product now, but he knows there are many herbs he could take and would like to have the guidance of one who knows both medicine and herbs.