Active Hexose Correlated Compound - AHCC and Prevention

AHCC and Prevention

Oxidative stress can cause tissue damage by creating reactive oxygen species (ROS) and accelerate the aging process. A study at Dokkyo University School of Medicine showed that AHCC protects rats from oxidative damaged caused by a powerful oxidant used in research to induce oxidative stress and ROS called Ferric nitrilotriacetate. This chemical can cause cancer and damage various organs, especially the kidney and liver. Pre-treatment with AHCC showed protective effects with (1) significantly lower urinary 8-OHdG: a marker of oxidative stress to DNA and a risk factor for cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetes; (2) a normalized level of creatinine, a marker of kidney damage; (3) significantly lower levels of serum AST and ALT, markers of liver damage; (4) and much lower level of thymic apoptosis, a marker for loss of immunity. These results suggest a wide-ranging, high level of protection from oxidative stress. The antioxidant property of AHCC protected thyroid and testosterone production from being lowered by reactive oxygen species (ROS) in another study using ferric nitrilotriacetate (FNT).

AHCC also has measurable anti-inflammatory properties. A study carried out in Thailand with liver cancer patients used C-reactive protein (CRP) as a marker of inflammation. Inflammation drives the cancer process, and hepatitis is well known to be a precursor of liver cancer. Thailand has the highest rate of liver cancer in the world. Terminal liver cancer patients were given 3 grams a day of AHCC. After 6 months of taking AHCC, liver function tests returned to normal. The levels of CRP also returned to normal and rose again if the AHCC dosage was stopped in all 28 of the tested patients. C-reactive protein (CRP) is high when there is hepatitis and other infections, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis and some cancers. There is a strong relationship between circulating CRP with heart attacks and strokes. It is possible that the anti-inflammatory properties of AHCC can prevent disorders caused by an unresolved inflammatory process.

Animal studies show the potential of AHCC to prevent opportunistic infections in chronically ill or hospitalized patients. Opportunistic infections occur in weakened patients: patients who are immune compromised, patients who are traumatized or enfeebled by chronic disease. “Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus” (MRSA) is a well-known example. MRSA runs rampant in many hospitals. Klebsiella pneumoniae is also a problem in hospitals particularly in weak and compromised patients. Neither of these infections is responsive to treatment with antibiotics. The key factor that leads to opportunistic infections is a loss of immunity rather than an exposure to a disease-causing germ. Japanese researchers at Teikyo University investigated the potential of AHCC to prevent opportunistic infections.

They chose to research infections from Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which cause staphylococcal skin infections. These infections generally start as small red bumps, boils or spider bites. They can quickly deteriorate into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. Sometimes the bacteria can penetrate into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs. Another opportunistic infection included in the study was Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can cause urinary tract infections, pneumonia, chronic lung infections, skin, heart and joint infections. Mice were pre-treated with a chemotherapy drug to lower their resistance and white cell counts. Then high doses of Candida albicans were inoculated into the abdomen. Within 7 days the entire control group died of infection. A group that was given AHCC for four days from the day the drug was administered prevented the death of most of the mice. Even after 28 days, 80% were alive.

Using the same model testing mice with impaired immunity because of the effect of the chemotherapy drug lowering resistance and the white cell count, the researchers investigated the protective effect of AHCC for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Within 3 days all of the controls were dead. In the AHCC-treated group, 6 out of 8 were still alive after 14 days. The effects on MRSA were less pronounced. Half on the mice in the control group were dead 6 days after inoculation with MRSA and almost all of them dead by the 28th day. There was a significant extension of longevity in the mice treated with a high dose of AHCC injected directly into the abdomen, but there was no significant effect from taking AHCC orally. The research team was not willing to speculate on the mechanism of action of AHCC in its preventive effect on infections, but their conclusion was that AHCC is able to protect patients with lowered immunity from fungal and bacterial opportunistic infections.