by Fred Pescatore, M.D., M.P.H., C.C.N.

In a country supposedly as healthy as ours, an estimated 175 million people suffer from one form of chronic imbalance or another. This can take the form of obesity, which is the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States, second only to cigarette smoking; challenges to heart health, blood pressure, blood glucose levels, joint and cell health, to name just a few.

In fact, treating chronic health problems is what modern medicine has become. Sure, there are still many acute illnesses treated by modern medicine; but for the most part, we are fortunate enough to have long life spans and the health issues that go along with it. Therefore it is important to make sure that our immune systems are up to the task. That is where AHCC should become part of our daily lives.

AHCC is a nutritional supplement that was developed and is manufactured solely in Japan under strict practices. It is a hybridized extract of medicinal mushrooms where the active ingredient is an oligosaccharide made from the mycelia of several species of mushrooms, grown in rice bran.

AHCC and Cell Senescence

Every few years, a new buzz word comes along in medical circles. The latest one to be used both in a positive and negative fashion is senescence. For example, if an unhealthy cell can be artificially made to senesce, or grow old, then it will die sooner. If senescence of healthy cells can be delayed, that is an amazing achievement.

AHCC is the first nutritional supplement that shows principles of being able to promote certain cells in the immune system that keep us young and healthy, thus delaying immunosenescence.

AHCC and the Immune System

In order to get a full appreciation of how important taking AHCC on a daily basis is, one needs to understand the intimate role the immune system plays in our daily lives. It is responsible for ridding our bodies of the unhealthy cells that are produced every day. The immune system protects us from the polluted air we breathe, the chemicalized foods we eat, and most importantly, from the stress we bring upon ourselves just by the very nature of the way we live our lives. Our bodies were made for flight or fight capability; but never in history have we been in that mode on a daily basis.

Our immune systems are under constant assault and it is up to you to take care of it even though you may not even be aware that it is there. We tend only to think of our immune system when it is not working-when we suffer mild or severe health challenges.

Without getting into too much detail, our immune system is a complex series of cells that all communicate with each other and must be balanced correctly in order for us to stay healthy. AHCC is able to encourage the helpful cells such as the natural killer (NK) cells while suppressing the ones that foster problems.

I am in clinical practice on a daily basis and use AHCC in almost every one of my patients. It is very versatile because of its effects on the immune system.