AHCC and the Benefits of Mushrooms

Mushrooms have long been recognized for a variety of both culinary and medicinal uses for centuries. These unique fungi are delicious, nutritious, and carry a variety of benefits. So why are mushrooms so beneficial? And what’s up with the AHCC compound that is created from them?

What is AHCC?

AHCC, more technically known as Active Hexose Correlated Compound, is a hybridized mushroom extract that is derived from the spores of several Japanese medicinal mushrooms. This particular compound is composed of several types of glucans, which have been shown to be medically relevant compounds–especially in antifungal products. A glucan is a very specific type of starch monomer that can be broken into two categories: alpha and beta-glucans. AHCC contains alpha glucans in its composition and it helps to stimulate the immune system and the Killer T-cells that are a main component of the body’s immune system.

Why turn to mushrooms?

For centuries, mushrooms have been used in Eastern medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. While there is little research into them for specific treatments, there is extensive research into the various compounds found in most mushrooms. In fact, mushrooms are still widely used in traditional Japanese medicine. While there are many different mushroom varieties, it’s thought that a handful of Asian mushrooms are the best for your health, including shiitake, enoki, maitake, and oyster mushrooms.

No matter what you may think about mushrooms, there are some benefits to eating mushrooms and consuming the different compounds that are derived from mushrooms, such as AHCC supplements. Taking AHCC supplements like ImmPower made by American BioSciences, which contains 100 percent AHCC and consuming mushrooms on a regular basis, could provide many benefits for your immune system, including some of the following.

AHCC helps boost your Natural Killer (NK) cell quantity and activity. These cells are the defenders of the body. They patrol and let the rest of your immune system know when there is an invader, as they are your body’s first line of defense. Mushrooms and AHCC supplements can help to boost them and provide your body with additional immune support.

Because all mushrooms are chock full of nutrients, such as fiber, potassium, and vitamin C, they are very beneficial in supporting a heart healthy diet. Potassium is a critical nutrient for individuals who struggle with high blood pressure. It balances out the sodium in your body and can help to regulate–and even reduce–high blood pressure, which is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease.

Along the same vein as how mushrooms can help to improve your heart health, they are also an ideal food to help with weight management. With low calorie content and tons of nutrients, mushrooms are a great vegetarian replacement for meat. Because you can substitute mushrooms for meat, you can easily cut out calories without losing any necessary nutrition.

Adding mushrooms into your diet can provide many beneficial nutritional benefits. As we just mentioned, they’re low in calories, yet full of beneficial nutrients. You’d have to eat a wide variety of foods in order to equal the nutrition benefits of mushrooms. Along with fiber, potassium, and vitamin C, they’re also full of vitamins B12 and D. Mushrooms are one of the ONLY food sources that contain vitamin D that humans consume. In addition, B12 is most commonly only found in animal proteins, but can be commonly found in mushrooms. Mushrooms are a critical part of a vegetarian or vegan diet because they have B12 that can’t be found in many other non-animal products.

Mushrooms have provided us with a variety of tools to help fight bacteria, but they also could contain antiviral and antibacterial properties just from consumption.* While more research in that area needs to be done, products like penicillin, streptomycin, and tetracycline were all discovered thanks to the help of fungi. When studying mushrooms, researchers have found that humans and fungi share many of the same pathogens and therefore, studying their immune responses and adaptations has been beneficial for humans.

ImmPower, manufactured by American BioSciences, is the best AHCC supplement on the market and can provide immune support for your health. Shop online with us today!