Natural products useful in preventing or treating disease have been highly sought after throughout human history. Polysaccharides in general, and beta glucan in particular, have a long history as immunomodulators. While polysaccharides have been used for decades in several countries to fight cancer and to stimulate the defense system, only in recent years have they become the focus of intensive studies.

Since the first direct scientific studies, countless animal and human trials have shown remarkable anti-tumor activity against a wide range of different tumors including breast, lung, and gastrointestinal cancer.

In Japan, beta glucan is already licensed as an immunostimulant effective in cancer treatment. Two types of beta glucan have been used successfully since the 1980s as traditional medicine for cancer therapy in Japan and China. In addition, numerous clinical trials are currently under way, both in the United States and in several European countries.

However, beta glucan has much more to offer and can be beneficial against:

• Chronic diseases
• Irradiation and/or chemotherapy
• Infectious diseases
• High cholesterol
• Diabetes
• Wound healing
• Nonspecific stimulation of defense reactions
  

Vaclav Vetvicka, Ph.D., is Professor of Pathology in the Department of Pathology of the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY. He graduated from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, with an advanced degree in biology and obtained his Ph.D. from the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. His postgraduate training included a stay at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, and at the Institute of Microbiology, Prague, Czech Republic. His main area of research interest focuses on the development of natural immunomodulators.

In addition to the glucan research, Dr. Vetvicka helped to launch glucan in several countries including USA, France, Turkey and Czech Republic. Dr. Vetvicka is author and co-author of more than 190 peer-reviewed publications, seven books and five international patents.