Attention Athletes: 5 Ways Beta Glucan Can Help You Be Your Best!

From the outside, athletes appear to be immune to the chronic conditions and regular aches and pains that the rest of the world faces. If you have “gone pro” in your sport or are striving towards that goal, then you know firsthand that this is far from the truth. In fact, some conditions -- such as injury, chronic fatigue, and anxiety/depression—actually occur in higher amounts amongst professional athletes than the rest of the population.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a natural way to up your performance and recover faster from injury and illness? Well, actually there is. It’s called “beta glucan” and more research is discovering that this amazing substance is uniquely designed by nature to help with the unique demands of pro athletes. Read on to learn more about how you can start benefiting from beta glucan today!

Athletes Have Health Risks Too

It is surprising to those who aren’t athletically inclined to hear about people like Venus Williams, who competed in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics with Sjogren’s syndrome (an autoimmune disease), or pro snowboarder Shaun White, who opened up about his bouts with physical burnout and debilitating depression in the documentary film The Weight of Gold. (1) (2)

If you are involved in high-level athletic competition, however, then it probably comes as no surprise that those who are in competitive athletics, and even sports megastars, must deal with the same mental and physical ailments as the rest of us. In fact, elite and up-in-coming athletes often contend with more emotional and mental stress, not to mention more intense physical demands on their bodies.

“The stress of competing at the highest level can put enormous strain on the body,” says Dr. Annie Sparrow, professor of Health, Science, and Policy at Icahn School of Medicine, The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. (3)

Other experts point out ongoing pressure to perform intense training protocols and lack of support as additional risk factors for disease. According to statistics gathered by the American College of Sports Medicine, “35% of elite athletes suffer from disordered eating, burnout, depression and/or anxiety.” (4)  And did you know that professional athletics are among the top five occupations that have more than 1,000 injuries per 10,000 workers? (5)

Want to Up Your Game Naturally? Beta Glucans Can Help!

If you are a professional athlete and you want to heal your body as well as improve your focus, there are a lot of natural substances out there that are said to help. No doubt you have probably heard about some of them. You may not be aware of beta glucan, however.

So, what makes beta glucan seemingly tailor-made for athletes? Beta glucans are polysaccharides (i.e., a form of fiber) that grow naturally along the cell walls of many whole foods, such as grains, yeasts, and fungi. When you ingest them, they are able to slip through “Peyer’s Patches” in the gut and go directly to the immune system. Once within this system, they activate macrophages, natural killer cells, and other immune system mechanisms, making immunity more robust and effective.

Of course, according to research at Texas Tech University and countless others, this is a big boon for your resistance to common colds and diseases. (6) As we will see, however, helping immunity also heals the gut, boosts detoxification, aids the repair mechanisms in the body, and strengthens the brain.

Five Ways Beta Glucans Can Help You Up Your Game

Here’s a little bit more about the amazing benefits of beta glucan for athletes:

• Less Downtime for Colds, Flu, and Infections

Boosting your immune system naturally means that you spend less time recuperating from colds, flu, and viral infections -- and more time doing what you love most. This is especially important for athletes since sports medicine research indicates that extensive workouts can cause the immune system to wane. This can result in lower immune function and more susceptibility to long-lasting infection.

In a 2020 double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study published in the Journal of Dietary Supplements, marathon runners training for the Austin Marathon were given a beverage containing Baker’s Yeast β-glucan daily 45 days before the race and continuing for 45 days after (the control group was given a calorie-matched placebo beverage). All individuals involved in the study had an ongoing history of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI).

Those who took the beta glucan formula experienced fewer symptoms, including less nasal discharge and sore throat. The beta glucan group also missed fewer post-marathon workout days. (7)

• Relief from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

There is another, more dangerous side to ongoing low immunity that many elite athletes experience. Most pros (maybe even you) are used to just “sucking it up” and playing through the aches and pains of a persistent cold or flu. Infections that aren’t healed can eventually turn into more serious conditions, however.

“Acute viral infection, training or competing when initially ill, emotional stress, and overtraining” are the primary factors for the development of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, or myalgic encephalomyelitis) amongst athletes, according to a report sponsored in part by the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. (8)

Not only is chronic fatigue painful, but it can also be debilitating. CFS has risen in professional and college-level athletes in recent years (as it has in the population as a whole). (9) The Australian study also discovered that the average time away from practice for those who had acute CFS was roughly 2 years.

So, what can you do? Training schedules won’t change nor will your exposure to pathogens and other stressors.

2015 in vivo investigation conducted at the University of Louisville by pathology researchers Vaclav Vetvicka and Jana Vetvickova found that beta glucan helped boost and restabilize the immune system in the midst of CFS. The researchers also found that Natural Killer cell activity, as well as cytokine and lymphocyte proliferation, all returned to normal after two weeks on yeast-derived beta glucan. Lower production of these particular immune system mechanisms is common in CFS.

In fact, beta glucans were so effective at putting key immune system mechanisms back online that the researchers concluded that “glucan might be considered a potential natural treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome” in general. (10)

In another more recent study conducted in 2020 by the same authors, Drs. Vetvicka and Vetcickova verified their earlier findings regarding beta glucans’ ability to help with oxidative stress and chronic fatigue. In addition, they also discovered that taking beta glucan can boost the process of “phagocytosis” in the immune system. This is the ability of an immune system cell to actively overpower a pathogenic cell, such as a dangerous bacteria or virus, and destroy it. (11)

• Lower Inflammation for Less Pain

In another 2020 double-blind trial, this time at the University of Texas, beta glucans sourced from Baker’s Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were given to athletes after they participated in heated treadmill exercises. They found that beta glucans helped to significantly downregulate markers of systemic inflammation by rebalancing immunoglobulin levels, increasing the effectiveness of key T cells, lowering levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and proteins, and downregulating other key substances that are associated with both inflammation and disease.

What’s more, 72 hours after exercise and taking beta glucans, markers for muscle damage and soreness were significantly lower in those who took beta glucans than in the control group. (12)

• A Boon for Brain Health and Mental Focus

Another prior study done, again, on marathon runners with a history of upper respiratory infection was published in the December 2009 edition of the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. This one, however, zeroed in on the changes in mental state, mood, and cognitive ability that often accompany this kind of infection.

Indeed, a whole body of scientific exploration has proven that a high viral load can affect mental states and can even be the catalyst for serious psychological disorders. (13) (14) In the 2009 study, seventy-five men and women marathon runners aged 18-53 were given 250 mg or 500 mg of beta glucan 1,3/1,6 derived from Baker’s Yeast during the 4-week post-training period after the 2007 Carlsbad Marathon. Based on periodic questionnaires and measurements, the participants reported not only physical improvements in their URTI symptoms, but also “decreased confusion, fatigue, tension, and anger,” more “vigor,” and a more “upbeat mood” in general. (15)

As a side note, other in vivo studies have dived deeper into how beta glucan actually helps cognition and mood. One very impressive study conducted in 2020 was put together by researchers from China and Australia. The international team found that beta glucan positively affected the gut-brain axis by rebalancing hippocampal function, repairing synaptic flow, and repairing tight junction wear in the colon lining. (16) (17)

• Helps with Stress

When an athlete is under pressure, has tight schedules and constant demands for performance and time, the stress of it all can be overwhelming. Over time, the symptoms of chronic stress can develop. These chemicals of stress, including higher than normal cortisol levels, contribute most to the development of chronic fatigue syndrome, depression/anxiety, and frequent infections.

Beta glucans have been shown to help with stress on all levels. A 2010 study found that certain kinds of beta glucans can actually help modulate the immune system in the face of ongoing stress responses by inhibiting corticosterone levels as well as by stimulating cytokine production in the immune system. (18)

In addition, a 2020 study report published in the Open Biochemistry Journal found that beta glucans can help to improve overall fatigue and also increase body endurance overall. Some measures that the researchers went by to make their determinations were antioxidant glutathione levels, oxidative stress markers, and levels of superoxide dismutase (or SOD) in the body. SOD is an enzyme found in all living cells that helps prevent tissue damage. (19)

Achieve Better Performance and Faster Recovery with Beta Glucans

If you are a professional, semi-professional, or college-level athlete, you rise to the challenge of the game. That means you work your body hard every day. Wouldn’t it be great if there could be a way to bounce back better, stronger, faster, and tougher than ever before?

There is. It’s called beta glucan. Beta glucans are natural substances found in whole foods. As such, there are no side effects to taking them, only better immunity, stronger focus, and faster recovery time from injury.

Why not give beta glucans a try? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain in performance and power for your best game ever.