Beta glucans are being hailed as nature’s most effective immune system activator. A complex carbohydrate fibre, once ingested it primes your body’s innate defences to respond swiftly against viruses, bacteria, parasitic and fungal infections, meaning you suffer less and recover faster from illness.
What is peak immune system condition? Protective disease defences, faster recoveries and enhanced shielding from environmental hazards/radiation damage are all associated with a fully operational innate immune system. Yet how can we access a ‘supercharged’ degree of immune function?
We actually have two immune systems. The innate immune network, present from birth, is the fundamental system that provides the first line of defence against pathogens and general threats. This precedes our complementary adaptive, ‘memory’-based immune system which mounts responses to specific threats that it has encountered before, using antibodies and specialised cells (1).
The innate, nonspecific immune system is able to recognise and neutralise a broad range of foreign cells without ever having encountered them – no ‘training’ is required. However, the array of macrophages (vernacular: ‘white blood cells’) carry out their tasks of engulfing and destroying enemy bodies much more swiftly when activated by certain promoter molecules (2), in the same way a squad responds to a rallying cry.