In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study to prevent common childhood diseases, the amount of beta-glucan fibers in just one spray of nutritional yeast per day is tested.
In 1989 the late Charles Janeway gave a presentation that revolutionize our understanding of the immune system. He suggested that we must have an age-old innate first line of defense. We had known about vaccinations and how our bodies could learn from past infections for centuries, but he thought that was not enough: our bodies must have evolved somehow to recognize foreign invaders when they first invaded. He suggested that the way our immune cells differentiate between self and “not-self” – that is, our own cells versus invading microbes – might be due to pattern recognition receptors; We are born with the ability to “see patterns in microbial structure”. For example, there is a unique component of fungal cell walls called beta-glucan (β-glucan) that works naturally stimulates our immune system. Not our own cells to produce it, but fungal pathogens like Candida do. Candida is a type of yeast that can cause serious blood infections, so it’s good for our immune system to recognize it right away. Of course, you could stimulate the immune system by injecting candida into your veins, but then you could die too. Fortunately for us, non-pathogenic yeasts like Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which include baker’s yeast, brewer’s yeast, and nutritional yeast, to have same molecular signature as beta-glucan. The pharmaceutical industry uses this “strong immunostimulatory response” to develop new anti-infection and anti-cancer therapies, but does it have to be injected into the vein? What if you just eat some nutritional yeast? I discuss this in my video Best food to prevent common childhood infections.
Our digestive tract is our greatest point of contact with the outside world, with more exposed surface area than our lungs and skin combined, so it is not surprising that most of our immune cells are concentrated along the intestinal wall. But they don’t just stay there. Once they know what’s going on in the intestines, they can defend other parts of the body. So, for example, you can give an oral cholera vaccine and end up with cholera-fighting immune cells in your salivary glands that pump antibodies into your saliva to protect yourself from infection.
What if we sprinkled some nutritional yeast over our children’s popcorn as a snack? Could this help the marshal defense all over her body? Adults tend to do this receive only a few colds a year, but the average school kid can catch a cold every other month – and what can we really do about it? Modern medicine has little to offer against everyday colds. Even so, doctors still often prescribe antibiotics that can do more harm than good. “There is clearly a need for effective, safe, and inexpensive treatment …[and] β-Glucan can be just the right solution. ”Of course, you don’t know until you put it to the test.
So, researchers carried out a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of about half a teaspoon worth of nutritional yeast beta-glucan in children with repeated respiratory infections. As you can see in mine at 3:17 am Video, after a month, she found a significant increase in salivary lysozyme levels compared to controls. (Lysozyme is an important protective immune component of our eyes, nose, and mouth.) However, a larger follow-up study reported the opposite results, an apparent drop in salivary lysozyme levels. And although the researchers claimed that this was “accompanied by marked improvements in the general physical health of the subjects tested,” no such data was provided. However, the only reason we looked at lysozyme levels was to hope it would lead to fewer infections, but such studies had never been done … until now.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was made carried out to see if the beta-glucan in just one pollination of nutritional yeast per day would reduce the number of episodes of common teething problems. “During the 12-week study course, 85% of the children in the placebo group experienced one or more episodes of an infectious disease.” If you go to 4:19 in mine Video, I show it graphically: Eighty-five percent have Sicked the sugar pill group, but taking as little as an 8th teaspoon of beta-glucan or even as little as a 16th teaspoon of nutritional yeast seemed to cut the disease rate in half. And those on the yeast who caught a cold only suffered about three days, compared to nearly nine days in the placebo group.
The researchers concluded that by giving children yeast beta-glucans, we “can reduce the incidence and severity of infectious diseases during the cold / flu season and help parents care for sick children.”
Nutritional yeast has also proven beneficial for marathon runners – see Preservation of immune function in athletes with nutritional yeast—And also for Stress-induced immunosuppression. What about Benefits of nutritional yeast in cancer? Chlorella and wakame can also help boost immunity as you will learn from my videos Maintaining the immunity of athletes with chlorella and How to strengthen your immune system with wakame algae, and can produce what I’m in. discuss Using the product aisle to strengthen immune function.
However, some should stay away from nutritional yeast:
In health,
Michael Greger, MD
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