How to compare Beta Glucan Products

Are all Beta Glucan Products the same?

If you are gambling with your health, it's critical to understand only the 1,3/1,6 terminal-link glucose molecules in Beta Glucan Supplements are proven to trigger the human immune system. This is backed up by over 2,000 published, peer reviewed studies over the past 60-years.

You do not want to buy just any Beta Glucan, you want to buy 1,3/1,6 terminal-linked glucose molecules.

This is why most beta glucan supplements are called "Beta 1,3/1,6 Glucan". Different products have different amounts of the 1,3/1,6 linkages, also known as "active linkage". Commercially available products range from about 8% to 90% active linkage. This is why the cost of the various products range so greatly.

"Beta Glucan" is just a generic term. There are many sources of beta glucan including baker's yeast, mushroom, barley and others. These are the raw materials that have a high naturally occurring level of the 1,3/1,6 terminal-link glucose molecules. The quality of a product is based on the manufacturer's ability to remove the unwanted linkages, proteins and fats leaving the 1,3/1,6 linkages undamaged. Every manufacturer has a patented process for doing this and that results in different purity levels.

The published data on beta glucan and cancer show the vast majority of studies have been done with products with 80% or more of the 1,3/1,6 terminal-link glucose molecules.The higher the product purity, the more effective the product will be.

There are over 100 Beta Glucan Supplements, all claiming to be the "Best". Prices on these range from $15 to $90. Some claim to be FDA Approved, others simply claim to be patented. Some products are "Pure Beta Glucan", others claim to be a 100% beta glucan. This means absolutely nothing. The FDA will allow ALL beta glucan products to claim they are 100% or Pure, this provides you no information on the amount of the Active 1,3/1,6 Linkages in the product. 

FDA does not "approve" any beta glucan supplements. They only approve prescription drugs and medical devices. What the "FDA Approved" logo means is the beta glucan was made in an "FDA Approved Facility". It does not mean the FDA has approved the performance of the product, it's immune benefits, it's percentages of active linkage or anything else. The FDA approved logo means the product likely will not hurt you, nothing more.

The "story" on how retailers claim to have the "best" is always the same.

Fill up a web site with published data on what beta glucan can do.
Be silent on the product specifications.
Allow you to assume the product being sold will product similar results.

Anyone selling beta glucan knows the purity of their own product. The question is will they tell you? Highly purified product manufacturers or distributors will make sure you know their level of purity. If the purity is not mentioned with specific percentages, why waste your money or trust your health to it?

If you know the purity level of several products, it's easy to compare them.

What is the percentage of active linkage in this product? There is no way to know, it could be 30% or 80%. Generally when the purity level is low, the supplement facts panel will be silent on the active linkage.

How much active linkage is in this product? It's exactly 88.7%. You know this factually because all the values add up to a 100%.

If you do the math, which is not required by the FDA, this product contains 887 mg of active 1,3/1,6 linkage with a purity of 88.7% purity compared to the first example which contains 75 mg or about 40% active 1,3/1,6 linkage.

All Beta Glucan Products are not the same.

A resent independent, peer reviewed, published study in The Journal of American Nutraceuticals Association (JANA) tested the “immunological benefits of all the commercially available beta glucan supplements”. The number one product was Beta 1,3/1,6 Glucan. The next best product required 8 times the dose to get the same immunological benefit. Most products required 8X, 16X ,and 64X the dose. The lowest ranked products required a 160X the dose to get the same benefit of a single dose of Beta Glucan #300. A few supplements were were less effective than saline, the negative control group.

You can click on the JANA logo above to see the names of the various beta glucan supplements.

60 years of published studies, and a current independent study by JANA all confirm the same things. The effectiveness of a beta glucan supplement is based on the percentage of active linkage. If you cannot confirm the active linkage, you are gambling with your health. Nothing in a hyped up web site will change this fact.