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AHCC protects the liver of heavy drinkers
AHCC, an extract of the edible mushroom shiitake, protects the liver against alcohol. A daily dose of a few grams lowers the concentration of enzymes such as AST, ALT and gamma-GT in the blood of heavy drinkers by tens of percent.
Study
Researchers at Chung-Ang University in South Korea published a trial in 2014 in which 62 heavy drinkers participated as test subjects. The subjects' liver enzyme levels were elevated. This indicates that their liver was under severe strain, but cirrhosis of the liver was not yet present. More information about the test subjects can be found here.
The researchers divided the subjects into 3 groups. One group received a placebo every day for 12 weeks, the other group received 1 gram of AHCC and yet another group received 3 grams of AHCC.
AHCC is an extract of fermented shiitake mushrooms. It consists of 10 percent alpha-glucans. The researchers used a product from the Japanese Amino Up. Amino Up sponsored the study.
Results
Supplementation with AHCC reduced concentrations of the liver enzymes ALT, AST and gamma-GT by approximately 24, 14 and 13 percent, respectively. The lower dose worked just as well as the higher one.
In the average subject, the concentration of AST and ALT was elevated and above reference values. After the supplementation period, this was still the case for the same average subject, despite the significant improvement.
The figure below shows the effect of supplementation in percentages.
Mechanism
Supplementation with AHCC inhibited inflammatory proteins such as TNF-alpha and interleukin-1-beta. The researchers speculate in their paper that this decrease is due to interactions between AHCC and immune cells in the gut. They suspect that these anti-inflammatory effects have a positive effect on the liver.
Source:
J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2014;60(5):348-56.
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