HISTORY

Glucans are natural polysaccharides whose immunomodulating properties have been described and characterized in detail thanks to many years of research. The first reports on the biological effects of polysaccharides are more than 60 years old, but first detailed knowledge comes from the 1960s, when the effects were thoroughly studied particularly by a group of scientists in New Orleans. Glucans were originally identified as a part of zymosan (gross extract from yeast cell walls), responsible for activating the complement system. Only later the scientists found out that glucan was the active substance prevalently contributing to the favourable effects. In the 1980s, the interest in natural modulators grew considerably and, of course, glucans were not left out. The interest in this substance was spreading virtually throughout the world and over the last twenty years, glucans are among the most widely studied immunomodulators.

The immunomodulating effects of glucans have been tested on a variety of laboratory and other animals, for example fish, shrimps, chickens, mice, rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, sheep, pigs, horses and cows. The immunostimulating effects of glucans are among the most universal biological effects in the whole animal kingdom and so far we have not identified a single biological species that would be resistant to its stimulating effects. This fact also supports the claimed favourable effects of Beta-Glucans because the biological activity of glucans is probably a general biological phenomenon that already occurred a long time ago.