Regular consumption of larch arabinogalactan boosts immune health

ALLENDALE, New Jersey - Daily consumption of larch arabinogalactan, a natural extract from larch trees, have a significant effect in protecting immune health, based on a 12-week randomised controlled study published in the Current Medical and Research Opinion. The study is the strongest evidence that supports natural products for immune health, a $2.1 billion market.

Arabinogalactan occurs naturally in various fruits and vegetables, and as such, has been safely consumed in the human diet for thousands of years. It would take two pounds or more per day of the right fruits and vegetables to deliver the amount of arabinogalactan, tested in the study. The larch tree contains relatively high amounts of arabinogalactan, making it an ideal source.  Larch arabinogalactan also counts as dietary fibre. Native Americans used preparations made from larch to treat wounds and ward off illness.

According to the Nutrition Business Journal, Americans spent $2.1 billion in 2011 on natural immune products, with products containing vitamin C or Echinacea making up the majority of sales.  However, some rigorous studies on the most popular products suggest little benefit in protecting immune health.  While a 2012 survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation found that 70 percent of respondents believed that taking vitamin C helped their immune systems, authors of the Cochrane Systematic Review, which evaluated 29 studies using vitamin C in immune health, concluded that "routine prophylaxis is not justified."

In the larch arabinogalactan study, 199 healthy participants aged 18-70 took either 4.5 grams of larch arabinogalactan daily or placebo for 12 weeks. In the per protocol collective, people taking larch arabinogalactan group were 57% more likely to stay healthy on measured outcomes than those taking placebo.

The number-needed-to-treat (NNT) for the larch arabinogalactan group was 7, suggesting that 7 participants needed to take larch arabinogalactan to keep one additional participant healthy.  NNT is often favoured as a measurement of effectiveness and accounts for placebo effect and the absolute risk of the condition being studied.  Lower NNT values indicate better results. The NNT for the best general-population vitamin C studies evaluated in the Cochrane Review ranged from 14 to 1,747, suggesting that the benefit shown in the larch arabinogalactan study was between 2 and 250 times the benefit shown for vitamin C.

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