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| June 04 |
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Anti-Inflammatory Effect - Dr. Yuzo Endo |
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Biobran's potent effect on the immune system partly comes from its ability to moderate the body's Natural Killer cell activity. However through research into allergy Dr. Yuzo Endo, Head of R&D at Daiwa Pharmaceutical, has uncovered another way in which Biobran affects the immune system and how this may have a role to play in cancer prevention. He has found that modified rice bran suppresses the allergenic response in asthmatic mice, the connection with cancer here is the response of the immune system [1].
Dr. Endo explained that over the last fifty or sixty years there seems to have been a skewing of the immune system from the TH1 or cellular response to the TH2 or humoral response. The TH2 response tends to be pro-inflammatory which may partly explain the general rise in inflammatory conditions such as eczema and asthma. As inflammation is widely accepted as a promoter of carcinogenesis reducing inflammation in the body may be an important means of protection against cancer. Lifestyle choices have a huge effect on inflammation according to Dr. Endo and the role that poor diets, smoking, high levels of environmental toxins etc. play should not be underestimated. When asked about preventative measures he replied, "to protect against cancer it is very important to reduce the inflammatory load on the body, and Biobran can be part of that."
Dr. Endo's work shows that Biobran's action seems to moderate the inflammatory responses of the immune system and although the evidence for the action is published in black and white the 'how' is still a grey area. For him, this is the future of research into Biobran and he muses, "We know that Biobran is a phenomenon, now we need to do the research to learn why." |
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| [1] Y Endo, H Kanbayashi,'Evaluation of the effects of asthma prevention and symptoms reduction by enzymatically modified rice-bran foods in asthmatic model mice.' Abstract of the 52nd Annual Meeting of Japanese Society of Allergology, 2002. |
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| Postscript: Dr. Endo's working hypothesis that the inflammation mechanisms and cancer are linked has been confirmed by recent research in the US. (more later) |
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| Copyright 2004 RHC - Reproduced with Permission |
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