LifePharm Immune+++ Mushroom Blend Complex Ingredients Review

LifePharm, makers of Laminine supplement introduces Immune Plus. It is a Vitamin C complex that claims to be effective in giving the body a 24-hours antioxidant boost, protecting the body’s immune health. It contains eight ingredients, mushrooms, and fruit berries, that are traditionally known to boost the body’s immune system.

1. Reishi mushroom

Reishi mushroom is a fungus that some people describe as “tough” and “woody” with a bitter taste. The fruiting body (above-ground part) and mycelium (filaments connecting a group of mushrooms) are used as medicine.

Reishi mushroom is used for boosting the immune system; viral infections such as the flu (influenza), swine flu, and avian flu; lung conditions including asthma and bronchitis; heart disease and contributing conditions such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol; kidney disease; cancer; and liver disease.

It is also used to reduce stress and prevent fatigue. In addition, G. Lucidum (Ling Zhi or Reishi) is a popular supplement taken by a healthy individual to boost the immune system and by cancer patients along with conventional therapies. (Source: NCBI on Ling Zhi)

The herb of spiritual potency
Reishi mushroom contains chemicals that seem to have a variety of potentially beneficial effects, including activity against tumors (cancer) and beneficial effects on the immune system. In Chinese, the name lingzhi represents a combination of spiritual potency and essence of immortality and is regarded as the “herb of spiritual potency,” symbolizing success, well-being, divine power, and longevity.

2. Maitake mushroom

Maitake mushroom is a fungus that has been eaten as food in Asia for thousands of years. People also use it to make medicine. It is traditionally used to treat cancer and relieve the side effects of chemotherapy for cancer. Likewise, it used for chronic fatigue syndrome, hepatitis, hay fever, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol.

A study of the maitake mushroom, with its immunomodulatory and antitumoral properties, has led to the isolation of several bioactive compounds. (Source: NCBI on Maitake)

Immunomodulatory and antitumoral properties
Maitake mushroom contains chemicals which might help fight tumors and stimulate the immune system. There is some evidence that it can lower blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels, lower blood sugar levels, and reduce weight in rats, but this has not been shown to humans yet.

3. Turkey Tail mushroom

This mushroom has a long history of therapeutic use. Turkey tail mushrooms have been used to treat various maladies for hundreds of years in Asia, Europe, and North America. Records of turkey tail brewed as medicinal tea date from the early 15th century, during the Ming Dynasty in China.

Their ancestors certainly encountered them and most likely explored their uses long before written history. Since the late 1960s, researchers in Japan have focused on how turkey tail benefits human health and how extracts of turkey tail can boost the immune system.

A promising clinical study shows that the turkey tail mushroom (Trametes versicolor) improves the immune systems of breast cancer patients. The multiyear study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), tracked whether or not turkey tails could positively affect the immune system of patients rebound after they ended their radiation therapy.

Study on Turkey Tail Mushroom
The study titled “Phase I Clinical Trial of Trametes versicolor in Women with Breast Cancer,” recently published in the ISRN Oncology Journal, shows that turkey tail mushrooms can augment conventional therapies for treating breast cancer by increasing NK and CD8+T cell activity.

4. Acerola

Acerola is a fruit. It is rich in vitamin C, and also contains vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. People use it for medicine. Acerola is used to treat or prevent scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency. Acerola is also used for preventing heart disease, “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis), blood clots, and cancer.

Some people use it to treat the common cold, pressure sores, bleeding in the eye (retinal hemorrhages), tooth decay, gum infections, depression, hay fever, and collagen disorders. Athletes use acerola for improving physical endurance.

Traditional use
Traditionally, the fruits have been used to treat dysentery, diarrhea, and liver disorders. Other ethnobotanical uses include as an astringent and for fever. The health benefits of acerola are due to its vitamin C content. Acerola or Barbados Cherry may suggest its possible application for cancer therapy. (Source: NCBI on Acerola Cherry)

5. Camu-Camu

Camu-Camu is a shrub that grows in swampy or flooded areas of the Amazon rain forests of Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. The fruit and leaves are used as a medicine. Others use it to maintain healthy gums, eyes, and skin; and as an antioxidant and immune system stimulant. Others eat it as fruit.

Camu-Camu is used for viral infections including herpes, cold sores, shingles, and the common cold. It is also used for eye conditions including cataracts and glaucoma. Other uses include treatment of asthma, “hardening of the arteries” (atherosclerosis), chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, gum disease (gingivitis), headaches, and osteoarthritis.

Antioxidant capacity
Camu-Camu fruit contains many nutrients including vitamin C, beta-carotene, fatty acids, protein, and others. It contains Vitamin c but more importantly, two studies have reported on the anti-inflammatory effect of Camu-Camu juice and seed extract on inflammatory activity. (Source: NCBI on Camu-Camu)

6. Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha is described as “Indian ginseng.” It is also used in traditional African medicine for a variety of ailments. It is one of the most important herbs of Ayurveda (the traditional system of medicine in India) used for millennia as a Rasayana (means the science of lengthening lifespan).

Ashwagandha is used for arthritis, anxiety, trouble sleeping (insomnia), tumors, tuberculosis, asthma, a skin condition marked by white patchiness (leukoderma), bronchitis, backache, fibromyalgia, menstrual problems, hiccups, and chronic liver disease. Ashwagandha is also used as an “adaptogen” to help the body cope with daily stress and as a general tonic.

This herb is also used traditionally as prevention of stress-induced diseases, premature aging, arthritis, diabetes, hypertension. (Source: NCBI on Introduction to Ashwagandha)

Study
Ashwagandha is said to contain chemicals that might help calm the brain, reduce swelling (inflammation), lower blood pressure, and alter the immune system. It has been shown to be effective in increasing the stamina (physical endurance) and preventing stress-induced gastric ulcer, carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatotoxicity, mortality and aids anti-stress activity.

7. Sea Buckthorn

Sea Buckthorn is an herb. The leaves, flowers, and fruits are used to make medicine. Its leaves and flowers are used for treating arthritis, gastrointestinal ulcers, gout, and skin rashes caused by infectious diseases such as measles. A tea containing sea buckthorn leaves are used as a source of vitamins, antioxidants, and for improving blood pressure and lowering cholesterol.

Sea buckthorn berries are also used for preventing infections, improving sight, and slowing the aging process. The seed or berry oil is used as an expectorant for loosening phlegm; for treating asthma, heart disorders including chest pain (angina) and high cholesterol.

In food, the Sea Buckthorn berries are used to make jellies, juices, purees, and sauces. In manufacturing, sea buckthorn is used in cosmetics and anti-aging products.

Study
Sea Buckthorn has high-nutritional and medicinal values due to its very rich antioxidant property. It is a widely used plant in traditional medicine for various clinical conditions. Scientifically evaluated pharmacological effects of it are like anti-ulcerogenic effect, in vitro and in vivo antioxidant effects, cardiac disease, antiatherogenic effect, radioprotective effects, beneficial effects on experimental injury and clinical diseases of the liver, and inhibition of platelet aggregation. (Source: Prospective on Sea Buckthorn

8. Pomegranate

A compound found only in pomegranates called punicalagin is shown to benefit the heart and blood vessels. Punicalagin is the major component responsible for pomegranate’s antioxidant and health benefits. It not only lowers cholesterol but also lowers blood pressure and increases the speed at which heart blockages (atherosclerosis) melt away. Many studies have reported the anti-inflammatory potential of pomegranate extract.

Pomegranate can be used in the prevention and treatment of several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other diseases. In addition, it improves wound healing and is beneficial to the reproductive system. (Source: NCBI Potent effects of Pomegranate)

Study
Pomegranate is a potent antioxidant. This fruit is rich in flavonoids, anthocyanins, punicic acid, ellagitannins, alkaloids, fructose, sucrose, glucose, simple organic acids, and other components and has antiatherogenic, antihypertensive, and anti-inflammatory properties.

Conclusion

As exciting and promising as it sounds, the benefits of these mushroom are too good to be true. In addition, acquiring the benefits of these mushrooms by taking them as an individual herbal supplement seems to be more effective, than taking it in one tiny capsule.

Furthermore, although these mushrooms have been known for years to accomplish these wonderful effects, there are few clinical studies to support each claim. Nonetheless, the promise of LifePharm’s Immune plus may seem exaggerated, but only if we look at a detailed benefit of each mushroom ingredient.

At the very least, the supplement positions itself as an immune booster and if you do not have access to these traditional medicines, Immune is your best option.

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