Wellmune Study Shows Improved Cold Symptoms

EAGAN, Minn.Medical students taking a polysaccharide-based supplement (as Wellmune WGP®, from Biothera) had fewer days of cold/flu symptoms than did their fellow students who took placebo during the same period. The study was conducted in the United Kingdom by researchers from The Dove Clinic, Winchester, University of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital. The results were published online ahead of print in Nutrition in March.

The randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled design featured 100 healthy medical students (18 to 65 years old, mean age of 21) who took either 250 mg once daily of Wellmune or a rice flour-based placebo for 90 days. Their health was recorded daily, with medical assessments and blood testing administered within 24 hours of a subject's recording two or more upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) symptoms for two consecutive days. Researchers assessed URTI severity and measured key cytokines and chemokines at baseline and after 90 days, as well as during confirmed URTI.

Results showed of the 97 subjects completing the trial, those taking Wellmune (n=48) had fewer total days with URTI symptoms (198 days) compared to placebo (241 days, n=49). While severity of most URTI symptoms was unchanged between the groups, Wellmune subjects reported an improved ability to breathe easily. Similarly, cytokines and chemokines were not different between the treatment groups at baseline or the study end, but monocyte chemotactic protein-1 was lower in the Wellmune group during the URTI.

Researchers concluded Wellmune WGP supplementation, which contains key beta glucan polysaccharides, may decrease the duration and severity of URTIs, but larger studies are needed to support this benefit. Wellmune WGP activates innate immune cells, the bodys first line of defense, which helped students become more resilient to health challenges," said  Richard Fuller, M.D. , The Dove Clinic for Integrated Medicine, and principal investigator for the study. Strategies to decrease the frequency and severity of URTI symptomswould have a highly beneficial impact on health and socioeconomic performance."

The results are consistent with eight other clinical studies regarding the immune support effects of Wellmune WGP, said Don Cox, Ph.D., senior vice president of research and development at Biothera.