AHCC (short for active hexose correlated compound) comes from a fermented extract of a hybrid of mushrooms, widely used in traditional Japanese medicine for treating cancer, hepatitis and other chronic diseases. Preliminary results being submitted to the 2006 Experimental Biology Meeting (April 1-5, 2006, in San Francisco; www.faseb.org). suggest that AHCC increases NK (natural killer) cell activity in the spleen. (A product called ImmPower by American Biosciences was used in the studyJ This is significant for those with chronic fatigue syndrome because symptoms of low NK function include fatigue, exaggerated pain responses, altered sleep patterns, decreased libido, anxiety, depression, cognitive and memory problems, chemical and allergic sensitivity, muscle and joint stiffness, and recurrent flu-like symptoms. "Physicians and psychologists who treat CFS and their patients have reported improvements in mood, energy and pain with the use of AHCC, consistent with the model that up-regulating NK cell function helps to reduce the adverse effects that stress has on the response of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems to stress:' says Dan Kenner, L.Ac., author of AHCC: The Japanese Medicinal Mushroom, published by Woodland Publishing.

- NICOLE M. BRECHKA