Beta-glucan has an interesting reputation in health circles. It tends to be divided depending on who you ask about it. For some, it is an immune system booster capable of helping keep your healthy. Others take this even farther and say that this immune boosting power is capable of treating a variety of illnesses, including diabetes, in lieu of standard treatments. Outside of both of these is standard medicine where beta glucan has been investigated and found to be potentially useful for helping to mitigate high cholesterol levels and potentially of us in helping with some forms of cancer. Not all of these claims are mutually exclusive and some of the first two will highlight known medical uses as well, but all of these claims drifting around make it hard for many of us to tell what information, outside of so-called “conventional” uses, is true. Let’s take a closer look at this current “miracle” compound to see what information withstands scrutiny.

Memetic Boost
The claim that something boosts the immune system is a relatively popular marketing claim. It hinges on the idea that the drug/supplement being offered is capable of working with the immune system in such a way that it increases its capabilities. This is regarded as a good thing as it seems like it would mean that your immune system would be better able to do its job with a little extra push. The fact is that this idea comes from a misinformed place. Your immune system works in such a way that you need it to maintain a certain level of function without going above or below it. When your immune system is weakened, it is less able to fight off attacks, but when it is stronger…it can end up attacking the body. Immune boosting claims are more or less marketing gibberish that do little beyond catch eyes. Some of the compounds in them could support and help maintain immune function, yes, but the last thing you would want to take is something that boosted function as it would be far more likely to hurt your health than help it.

Skin Friendly
While the immune boosting properties of beta glucan are overblown and don’t contribute anything to its usefulness, it is still a useful ingredient when applied appropriately. If you look closely, you’ll frequently see it in skincare products. This doesn’t have anything to do with your immune system, but instead has to deal with the soothing properties of the ingredient. Among other things, beta glucan is actually an antioxidant. This makes it excellent for fighting back the results of long term sun damage. It helps by neutralizing the free radicals in your skin that would otherwise be causing consistent damage. It has also been shown to have some effect at being able to generally soothe the skin as a whole. Many companies choose to use it as an ingredient for helping to manage redness and irritation as a result. It ends up being particularly common in products designed for use with dry and sensitive skin especially, but can turn up in other products where mitigating irritation is important.

Two Faces
Studies have been repeatedly done of the potential usefulness of beta-glucan within medicine. We briefly highlighted them earlier, but one of the uses that has the most evidence is cholesterol management. Some forms of it appear to be able to help reduce levels of bad cholesterol in the body and thereby increase long term health expectations. Not all forms are useful for this though and the discrepancy is actually the subject of current research. Another interesting use that requires more investigation is that continual treatments for people with with advanced stages of cancer may live a little longer than those who did not receive such treatments. This is, again, a fairly narrow area for utility and requires further investigation to support such a use. While no means uses in medicine or skincare, beta-glucan is certainly not an “immune booster” no matter how many people claim that it is.

Beta-glucan, despite a lot of good press, isn’t likely to do much to help you avoid getting ill. It does have some specific and highly useful potential in skincare as well as medicine, but it isn’t meant for generalized “illness” concerns. That part is just another fad in health that will eventually fade as the trend dies down. So don’t look for it to help you not catch a cough this winter, but seeing it in your favorite skincare product is generally a good sign.