ABSTRACT
Active hexose correlated compound (AHCC) is a collective term for the botanical polysaccharides extracted from a liquid culture of the mycelia of the basidiomycete, shiitake (Lentinula edodes). In a survey carried out by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare research group, AHCC was listed as a commonly used health food among Japanese cancer patients, second only to the fungus, agaricus (Hyodo et al., 2005). Recent studies have demonstrated AHCC’s ef cacy in the treatment of infectious and in ammatory diseases as well as cancer. This article summarizes recent experimental results where AHCC has been used in the treatment of various diseases including cancer and hepatitis as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in signi cant medical institutions.
