Eagan, MN—In a recent trial, a branded immune health ingredient (Wellmune WGP from Biothera, based here) helped reduce the length of time subjects experienced upper respiratory tract infection symptoms.

In the three-month trial, 104 medical students from Southampton University Medical School took the ingredient in supplement form (250 mg) or a placebo. Twelve students in each group came down with an upper respiratory tract infection, but those who took the supplement had symptoms for far fewer days (43 less) than those taking a placebo.

According to Richard Fuller, M.D. of The Dove Clinic for Integrated Medicine and principal investigator for the study, the ingredient “activate[d] innate immune cells, the body’s first line of defense, which helped students become more resilient to health challenges.”

Data from the study were presented at a British Society for Immunology conference in Liverpool, UK.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, February 2011 (online 12/14/10)