Immunocal® Contains Cell Health-Boosting Cysteine (a Whey Protein)
by Ken Rabas
This summer, my good friend Gearld Frye – a
grass-fed genetics consultant — told me about a
recent, health problem with which he’d been diagnosed. Gearld chose to fight that health problem
with the help of a Naturopathic Physician, using a
complete nutrition program that included a product
called Immunocal®. When I passed along Gearld’s
story – and others’ similar experiences – to the editor of The Milkweed, he challenged me to report
these incidents. I am not a journalist, but will give
it a try. I will tell several personal health stories that
have been shared with me. Then let’s briefly summarize the science that underlies the common links
to all of the following persons’ health matters. That
common link is a specific product: Immunocal® —
a bio-active, non-denatured whey protein derivative
that supplies the needed building blocks for
increased glutathione production within the human
body’s cells.
The main source of information is the Web site:
www.immunocal.co.uk/author/glutathione/
The firm that produces and markets IImmunocal® is Immunotec – based in Quebec, Canada. The
glutathione story, at the Immunocal® Web site, is
amazing. I have just started, but expect to be studying
the Immunocal® Web site for years to come. John
Molson (vp of research and development at
Immunotec) was very helpful and shared even more
medical and scientific studies.
Interested readers may take the time to look up
the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) for Immunocal®. The PDR Web site is provided at the conclusion of this article. PDR – a respected medical reference tool — explains Immunocal® quite well. PDR
even mentions, by name, the serious disease referred
to in this article.
Personal health anecdotes
Let’s start with Gearld Frye’s story. Persons who
follow the grass-fed or organic agriculture movements
may know Gearld. In February 2013, Gearld lost his
wife of over 50 years to a very serious, long-term,
health condition. In July of this year, Gearld found
himself diagnosed with a very similar health condition. When Gearld shared his story with me, he was
the most positive and upbeat that anyone coping with
such knowledge could be. I think if the medical community couldn’t help him, his spirit would have. I
mention this side note for anyone reading this that
may also be dealing with challenges. As hard as it
may seem, your own thoughts and beliefs are as
important as any
medicine. Gearld
explained whom he
had turned to a
trusted Naturopathic Physician whom
he knew and trusted. Gearld was on
Immunocal® and
other supporting,
nutritional supplements. Gearld is feeling very good, but it
will be several months before any follow up testing
will be done. Frye continues working with his doctor,
and his regimen has recently changed, as his health
has been changing for the better.
Gearld also related another story to me, involving a farm family that he works with (folks that I also
know). Two members of that extended family also
had the same health issues as Gearld and his late
wife. Both those persons had used the same Naturopathic Physician as well as the Immunocal® program. Both persons have enjoyed good health for the
past several years.
Gearld also referred me to Dr. Don Huber. Dr.
Huber retired from Purdue University in 2006 and
now lives in Idaho, near Boise. In recent years,
Huber has become known for his warnings regarding
Immunocal® - Description and Clinical Pharmacology
“IMMUNOCAL® is a U.S. patented natural
food protein isolate in the FDA category of GRAS
(generally recognized as safe) which assists the
body in maintaining optimal concentrations of glutathione (GS) by supplying the precursors required
for extracellular glutathione synthesis. It is clinically proven to raise glutathione values.
“Glutathione is a tripeptide made intracellularly from its constituent group (SH) of cysteine is
responsible for the biological activity of glutathione.
Provision of this amino acid is the rate-limiting factor in glutathioine synthesis by the cells since
bioavailable cysteine is relatively rare in foodstuffs.
“Immunocal® is a bovine whey protein isolate specially prepared so as to provide a rich
source of bioavailable cysteine. Immunocal® can
thus be viewed as a cysteine delivery system.
“The disulphide bond in cysteine is pepsin
and trypsin resistant but may be split by heat, low
pH of mechanical stress releasing free cysteine.
When subject ot heat or shearing forces (inherent
in most extraction processes), the fragile disulfide
bonds within the peptides are broken and the
bioavailability of cysteine is greatly diminished.
“Glutathione is a tightly regulated intracellular
constituent and is limited in its production by negative feedback inhibition of its own synthesis through
the enzyme gamma-glutamycysteine synthetase, thus
greatly minimizing any possibility of overdosage.
“Glutathione has multiple functions:
“1. It is the major endogenous antioxidant
produced by the cells, participating directly in the
neutralization of free radicals and reactive oxygen
compounds, as well as maintaining exogenous
antioxidants such ass vitamins C and E in their
reduced (active) forms.
“2. Through direct conjugation, it detoxifies
many xenobiotics (foreign compounds) and carcinogens, both organic and inorganic.
8 — The Milkweed • December 2014
“3. It is essential for the immune system to
exert its full potential, e.g. (1) modulating antigen
presentation to lymphocytes, thereby influencing
cytokine production and type of response (cellular
or humoral) that develops, (2) enhancing proliferation of lymphocytes, thereby increasing magnitude
of the response, (3) enhancing killing activity of
cytotoxic T cells and NK cells, and (4) regulating
apoptosis, thereby maintaining control of the
immune response.
“4. It plays a fundamental role in numerous
metabolic, and biochemical reactions such as DNA
synthesis and repair, protein synthesis,
prostaglandin synthesis, amino acid transport and
enzyme activation. Thus, most systems in the body
can be affected by the state of the glutathione system, especially the immune system, the nervous
system, the gastrointestinal system, and the lungs.
“INDICATIONS AND USAGE
“IMMUNOCAL® is a natural food supplement and as such is limited from stating medical
claims per se. Statements have not been evaluated
by the FDA. As such, this product is thus not intended to diagnose, cure, prevent or treat any disease.
“Glutathione augmentation is a strategy
developed to address states of glutathione deficiency, high oxidative stress, immune deficiency, and
xenobiotic overload in which glutathione plays a
part in the detoxification of the xenobiotic in question. Glutathione deficiency states include, but are
not limited to: HIV/AIDS, infectious hepatitis, certain types of cancers, cataracts, Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinsons, chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease, asthma, radiation, poising by acetaminophen and related gents, malnutritive states, arduous
physical stress, aging, and has been associated with
sub-optimal immune response. Many clinical
pathologies are associated with oxidative stress
and are elaborated upon in numerous medical references.”
Source—Physicians Desk Reference, 2013
Web site: www.PDR.net
glyphosate herbicide. I had the privilege of speaking
to Dr. Huber, and he shared his wife Paula’s health
story with me. About 3 years ago she lost 67 lbs. in
two months and needed a wheelchair to get around.
Dr. Huber is well-known in alternative agricultural
circles and gives frequent speeches. From some of
Dr. Huber’s organic conference speaking engagements, he knew the same Naturopathic Physician as
Gearld Frye. The Huber’s also found a local specialist who was also willing to work with Immunocal®.
Paula went on a supplement program of Immunocal®, Red Rice Yeast, CoQ10, and Milk Thistle
Extract. As her health improved, she
received a mild form of conventional therapy. In six months, she showed
major improvement in her health.
She is continuing to
do well, more than
three years after the
initial diagnosis. She
continues to work
with her doctor and
her
monitor
progress, which has
been mostly positive.
Both Dr. and Mrs.
Huber have been on Immunocal®, continually, since
they first started, about three years ago. Dr. Huber
said they take Immunocal®, 20 grams 1 hour before
breakfast, and 20 grams 1 hour after the last food in
the evening. Dr. Huber strongly warns against using
a high-speed blender to mix the product, high-speed
blending destroys the critical disulfide/amino acid
bonds.
Science behind Glutathione and cell health
Now let’s turn to the science of glutathione and
Immunocal®. The scientific and medical communities have seen over 30 years’ worth of research. But
I will only touch the very tip of the iceberg. The
remainder of this article is information from the previously mentioned Web site:
www.immunocal.co.uk/author/glutathione/
Your life depends on glutathione. I use the
word glutathione, but I will briefly explain that I am
actually talking about glutathione sulfhydryl, commonly abbreviated GSH. Interested persons may
choose to research the topic on their own. Most of
the articles use the full scientific language.
Glutathione cannot be orally supplemented; it
needs to be manufactured within the cells of the body.
Glutathione is a tri-peptide, a small protein made up
of three amino acids, glycine, glutamate (glutamic
acid), and cysteine. Sulfur containing cysteine is typically in short supply at the cell, and is the most challenging ingredient for the cell to find, as it tries to
produce the much needed glutathione. Cysteine also
is difficult to supplement, because it is easily broken
down in digestion.
Our food sources of cysteine are eggs, raw
milk, and bio-available, non-denatured whey. The
heat of pasteurization will denature much of the protein in dairy. Further, the high speed separators and
pumps associated with modern dairy processing will
shear the disulfide bonds off the cysteine molecule.
That is where Immunocal® comes in to supply the
bio-active, non-denatured amino acid cysteine to the
cells of the body.
Many whey protein powders are available for
purchase. But I wouldn’t expect them to have very
much bio-active cysteine that the body requires.
Over the past 30 years, millions of dollars have been
spent on research and development. Immunotec’s
Web site does not detail how whey proteins are
processed to maintain the bio-active, non-denatured
cysteine. I mention this qualification, to encourage
interested persons to turn to the source – Immunotec
— rather than to try finding an alternate that has little chance of supplying the bio-available, non-denatured whey proteins containing cysteine. Immunocal
should be part of a full nutrition program, which
should involve a health or nutrition professional.
Glutathione works closely with vitamin C,
vitamin E, CoQ10, selenium, and alpha lipoic acid
Continued on page 9
— New Report Criticizes Yogurt Industry
Major Brands Accused of Turning Health Food into Junk Food
by Will Fantle
Yogurt has a well-deserved healthful reputation. But a new report accuses Dannon, Yoplait,
Chobani and other major marketers of misleading
parents, who are looking for healthier foods for their
families, into purchasing yogurts loaded with sugar
and a myriad of questionably safe artificial sweeteners, colors and emulsifiers.
Culture Wars: How the Food Giants Turned
Yogurt, a Health Food, into Junk Food was released
just before Thanksgiving by The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm and food policy
research group. The group alleges that agribusinesses, in their marketing approach, have capitalized on
yogurt’s historic, well-deserved healthful reputation
while simultaneously adulterating the product,
sometimes illegally, to gain competitive advantage
and popular appeal.
“What is most egregious about our findings,”
said Mark A. Kastel, Codirector of The Cornucopia
Institute, “is the marketing employed by many of the
largest agribusinesses selling junk food masquerading as health food, mostly aimed at moms, who are
hoping to provide their children an alternative, more
nutritious snack. In some cases, they might as well
be serving their children soda pop or a candy bar
with a glass of milk on the side.”
To help consumers sort through the maze of
yogurts available in the grocery aisle, Cornucopia
created a buyer’s guide, rating 114 yogurt brands.
“Our goal is to provide useful information so that
individuals and families can separate the truly
healthy options from those that would be found on
any dietitian’s shortlist of foods to avoid,” said Kastel. The buyer’s guide and full report can be found
on Cornucopia’s Web site (www.cornucopia.org).
One of the findings of Culture Wars was that
flavored varieties (strawberry, for example) of certain brands contain no actual fruit, and include total
sugars that rival those in candy bars. Alternatively,
rather than with sugar, some yogurt is sweetened
artificially with such substances as aspartame (also
marketed as NutraSweet®).
According to Dr. Qing Yang, a professor of
molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Yale
University, “A rise in the percent of the population
who are obese coincides with the increase in the widespread use of non-caloric artificial sweeteners such as
aspartame and sucralose.” The use of aspartame is
controversial and has been linked to brain tumors and
neurological diseases in laboratory animals.
Non-caloric sweeteners are not the only con-
— Immunocal®, con’t
Continued from page 8
— to name a few of the major anti-oxidants — to
help the body fight toxins and free radicals. Searching through the science behind glutathione, one
starts to imagine a pattern that glutathione has the
potential to be a fountain of youth nutrient. We live
in an environment that places increased stress on the
cells of our body, requiring more and more glutathione production to fight the effects of such
stress. And yet our food supplies less and less of
the ever-important cysteine needed to produce the
needed glutathione. Could the dairy industry help,
by supplying a minimally-processed whey protein,
able to supply bio-available, non-denatured cysteine
in the form of Immunocal®?
A few months ago, The Milkweed promised an
increased focus on the links involving dairy, nutrition and our health/wellness. Hopefully this article
will spur wider awareness among persons who know
family members and friends suffering from serious
health issues. By now, readers should have a pretty
solid idea, about which disease(s) this article has
referred to.
— Ken Rabas lives in southeastern Iowa. He’s
a dairy processing plant employee “between jobs”
since Twin County Cheese closed last summer. Ken is
highly informed on matters of organic agriculture.
He and wife Ginger have two young sons.
troversial
materials
found in many popular
brands of yogurt. Another, carrageenan, a bioactive ingredient derived
from seaweed, has been
linked in published
research to serious gastrointestinal inflammation and disease. Some
of the yogurts specifically aimed at young children, in squeezable
tubes, are among the
offerings containing carrageenan.
“It’s gut-wrenchingly ironic,” observes
Kastel, “that some people with inflammatory
bowel disease (IBD), or
other intestinal maladies,
This close-up photo of a carton of Walmart’s house-brand yogurt
eat yogurt because it is (Lemon Cream Pie flavor) is a prime example of the heavily-sweetened
cultured with beneficial products sold as yogurt. Take a close look at the sweeteners listed on the
bacteria. Carrageenan, front panel: Sweetened with fructose, sucralose, aspartame & acesulfame
included as a thickener in potassium. A recent, exhaustive study of yogurt products by the Cornusome yogurt, can greatly copia Institute scorned many ingredients commonly used in the U.S.
exacerbate the condiIn order to assess the labeling campaign, Cortions.”
nucopia purchased yogurt samples directly from groSome manufacturers, including WhiteWave (Horicery stores’ dairy cases, and sent them to an indezon), have recently announced that they are removing
pendent lab at the University of Nebraska’s Food
carrageenan from their natural and organic products.
Processing Center for testing. Lab analyses revealed
While they will not acknowledge potential health probthat many of the top-rated organic brands found in
lems, they are responding to a steady drumbeat of conCornucopia’s buyer’s guide – that are not part of the
sumer feedback on the carrageenan ingredient issue.
industry’s Live and Active Cultures marketing camCornucopia also alleges that some of the ingre- paign – actually contain higher levels of beneficial
dients manufacturers use to produce yogurt, such as bacteria than some of the most popular brands dismilk protein concentrate (MPC), typically imported playing the seal.
from countries like India, may not meet yogurt’s cur“Our laboratory analysis also showed that there
rent legal standard of identity. As Greek yogurt has
are nutritional benefits to eating whole milk, organbecome popular, one of the ways that companies
ic yogurt,” said Dr. Linley Dixon, one of Cornuhave cheapened the manufacturing process is by
copia’s researchers.
adding MPCs to increase the protein level and
Consistent with other recent peer-reviewed and
improve what the industry calls “mouth feel.”
published findings, Cornucopia additionally found
The results of its investigation led Cornucopia
that organic yogurt had more advantageous ratios of
to file a formal complaint with the Food and Drug
omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids and higher levels of
Administration (FDA) in October asking the agency
beneficial fats, including conjugated linoleic acid
to investigate whether or not certain yogurts on the
(CLA), than conventional yogurt.
market, manufactured by such companies as Yoplait,
Another ingredient many yogurt manufacturers
Dannon, and many store brands including Walmart’s
add
to
their products is artificial coloring. The theoGreat Value, violate the legal standard of identity for
ry
that
artificial food colors are detrimental to chilproducts labeled as yogurt. Cornucopia asked the
dren’s
behavioral
development, while attacked by
agency that the legal definition of “yogurt” be
enforced for product labeling, just as it is for prod- the food industry, is supported by scientific research.
Scientists have linked artificial colors to attention
ucts labeled “cheese.”
deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. Organic
“The reason that Kraft has to call Velveeta®
yogurt products are prohibited from using artificial
‘processed cheese-food’ is that some of the ingredicolors.
ents used, like vegetable oil, cannot legally be in a
Culture Wars also examined the comparative
product marketed as ‘cheese’,” Kastel explained.
costs of yogurt on the market. The report found that
Cornucopia alleged that some of the ingredimany organic yogurts can often be purchased for
ents manufacturers use to produce yogurt, like milk
less, on a price-per-ounce basis, than conventional
protein concentrate (MPC), do not meet yogurt’s
yogurts. This price comparison includes many of the
current legal standard of identity. Responding to
popular Greek styles and heavily processed prodthe complaint, and dismissing Cornucopia’s conucts, in special packaging, that are marketed to chilcerns, the FDA acknowledged that there are no
dren, like Yoplait’s Go-Gurt and Dannon’s Daniagency standards for Greek yogurt, but insisted that
mals, with their long lists of artificial ingredients.
manufacturers must comply with applicable FDA
The healthiest choices in Cornucopia’s study
regulations. The agency said that, because there are
include
yogurts with a short list of ingredients,
domestic manufacturers of MPCs, it is entirely posincluding
organic milk and live cultures — with limsible that yogurt manufacturers are using Grade
ited
amounts
of added organic fruit or unrefined
“A” product from these sources and that is consissweeteners
such
as maple syrup.
tent with regulations.
A representative for General Mills, which disMPCs are a long-term, thorny dairy issues. In
recent years, U.S. MPC production has approached tributes Yoplait in the United States, informed the
import levels, on a volume basis. No foreign plants New York Times that “Cornucopia advocates on
producing MPCs have been certified under U.S. behalf of organic, and routinely recommends organGrade A standards. In late 2014, FDA granted ic products over alternatives. That has been their
“GRAS” status to MPCs. GRAS stands for “Gen- focus – and it’s clearly the agenda here.”
erally Recognized as Safe.” Does that decision
Tiny nanoparticles are a new, novel ingredient
mean MPCs have not been GRAS-legal up until the that some manufacturers are now adding to food.
present?
Due to their very small size, engineered nanopartiOne prominent marketing approach employed cles are more likely than larger particles to enter
by the yogurt industry is the Live and Active Cul- human cells, cross the blood brain barrier, or move
tures label displayed on yogurt package containers.
Continued on page 13
The effort purportedly assures a high level of
healthful probiotics – the microorganisms believed
The Milkweed • December 2014 — 9
to improve digestion in the intestinal tract.