Hi everyone, Since I was first diagnosed I've looked at everything out there, as I expect a lot of you have. Some of you will know that I now have no spleen and so my immune system is very much compromised. I looked at ways to support my immune system and found a listing for Biobran on the Cancer Research website. The listing is quite old and hasn't been updated as far as I can tell, but the research can be found by Googling it. Now, I'm not the sort of person to take things without looking into them and I read a lot of research papers. I've looked at the background research for this product. Essentially it is this: although they have not yet found the mechanism whereby this appears to work, so they recognise that more research is needed, they have ascertained that it promotes the substances which, in turn help the production of our T-cells - the killer cells our immune system produces which are capable of killing cancer cells.
It is known that cancer sufferers have depleted amounts of these substances, so I figure that anything that helps increase these substances, will aid my immune system - which needs all the help it can get. There is on-going research into Biobran, which is made by a Japanese Pharmaceutical company, Daiwa. The compounds are extracted from rice bran and it is a complex process. The end product is available in powder or tablet form and I get mine from Amazon as it's the cheapest supplier, but it's not cheap. One months supply works out at £377.
If, like me, you read the current research, you will find that there is some evidence that taking this helps chemo patients through their treatment. They have also looked at it in small studies with various cancers and, for example, there appears to be growing evidence that PSA numbers in prostate cancer sufferers drop when patients are taking this. Measureable differences have been found after just a few weeks. It appears that Biobran is indeed helping the immune system at a time when it's being knocked for six. Remember that this is NOT a cure, it is something that supports the immune system. I thought it was right to share this, so that individuals, if they can afford it, can consider this as an aid to their treatment and to their well-being.
I told my oncologist I was taking this and why I was taking it. It didn't surprise me that he'd never heard of it, so I supplied him with a copy of the research summary [ a paper which looks at all the current research to date]. He said he has no objection to my taking it. All good wishes, Rainie x
