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Review
. 2017 Sep 5;18(9):1906.
doi: 10.3390/ijms18091906.

Clinical and Physiological Perspectives of β-Glucans: The Past, Present, and Future

Khawaja Muhammad Imran Bashir  1 , Jae-Suk Choi  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Clinical and Physiological Perspectives of β-Glucans: The Past, Present, and Future

Khawaja Muhammad Imran Bashir et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

β-Glucans are a group of biologically-active fibers or polysaccharides from natural sources with proven medical significance. β-Glucans are known to have antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, anti-allergic, anti-osteoporotic, and immunomodulating activities. β-Glucans are natural bioactive compounds and can be taken orally, as a food supplement, or as part of a daily diet, and are considered safe to use. The medical significance and efficiency of β-glucans are confirmed in vitro, as well as using animal- and human-based clinical studies. However, systematic study on the clinical and physiological significance of β-glucans is scarce. In this review, we not only discuss the clinical and physiological importance of β-glucans, we also compare their biological activities through the existing in vitro and animal-based in vivo studies. This review provides extensive data on the clinical study of β-glucans.

Keywords: anti-obesity; anti-osteoporosis; antitumor; bioactive polysaccharides; immunomodulation; β-glucans.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A linear 1,3 glycosidic chain of β-d-glucose monomers linked by a 1,6 glycosidic bond [11].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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