What AHCC is and how it can benefit every human? In this episode, expert Mimi Lindquist joins me to talk all about the powerful Japanese breakthrough mushroom called AHCC. We'll talk all about AHCC's mechanism of action, the immune intelligence, AHCC clinical research and patient healing stories.
More about Mimi Lindquist:
Mimi is an AHCC educator, Culinary Nutrition Expert, and clinical dental hygienist. She focuses on helping people heal and prevent chronic disease using mushrooms, specifically the Japanese breakthrough mushroom, called AHCC. She stepped away from the dental world, and is now committed to being the link between the clinical research behind mushrooms and the common public via social media and online education.
- Mimi's Storefront .Choose 1 single bottle, 1x/month prescription, or 2x/month prescription, depending on the necessary dose (discussed in the interview). Use the code GOODHEALTH for 10% off.
- AHCC Research Association Click on the “Research” tab to see a summary of current research.
As mentioned, AHCC is safe to use with other medications with two exceptions:
- Ondansetron (Zofran) often used to treat chemotherapy induced nausea/vomiting
- Sertraline (Zoloft) anti-depressant
AHCC may decrease the activity of these drugs.
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Transcript:
Dr. Pompa:
Have you heard of AHCC? If not, you better watch this episode. This is taking our space like a storm, especially in this environment of—I don’t want to say the word and get shut down, but we’ll just call it the big C word. Look, the bottom line is there is some solid, solid research on this product, and I rarely do shows just about a product. I actually had to do this one because we’ve gotten so many questions about this one product. It’s really turned out to be just an absolute incredible, incredible ingredient in this product that comes from Japan, and it’s probably why you haven’t heard of it. Check out the show. You’re going to enjoy it.
Ashley:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Cellular Healing TV. I’m Ashley Smith, and today we are bringing you a really exciting topic. Have you heard of AHCC? If not, you are about to hear all about this amazing super mushroom. Our guest today is Mimi Lindquist, and she is an AHCC educator, culinary nutrition expert, and clinical dental hygienist. Mimi focuses on helping people heal and prevent chronic disease using mushrooms, specifically the Japanese breakthrough mushroom called AHCC. I can’t wait to learn all about this, so let’s get started and welcome Mimi Lindquist and, of course, Dr. Pompa to the show. Welcome, both of you.
Mimi:
Hi, thanks.
Dr. Pompa:
All right, Mimi, this topic, gosh, I was forced to do this because there’s a need for this product. No, I mean, I’m serious. We have so many people reaching out to us about AHCC. Ironically enough, I was in Venice Beach at the time. I overheard a conversation, and this woman was really educating people in the store all about it. It struck up an interest, and I started reading about it. I too fell into this, okay, I got to get on this myself. Matter of fact, I bought a bottle right there.
Mimi:
Oh, awesome!
Dr. Pompa:
Then I started even digging more, and I became more intrigued. Yeah, no, since then, with the—I don’t want to get us shut down, but there’s a very popular virus happening. Honestly, that’s why I’ve gotten a lot of emails about this and people asking questions. I say, hey, I was actually forced to do this show because people are asking so many questions about it. Obviously, this deals with viruses. It upregulates immune cells that deal with certain viruses. This, obviously, is one heck of an immune product, maybe studies of showing one best ever. That’s obviously why it’s being—it’s been hard to keep it in stock, honestly.
Let’s find out why this is such an incredible product. Let’s figure out why this has dominated your focus. You have a mission getting this product—everybody on this product. Mimi, tell us why. I think you took time—you’re like, okay, I can’t do my job anymore. I’m completely dedicated to this product. Why?
Mimi:
Yes, oh, my gosh. Okay, so yes, I believe AHCC should be and can be in every body because every body has an immune system, and everybody comes into contact with things, whether it be toxins in our air, food, water supply, just stress, daily stress of bills and kids and this and that of everyday life. All of these things really take a number on our immune systems. Obviously, recently, in the past few months, we’re finding out that immune systems actually matter. Not just when there’s a new virus out, but every day they matter. My work with AHCC is really to just shine a light on something that should be part of a lifestyle, really. Again, you have these toxins and pathogens and everything that we come into contact with and all sorts of other viruses that we need a robust, intelligent immune system for, and that’s really at the heart of AHCC. I don’t like to call it an immune booster because it really does both. It can regulate and normalize the immune system.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, meaning autoimmune. If you have a hyperimmunity, it actually helps with that. Hyperimmunity, you don’t want to boost it, but to your point, it’s a regulator. It brings it to homeostasis.
Mimi:
Yes, exactly. It’s really making the person’s immune system more intelligent, so it has these new capabilities. Not only does it have more immune cells, but the activity is upregulated. Then it goes in and understands, okay—it assesses what does this person need? I’m going to, basically—we’re going to give it to them. In the case of autoimmune, that person actually needs a suppressed immune system. In the case of HPV, HIV, cancer, that person needs a boost in their immune system. AHCC is really unmatched when it comes to its ability to regulate and normalize the immune system.
Dr. Pompa:
Look, I think people are saying, oh, my God, what is it? What is it? You mentioned the word mushroom. We know that mushrooms support immunity. Why is this different? What is it? Why is it different than other mushroom products? You kind of said how it works. I mean, how does it do that, though?
Mimi:
Yeah, so AHCC is—it stands for active hexose correlated compound. People don’t need to remember that.
Dr. Pompa:
Even I won’t remember that.
Mimi:
You don’t need to. Really, AHCC is the least sexy name out there. Hardly anyone remembers it. Just know that it comes from the roots or the mycelium of shiitake mushrooms. Most everyone knows about the benefits of—or at least that they’ve been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine and, obviously, in culinary. Really, Japanese researchers were studying mushrooms and shiitake specifically. They cultured the mycelium of the shiitake and witnessed a whole host of benefits on the body. It’s a really unique product in that it’s a cultured mycelial product.
It’s not technically a mushroom because the mushroom refers to the fruiting body, which is above the ground. You say mushroom because it’s related to shiitake, and if you say, oh, yeah, it’s this cultured mycelial product, zero people will know what you’re talking about. I say mushroom because it’s a wedge. People have heard of—like oh, yeah, I’ve heard of medicinal mushrooms. Then it’s like, actually, here’s the difference. Yeah, I hope that makes sense for people.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no, totally, and the fact that it’s the root. Often times, the roots are really where the powerful punch is. That’s, to me, more of the root of the immune system, and it’s the root of the mushroom. I think that’s pretty cool.
Mimi:
Yeah, and really, the mycelia have been called the immune system of the mushroom, the whole mushroom organism. If you observe mycelia in a lab setting or even in nature, you see it navigating through the soil in a very pathogenic rich soil. They have to navigate, and actually, mycelia can also send nutrients to other plants and flowers and trees and things that need nutrients. It’s a very intelligent part of the organism. It’s not a plant. It’s not an animal. It’s not a vegetable. It is its own kingdom, its own kind of being, which is just incredible to me. I’m continually fascinated by them.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, nature provides the healing for us. Look, one of the parts of this for me was digging into some of the scientific literature. I was stunned. I mean, I have the ability to look at a good study versus just a study that someone’s pushing something. There was really good solid evidence around it. Talk a little bit about that because that’s what convinced me, honestly.
Mimi:
Yeah, and that’s what convinced me too. I first heard about it as a—I was a clinical dental hygienist for seven years, and one of the patients in our office got diagnosed with HPV later in life. Her naturopath recommended “a mushroom.” I thought I knew about mushrooms. I was like, “Oh, which one, reishi, chaga, lion’s mane?” Then she said the name AHCC. I was like, “What is that? That’s not a mushroom.”
I then looked up all the reviews on Amazon and Google. Then dug deeper into, oh, my gosh, there’s a whole research organization around AHCC, and it’s called the Research—AHCC Research Association. Then I started, yeah, same, digging into the clinical research, which there are 33 years of clinical research behind AHCC. It’s one of the most clinically researched functional foods in the world.
Dr. Pompa:
Why are we just hearing about it?
Mimi:
I have a few different theories on this. One is, obviously, it originated in Japan, which takes some time to get over here. Two, with a name like AHCC, it’s not meant for the average consumer. It doesn’t have a snappy, sexy name that Debra on the street is going to remember. It’s used primarily in medical schools, in research facilities, in that kind of environment where the doctors are throwing around the names. It’s not Susan or Debra on the street, even though Susan and Debra both need this every day.
Those are my big theories, and then there’s another theory that because it’s—you can literally buy this online. There’s no prescription needed. It doesn’t make, unfortunately—and I don’t know how deep you want me to go into this, but unfortunately, it doesn’t make any big companies, huge corporations and companies a lot of money. It isn’t a vested interest. There’s a lot of research going on, but they’re primarily from smaller organizations.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, that’s true.
Mimi:
That’s growing, but it doesn’t make these big, large pharmaceutical companies any money, so they don’t care.
Dr. Pompa:
What were some of the research papers? Talk to them about different conditions and symptoms where—again, not making claims. We’re just citing the study for these specific conditions.
Mimi:
Yeah, there’s such a treasure chest of clinical data on this. The most research that’s been done around it has been around cancer. We know that cancer is a metabolic disease. It’s not just a breast, or a brain, or a lung disease. It’s a whole body disease. It’s a disease, really, that starts with the immune system and, basically, the breakdown in immune functions. Somewhere there’s a gap. Somewhere these cancer cells are able to proliferate. They’re going unchecked. AHCC, they’ve proven through countless clinical papers that AHCC increases immune surveillance, so it gives your body a really unique ability to detect these cancer cells that can go so easily unchecked. Then that’s when they start to cause problems.
I mean, there’s so many to even take one or two out, but I’ll speak to one. One young Japanese man, he was 22, I think, started having severe headaches, nausea, couldn’t stand up. He went to teaching hospital and was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, which is a really invasive type of brain cancer. It’s not just like a single tumor that you can go in and take out or radiate it. The cancer cells permeate through the healthy brain tissue, so it’s next to impossible to treat. They really had no options for him, and they eventually just told him, hey, you’re better off just going home and living out the rest of your days with your family and loved ones. When he left the hospital, some angel introduced him to AHCC. Within a matter of a couple weeks, he started to feel his symptoms dissipate, and then, in a matter of a couple months, they were all gone. He went back to the hospital and got a new scan on his brain and everything, and the doctors were floored. They had no answers for him. They were like we don’t—we can’t find your cancer, and then three years out he was checked again, still no cancer.
That’s not clinical research, but this is coming from a teaching hospital in Japan that they accumulate these stories. Sometimes stories paint the picture better than clinical data can, but there are countless stories like that. Plenty of progressive cancers where there’s no options. They’re inoperable, or they’re in a really difficult place to treat. The reason why it works so well, again, is because it’s educating your immune system, and then your body does the actual work. It’s not AHCC that goes in and attacks the cancer cells. It gets your body in a state where it’s conducive for healing.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no, and I think I read some studies on autoimmune, different conditions.
Mimi:
Yes.
Dr. Pompa:
I don’t know if you provide any of that on your website. By the way, folks, we’ll have a link here on how to get the product. We always offer a discount. I think we did—you did offer a discount on it, so check it out for sure. Where can they actually view some of the other studies? There’s a lot of different conditions that I saw in the studies.
Mimi:
Yeah, you can check out the AHCC Research Organization. This was an organization that was founded in 1994. Although there’s AHCC research ongoing all of the time, this is a really great place to start.
Dr. Pompa:
Okay, we’ll put that link here as well.
Mimi:
Yeah, perfect. They categorize it cancer, liver, healthy adults, chemo. One other thing that’s really interesting about cancer and the treatment is that it actually increases the positive, the benefits of chemotherapy, the anticancer benefits, and decreases the negative side effects of chemotherapy, like hair loss, liver damage, nausea, appetite suppression. All of those things that are the ugly side of chemotherapy. They’re finding that this combination is really the best combination when it comes to the clinical results.
Dr. Pompa:
What about dosing? People get their product. Let’s just say you have a more severe condition, so we’re not targeting a specific—there’s more severe condition, moderate, and just general maintenance and health. How would you dose it?
Mimi:
Yeah, so I’ll start at the bottom. For you or I that just want a regular dose of immune intelligence, it would be 2 of the 750 mg capsules, so that’s 1.5 g, very low dose. Say you were traveling on a plane, or you were around someone sick, or your kid was in a sick daycare or something. Then you would want to double that dose, so take two capsules in the morning, two capsules in the evening before meals. For someone who has intermediate or a lower level of systemic disease, say something that’s more chronic like HPV or an autoimmune disorder, you would want to start with 3 g a day, which again, is four capsules, two in the morning, two at night. Then for something more severe, say a later stage of cancer, you would want to—they go all the way up to 9 g in clinical research, but start with 4.5 g, which would be six capsules per day.
Then depending on the severity—of course, talk to your doctor, but depending on the severity, I mean, it’s such a safe food. There really is no upper limit, which sounds crazy, I know, but there really is no upper limit of toxicity. They had to basically guess because they couldn’t feed the mice enough AHCC to elicit any negative responses.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, that’s awesome. What about just some general things, like people—sinus problems? I mean, the typical types of chronic infections people have. Allergies is a more isolated over-immune reaction. How does it work for some of these things or, like you said, even a sore throat perhaps?
Mimi:
Yeah, that’s a great question. Certainly, something like seasonal allergies, that’s still an immune response in the body. It’s an overactive immune response and so providing that intelligence for your body. Your body’s just going to know how to better handle it. Not only you’ve got immune intelligence. A couple benefits that I haven’t mentioned yet of AHCC is it also decreases systemic inflammation in the body by decreasing C-reactive protein, so that’s huge. I mean, that’s all of us, so that’s a really huge benefit for just these kind of low-level chronic things that we all deal with. Then, also, it decreases stress hormones like norepinephrine and cortisol. Things like influenza and, like you’re talking about, allergies, it can absolutely be used for that.
People come to me with—they start taking it for the autoimmune disorder that they have or HPV. They come back to me a month later, and they’re like, “Hey, my hormonal cystic acne is gone.” I’m like, “That’s amazing!”
Dr. Pompa:
I’ve actually had some people that it helped with weight loss. It broke them through. They were saying, “Is this possible?” I said, “I don’t know. Let’s find out.” It was a surprise to me.
Mimi:
Yeah, it’s probably due to it has a really great effect on blood sugar so blood sugar regulation.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah and cortisol as well.
Mimi:
Yeah, and research with diabetic patients, type 1 diabetes, there’s really great research showing blood sugar regulation, yeah, and just the inflammation. Just, again, getting your body into a state where it feels like, hey, I can heal, or hey, I could let go of this—some of this excess weight. I don’t ever advertise that. It’s like a plus, a really beneficial side effect.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, I didn’t even know, so that was the cool thing. When it happened, it was like I didn’t know.
Mimi:
Yeah, another thing is—they just keep pouring out of me, but another thing is digestion because it’s such a great prebiotic. I’ve heard from I can’t even count how many people who are having issues with their digestion. They say, “Hey, I’m”—I don’t know if I can say the word poop on here. “I used to go to the bathroom, number two, once every three or four days. Now I’m going every day.” It’s just, again, your body’s just getting smarter.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, you read the next question right off my sheet. I was going to say what about gut condition? Let me take it to the next level. What about more complicated gut conditions: IBS, SIBO, Crohn’s, colitis? What about some of those conditions?
Mimi:
Certainly, with the more inflammatory and autoimmune disorders like Crohn’s, yes, I’ve definitely seen that it’s helped. With SIBO and some other gut dysfunction, I still recommend it because shiitake is one of the mushrooms that really helps to keep good and bad bacteria in the right ratios. Something like SIBO or candida overgrowth, a lot of doctors tell people just stay away from mushrooms. Stay away from fungus, all fungi, and really, that’s not right. You want to stick to the right mushrooms. Shiitake is one of them so AHCC, and another one is reishi that I recommend. I’m not going to make any sort of claims and say that this is the only product you need. You probably need to pair it with a great spore-based probiotic, but it can certainly bring down inflammation and be a good prebiotic for your gut.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah. Wow! That’s great. Yeah, I mean, like you said, it’s—I can see why the product has caught on, but it’s only in a small circle that it’s caught on, the circles that we run in. The general public really hasn’t heard of this.
Mimi:
That’s really why I left my dental hygiene job was I was focusing on disease prevention here, which is systemic, but I just knew there’s more to this. More people need to know about this, and I just was overcome with I feel this very passionate side of me that needs to get this out and needs to educate educators like yourself. The ripple effect is very significant. As opposed to me just touching one patient here, one patient here in my clinical office, I can teach or educate educators, and then the ripple grows exponentially.
Dr. Pompa:
When you look at the studies, are there any contraindications for it?
Mimi:
It’s great for all medications. It doesn’t interact with medications. The only thing you would want to monitor is if you are taking immune suppressant drugs. My sister, for instance, has rheumatoid arthritis. She takes methotrexate, which is a very severe drug, and so someone’s taking that, you can often titrate down. I’m not saying come off it completely. Talk to your doctor, but you may not need the full dose. I would give some caution there.
Then the other one would be it’s great for chemotherapy, but there’s two drugs where they are seeing some interaction. I forget the names off the top of my head because they’re so long and complex. I can email those to you, and you can provide that in the show notes if you want.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no, we should, yeah, absolutely.
Mimi:
Other than that, there’s really no contraindications. Of course, anytime the question pregnant and breastfeeding comes up I tell them to direct message me because I don’t broadcast this. Speaking to Dr. Fred Pescatore, who is the authority in this space of educating doctors, he told me—I interviewed him for my podcast. He told me, “You know what? This is safe.” I’m going to use his words that he hasn’t seen any negative side effects with anyone that he has recommended it to. Certainly, breastfeeding, I’ve had so many women come to me who are breastfeeding that actually say it’s helped their milk supply. They, obviously, can’t keep up because there’s so much good stuff.
Dr. Pompa:
You personally, you’re, my gosh, so into this. How long have you been taking it, and what benefits have you noticed?
Mimi:
When I read the clinical research and the benefits, I ordered a bottle immediately and started taking it myself ASAP. The personal benefits, I’m lucky enough to not have any chronic disease. I haven’t dealt with anything like that, but just personally, I don’t get sick, really. I’ve been sick maybe once in the last two and a half years. My hair is growing like crazy. My nails grow like crazy. It was one of the tools that I used to heal—you wouldn’t know it now, but I had really bad cystic hormonal acne when my hormones were in the tank. This was one of the things that really helped retrieve my glowing skin. These are all external, I know, but I mean, you don’t really notice an immune system that is robust, that’s working the way it should.
Dr. Pompa:
So true, yeah.
Mimi:
We really only notice our immune system when something is out of whack. Aside from just the I know the immune intelligence that I’m getting, those external visible things. Yeah, I’ve been using it every day. I take probably 2 g a day. I haven’t missed many days in the last two and a half years. I actually created—I don’t sell them anymore, but I created an AHCC food called Brain Hits. It was like a little paleo bite, nuts and seeds and spices and 500 mg of AHCC. I sold those online, and that was my wedge into—that was my start into entrepreneurism. Then it has transitioned. I don’t really sell them anymore, but they were a huge hit. Yeah, that was fun.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, hey, why’d you give them up?
Mimi:
Without a whole bunch of capital, it wasn’t something that was going to be scalable. I was making them in my kitchen or in the commercial kitchen myself, scooping every single one, shipping them, literally, all over the country.
Dr. Pompa:
Look, hey, that’s why you need me. We could take that on.
Mimi:
I know. Maybe they’ll come back. Maybe they’ll make a cameo and come back. They’ll be seasonal.
Dr. Pompa:
We could get that out there.
Mimi:
I could make you a batch and send you some.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, exactly, that’s what I’m saying. I was like, gosh, I’d like to try those.
Mimi:
I had six different flavors. They were all named for people who inspired me, mentors of mine in this health and wellness space. One of them was Dr. Kate Shanahan, who you had on your show recently, and she’s one of my absolute favorite people. I’ve learned so much from her. One of my most popular flavors was called the Shanahan.
Dr. Pompa:
Oh, that’s awesome. That is great.
Mimi:
It’s fun.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, that’s great. Again, we’ll put the link for the product here, and also, check out the research. We’ll put that link as well. That’s a great place to start. Look, I think you’ll be amazed at the research. It’s a solid product. It really is. I can say, like you, I don’t notice anything. My immune system’s very good, but I can tell you clinically I’m putting others on it. It’s great product. It really is so big fan.
Look, you’ve dedicated your life to teaching this. What’s your end goal with that? I mean, honestly, I mean, it’s like what’s the big deal here of teaching so many people about this?
Mimi:
I’m still figuring that out, if I’m being honest. I know that it will include AHCC and mushrooms. Currently, I’m working on—I can’t say too much, but I’m working on a formulation, an AHCC product that is going to be more convenient than capsules. Not everyone wants to take capsules, and it doesn’t really allow you to interact with your supplements, with your food. It’s a food. I really want to develop products that are easier to use. Just scooping into your everyday either coffee, smoothies, or other foods and really allow kids to have this too. Kiddos need the robust immune systems as well, and if you can start them young and just make it part of their lifestyle, then they grow up just happier, healthier individuals. I honestly believe—this sounds so corny, but I honestly believe that medicinal mushrooms make people happier. We all need that.
Dr. Pompa:
I mean, there’s science around it. It affects transmitters and the microbiome. Your microbiome actually makes neurotransmitters. Yeah, it’s not just in your mind. It absolutely does. Part of your goal was to make the world happier and healthier. Actually, there’s a good tagline for you, making the world healthier and happier.
Mimi:
Noted. Yeah, it’s really just about the lifestyle. I want to get this in. I was teaching people about this prior to quarantine and everything, teaching people about their immune systems every single day, and I’m going to continue that. Even after this settles down, there’s always going to be something, and immune intelligence is not a one-off thing. It’s not a seasonal thing. It’s an every day thing.
Dr. Pompa:
Yeah, no, I think it’s the—one of the best products I’ve ever seen for immune intelligence, meaning it can bring it up or it can bring it down depending on what the body needs, and it’s intelligent enough to know that. It’s pretty impressive. Look, Mimi, I thank you so much for coming on and answering all these questions that we had so many people asking about this product. Lastly, I do have one last question. You see the product out there with some other products mixed in. What is your take on that?
Mimi:
Yeah, the people that hold the patent for AHCC, they are in Japan, and so if you see AHCC, you can trust that it’s coming from a good source. However, there are always people looking for loopholes. There are always people looking to cheat something. With these products where they—maybe it’s an immune blend, and they have AHCC in there along with other things. AHCC is a premium expensive product. If somebody is using AHCC with a blend, really be mindful of that. They could be putting a little, tiny sprinkle and getting through the loops of calling it an AHCC product. You might not even be getting what your body truly needs.
I’ve seen 50 mg, which is nothing. One of my capsules is 750. I always point people to—obviously, to my brand, Immune Intel AHCC. I know that AHCC is the only thing that’s in there. Any other subsequent products that I create will have at least that clinical dose, that minimum dose.
Dr. Pompa:
That’s important. Yeah, I mean, I read the studies. The clinical dose matters, so you have to be careful. Thanks, Mimi, for being on the show and a wealth of knowledge on the topic. Thank you.
Mimi:
Yes, thank you for having me. I loved it.
Ashley:
That’s it for this week. We hope you enjoyed today’s episode. We’ll be back next week and every Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern. We truly appreciate your support. You can always find us at cellularhealing.tv, and please remember to spread the love by liking, subscribing, giving an iTunes review, or sharing the show with anyone who may benefit from the information heard here. As always, thanks for listening.
