This article is under development, please check back later.  Thanks!  Alan

Never heard of Maitake let alone Maitake D-Fraction?  You are not alone.   In the West, this powerful medicinal mushroom has gone widely unknown until the 1990's when it's popularity began to spike thanks to research done in Japan and China on it's anti-tumor and immune enhancing functions.

So what is the hype?  How can a mushroom (of all things) be such a super cancer fighter and immune enhancer?  To many people (including western doctors) this seems almost impossible...mushrooms are associated with drugs or unclean things.

In-fact, specific mushrooms (medicinal mushrooms) contain high levels of active beta-glucans that are not found anywhere else.  Beta Glucans are a "Polysaccharide" which is a complex carbohydrate (learn more here).  Active beta-glucans in D-fraction have unique polysaccharide structures and the degree of branching is greater than any beta-glucan found in any other medicinal mushrooms that demonstrate this similar immune stimulatory property.  Researchers theorize that the complexity of branching makes D-Fraction most potent for enhancing the immune system via oral administration, leading to the highest tumor reduction in proliferation in several animal studies.  Most other mushroom extracts fail to show oral activity in pre-clinical studies.*

D-Fraction consists of highly active beta-glucans (BOTH 3-branched beta - 1,6 glucan AND 6-branches beta - 1,3 glucan) and approximately 30% of protein extracted from Maitake mushroom fruiting body.

It's important to note that research on cancer treatments with beta-glucans are focusing in on the beta 1,3 glucan and showing promise.  The fact that Maitake contains more 1,6 and 1,3 glucans than any other medicinal mushrooms is assumed the way it can be taken orally.  Compared to Letinan which is made form the Shittake mushroom and used in Japan as an anti-cancer drug, it does not need to be taken intravenously to be effective.

Now that you know about beta glucans, you may ask yourself...OK, so is there any evidence beta glucans have an impact on ovarian cancer.  The answer is yes. 

While there is no studies of Maitake D-Fraction on ovarian cancer, there are plenty on other cancers with great success (many) and others limited success (very few such as bone and stomach cancer).  One important note is it has the greatest impact on breast cancer which, like Ovarian, is an estrogen based cancer.

Here are some studies showing beta-glucans impact on ovarian cancer.  Remember these stuides use many different types of beta-glucans, but always include 1,3 glucan which maitake d-fraction has.

• Suppressing effects of daily oral supplementation of beta-glucan
  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15883813&dopt=Abstract
• A case of recurrent ovarian cancer successfully treated with adoptive immunotherapy and lentinan.
  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=17195451&dopt=Abstract
• Beta Glucans help cells fight back (PDF file)
  http://www.biotherapharma.com/pdf/Functional%20Drinks%20April%202005.pdf

For treating ovarian cancer (or any infection, cancer, etc), it is recommended by the manufacturer that you take the 'therapeutic dose'.  Typical dosages for healthy people is about 20mg a day or about 5 to 6 drops of Grifron-Pro Maitake D-Fraction three times daily between meals.

Those undergoing cancer treatment should take 1.0mg per kilo of body weight per day.  To determine what your body weight is in kilos, multiply your weight inpounds time 0.45.  Example:  150 lbs = 68 kilos (150 x 0.45).  Therapeutic total daily amount would be 68mg pure D-Fraction, which is approximately equivalent to 68 drops of Grifron-Pro Maitake D-Fraction.  Therefore take 22 drops three times daily between meals.  One 1 fluid oz. bottle contains approximately 820 drops.

Weight in lbs	Weight in kilos	Total Daily Amount Grifron-Pro Maitake D-Fraction
100 lbs	45 kilos	45 drops
120 lbs	54 kilos	54 drops
150 lbs	68 kilos	68 drops
200 lbs	90 kilos	90 drops

The benefits of D-fraction may be maximized if combined with vitamin C (more than 1000mg) and wholistically-balanced Maitake mushroom products; Grifron Maitake caplets or TMD Fraction caplets.  (You can find quick links to these products on Amazon.com via our store page which helps to keep this site going!)