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Does larch arabinogalactan enhance immune function? A review of mechanistic and clinical trials

Overview of attention for article published in Nutrition & Metabolism, April 2016
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  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (95th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (99th percentile)

Mentioned by

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5 news outlets
blogs
1 blog
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12 X users
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2 patents
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6 Facebook pages
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1 Wikipedia page
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1 Google+ user
video
1 YouTube creator

Citations

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68 Dimensions

Readers on

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166 Mendeley
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Title
Does larch arabinogalactan enhance immune function? A review of mechanistic and clinical trials
Published in
Nutrition & Metabolism, April 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12986-016-0086-x
Pubmed ID
Authors

Carine Dion, Eric Chappuis, Christophe Ripoll

Abstract

The common cold is a viral infection with important economic burdens in Western countries. The research and development of nutritional solutions to reduce the incidence and severity of colds today is a major focus of interest, and larch arabinogalactan seems to be a promising supportive agent. Arabinogalactan has been consumed by humans for thousands of years and is found in a variety of common vegetables as well as in medicinal herbs. The major commercial sources of this long, densely branched, high-molecular-weight polysaccharide are North American larch trees. The aim of this article is to review the immunomodulatory effects of larch arabinogalactan derived from Larix laricina and Larix occidentalis (North American Larix species) and more specifically its role in the resistance to common cold infections. In cell and animal models, larch arabinogalactan is capable of enhancing natural killer cells and macrophages as well as the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. In humans a clinical study demonstrated that larch arabinogalactan increased the body's potential to defend against common cold infection. Larch arabinogalactan decreased the incidence of cold episodes by 23 %. Improvements of serum antigen-specific IgG and IgE response to Streptococcus pneumoniae and tetanus vaccination suggesting a B cell dependent mechanism have been reported in vaccination studies with larch arabinogalactan, while the absence of response following influenza vaccination suggests the involvement of a T cell dependent mechanism. These observations suggest a role for larch arabinogalactan in the improvement of cold infections, although the mode of action remains to be further explored. Different hypotheses can be envisaged as larch arabinogalactan can possibly act indirectly through microbiota-dependent mechanisms and/or have a direct effect on the immune system via the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT).

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 12 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 166 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 166 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 28 17%
Student > Ph. D. Student 20 12%
Researcher 19 11%
Student > Master 15 9%
Student > Doctoral Student 8 5%
Other 18 11%
Unknown 58 35%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 29 17%
Medicine and Dentistry 21 13%
Nursing and Health Professions 14 8%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 9 5%
Chemistry 8 5%
Other 25 15%
Unknown 60 36%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 54. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 February 2023.
All research outputs
#785,273
of 25,436,226 outputs
Outputs from Nutrition & Metabolism
#131
of 1,014 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#13,994
of 316,437 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nutrition & Metabolism
#1
of 19 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,436,226 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,014 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 28.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 316,437 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 19 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.