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Thymus extract

Thymus extract is a chemical that can be produced synthetically or extracted from the thymus glands of cows.

Thymus extract is used for infectious diseases such as recurrent respiratory infections, colds, influenza, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Epstein-Barr virus, mononucleosis, herpes, sinusitis, and AIDS/HIV. It is also used for asthma, hay fever, food allergies, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus. Other uses include maintaining white blood cell production in cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy or chemotherapy and preventing the effects of ageing. The quality and effectiveness of different thymus extracts can vary greatly.

How does thymus extract work?

Thymusextract can stimulate or improve the function of the immune system.

How effective is thymus extract?

Thymusextracts are potentially effective in the following applications:

  • Hay fever: there is evidence that treatment with calf thymus extracts for 4 months can reduce the number of allergy attacks in people suffering from hay fever.
  • Asthma: Taking a thymus extract could reduce acute asthma attacks in children suffering from asthma
  • Lung infections: Treatment with calf thymus extract appears to reduce the number of infections or coughing fits in patients prone to recurrent respiratory infections. Calf thymus extract alone or in combination with vaccination appears to be more effective than vaccination or antibiotics alone in reducing the number and duration of infections in people prone to recurrent respiratory tract infections.
  • Food allergies

There is not enough scientific data to make a statement about the effectiveness of thymus extracts for AIDS / HIV, arthritis, cancer and herpes. Further scientific research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of thymus extracts in these applications.

Safety and side effects

Thymus extracts appear to be safe and harmless for most people.

Because thymus extracts are derived from animal sources, there are concerns about possible contamination with components from diseased animals. Products made from contaminated organs or organs from diseased animals could pose a health risk. However, there have been no reports of disease transmission to humans from contaminated thymus extracts.

Precautions and warnings

Pregnancy and lactation: Not enough is known about the use of thymus extract during pregnancy and lactation. For this reason, pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid thymus extract.

Weakened immune system: People who suffer from a weakened immune system or people who are taking medication that weakens the immune system are at a higher risk of infection. These people should avoid thymus extracts that are not certified pathogen-free.

Interactions

Care should be taken when combining thymus extracts with the following medications:

Medications that reduce the function of the immune system

Drugs that reduce the function of the immune system can increase the risk of infections, thymus extracts are made from animal raw materials. There are concerns that products made from animal ingredients may contain pathogens and cause infections. Taking medications that reduce the function of the immune system in combination with thymus extracts could increase the risk of infections. For this reason, thymus extracts should be avoided if you are taking medication that reduces the function of the immune system.

Dosage

The following dosages have been investigated in scientific studies:

Oral

  • A typical dosage is 750 mg of crude thymus polypeptide fractions or 120 mg of pure thymus polypeptides.

References

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