Review: Del-Immune V, Natural Immune-System Booster

Following the accidental releases of biological agents in 1979 from secret Soviet laboratories, the Soviet army learned that there were a number of families who were unaffected or minimally affected by the agents, primarily anthrax.

They sent researchers into the field, located the people and began investigating their environments, particularly their diets. One of the things they found was that many of them drank raw cows’ milk. After collecting and testing the milk samples, about 600 strains of lactobacillis were identified. In several years of clinical trials on victims of radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, one strain of lactobacillis was isolated, later to be identified l. rhamnosus, which proved to be particularly effective in activating the immune system.

The research, which was classified as a military secret, was shelved after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. But a scientist who worked on the project revived it and began producing l. rhamnosus under the names Preparat and Extrabiolat.

A number of Western companies distributed the Russian version under the names of Lactoflor, Matrix E., and Extrabiolate in the late 1990s. In 2002, retired pharmacist John Sichel bought manufacturing and marketing rights for the U.S. from the Russian company and, by refining the manufacturing process, increased the l. rhamnosus strain’s potency by a factor of 10, according to company literature.

His product, Del-Immune V, which is manufactured in the U.S., has been available in this country for six years but is just beginning to catch on in the medical field, probably because Sichel has relied solely on word-of-mouth advertising.

Dr. Elin Ritchie, a Taos, N.M. physician, has used Del Immune V in her family practice for several years to fight colds, persistent cough, flu, hepatitis C, fibromylagia and chronic fatigue?all conditions the result of a weakened immune system.

“In colds and flu…I’ve seen a positive response in 75-percent-plus of my patients,” Dr. Ritchie said. Not everybody who takes Del-Immune has such dramatic results, but I’ve not had anybody experience any side effects, either.

She particularly recommends that young children, people of retirement age and teachers take it daily during flu season, even if they’ve had a flu shot.

“Any time an elderly person can prevent a minor illness such as cold or flu, it helps prevent complications such as pneumonia,” she said. She added that taking Del-Immune in conjunction with flu vaccine seems to prevent the minor flu symptoms that sometimes occur in immunized patients.

The key to Del Immune’s effectiveness lies in the process of freeze drying and pulverizing (lysing) the l. rhamnosus cell walls, where there are certain proteins and other cell constituents that activate the innate immune system to a higher level. Intact cell walls do not produce the same heightened immune system reaction.

Dr. Ritchie, who said she has provided Del-Immune to at least 1,000 patients, is not alone in her enthusiasm. Sales of Del-Immune rose from about $23,000 in 2003 to nearly $1 million in 2006, according to Sichel, based almost exclusively on word-of-mouth advertising. He has 10,000 regular customers in the U.S.

Del-Immune was favorably reviewed in the Health Sciences Institute’s September 2004 newsletter and is featured in The Encyclopedia of Medical Breakthroughs & Forbidden Treatments (2005).

As initially conceived, multiple high doses of l. rhamnosus would be taken with the onset of symptoms or with the diagnosis of a disease. But more and more users apparently decided, after using Del-Immune to ward off a cold or kick the flu, that they’d take a pill or two a day as a preventive measure and it apparently worked.

Sichel said he believes nearly all of his customers use it daily, upping the dose when necessary.

Dr. Ritchie said many of her patients are taking it daily. “I do recommend taking it daily, since I’ve had many reports of people never being sick while on it.”

Dr. Robert Silver, a Boulder, Colo. veterinarian of 25 years, uses Del-Immune in his practice, distributing 1,500 capsules to his “patients” every month and has added it to a patented product-OncoSupport?he formulated to treat cancer in pets. And he has his entire family, including his 3-year old daughter, Callejune, take it daily.

“Children usually bring home illnesses from childcare and exposure to other ill children,” he said. “In the last 12 months, Callejune has not been ill once.”

I met John Sichel in April 2005 and mentioned that I had had a low-level cold-runny nose, nagging cough and chest congestion-for five months.

He explained that he had bought licensing rights to produce and sell in the U.S. a powerful immune system booster developed by the Soviet Army to protect their troops from biological agents. I told him I’d heard of it in the course of reporting news stories on Gulf War Syndrome. The next day, he brought me a bottle of Del-Immune. I took two capsules for two days, and by the third day my cold was gone.

I’ve taken 1-2 capsules daily since then and have not been ill at all. On a few occasions, I have felt like I was coming down with a sore throat and upped the dose for a couple of days.

I have made Del-Immune available to dozens of friends, family and colleagues, some of whom had lingering illnesses of low to medium severity. From my experience and their feedback, I’ve concluded that Del-Immune works best when taken every day or at the onset of symptoms. In people with prolonged illnesses, the response varied but was generally improved. I suspect that some of those, after not seeing an immediate improvement, stopped taking the supplement.

Del-Immune V is only available on line and, depending upon the vendor and quantity purchased, costs between 35 and 50 cents per capsule.