Medicinal Mushrooms C Nature’s pharmacy onsidered vegetables by most people, mushrooms are neither fruits nor vegetables and are more closely related to humans than plants! Mushrooms are a fungus with fruiting bodies that contain in general, on a dry weight basis, about 55% carbohydrate, 32% protein, and 2% fat, and the remaining amount is ash constituting minerals and salts. These fungi have more than 100 medicinal functions* including; antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, antiallergic, immunomodulating, cardiovascular protectant, anticholesterolemic, antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, antifungal, detoxification and hepatoprotective effects. At my rescue farm, Fire Flake Farm, I’ve used and seen the amazing benefits of these mushrooms; and when combined with other adaptogens like hemp, Ashwagandha, Astragalus Root and Babopa Monnieri there’s nothing you can’t help! It has also been proven that mushrooms are adept at immune modulation and affect hematopoietic stem cells, lymphocytes, macrophages, T cells, dendritic cells (DCs), and natural killer (NK) cells.1 Extensive research over the last 40 years has demonstrated that mushrooms have potent antineoplastic properties that slow growth of tumors, regulate tumor genes, decrease tumoral angioneogenesis, and increase malignant- cell phagocytosis. This is why I used a mixture of Turkey Tail, Reishi, Shiitake, Maitake, Chaga, Artist Conk, and Red Belted Conk mushrooms for my Doberman Nina, who beat all the odds by living 26 months past her diagnosis of Osteosarcoma. Mushrooms vary in appearance with more than 14,000 known types, but generally they are distinguished by a stem, fleshy rounded cap, and gills underneath the cap. HISTORY Our ancestors have used mushrooms as medicine for thousands of years. The Greek physician Hippocrates, circa 450 BCE, classified the amadou mushroom (Fomes fomentarius) as a potent anti-inflammatory and for cauterizing wounds. The alchemist Tao Hongjing, from the 5th century, described several medicinal mushrooms, including ling zhi (Ganoderma lucidum) and zhu ling (Dendropolyporus umbellatus), some in use reportedly by Shennong many centuries before. Ötzi, the Ice Man, who lived nearly 5300 years ago, carried amadou and a birch polypore tethered in a pouch to help him survive in the Alps of northern Italy. First peoples of North America used puffball mushrooms (Calvatia genus) as wound healers. Although mushrooms have long been used by various cultures, only recently has modern science rediscovered what the ancients knew long ago— that mushrooms can be deep reservoirs of powerful medicines. 10 YOURNATURALDOG.COM MEDICINAL PROPERTIES The fruiting body is the part you see popped up out of the ground, and it’s the ”meaty” part of the mushroom we cook and eat. This is what you buy at the grocery store, the fruiting body. The fruiting body is made of condensed mycelium — it’s the reproductive structure of the mycelium. The fruiting body of the mushroom contains medicinal compounds called beta-glucans, which are naturally occurring polysaccharides. These are the compounds known for being able to modulate the immune system, and they are responsible for many of the healing properties of the mushrooms. According to Professor Solomon P. Wasser, researcher at the University of Haifa and editor in chief of the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, there are at least 650 species of mushrooms that are considered medicinal. Polysaccharides Polysaccharides are the best known metabolite present in mushrooms, and are known to provide antitumor and immunomodulating properties. D-glucose polysaccharides (glucans) are a type of polysaccharide found in mushrooms that give them some of their medicinal properties. Immune responses to fungal Polysaccharides: • The activation of immune cells • Increased antibody production • Increased interferon production • Increased immune activity against a range of cancers • Inhibition of tumor metastasis • Reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokines • Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis • Increased Lymphocyte Activating Factor (IL-1) production • Increased Tumor Necrosis Factor production • Macrophage and Neutrophil Activation • Cytotoxic T-cell activation Alpha-glucans Alpha glucan (starch) is the most common polysaccharide that is widely known and used by us in everyday life as part of many staple foods such as: rice, potatoes, grains, and corn. Medicinal mushrooms in nature and in correct growing conditions contain a very small amounts of starch, less than 4% on average of the dry weight of the mushroom fruiting bodies. Beta-glucans Beta-glucans are polysaccharides that occur naturally in the cell walls of functional mushrooms, as well as in oats, barley, bacteria, yeast, and algae. They are a soluble fiber that carries powerful benefits and are potent immunomodulators, with effects on both innate and adaptive
