Why You Should Consider The Major Benefits of Medicinal Mushrooms

by | Apr 6, 2020 | Nutrition, Supplements

One of life’s most potent therapeutic agents is actually fungi. You can find many edible forms of mushrooms that can actually be used in the kitchen for cooking within recipe’s. There are also many other mushroom’s present in nature that are not all necessarily safe. Some have phytochemicals and agents within them that are used in extracts for their medicinal potential, meanwhile others have toxins that can be deadly if they are ingested and broken down in the liver. Mushrooms are currently being used for medical research and drug development for people with all sorts of diseases and illnesses. This excitement within the field of mycology has funneled into other areas of study including immunology and oncology. Some of the most promising research most recently has come up through immunomodulation. Herbal medicine which has been in practice for centuries in Chinese eastern medicine assists with balancing out the body when endocrine systems are out of whack. Medicinal mushrooms can be defined as macroscopic fungi, mostly higher Basidiomycetes, which are used in the form of extracts or powder for prevention, alleviation, or healing of diseases and/or for nutritional reasons. It is well-established 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. Additionally, evidence suggests that medicinal mushrooms may safely boost chemotherapeutic efficacy and simultaneously protect against bone marrow suppression.Mushrooms represent a unique branch of botanical medicine...