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OfflineWronguy
Registered: 03/05/05
Posts: 4,450
Last seen: 12 years, 8 months
Medicinal side of mushrooms
    #6385524 - 12/19/06 07:57 AM (17 years, 3 months ago)

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Tuesday/Features/20061218154644/Article/index_html

Medicinal side of mushrooms

Mushrooms have remarkable compounds that stimulate the body’s immune system. EU HOOI KHAW finds out how.

THE world of fungi is a fascinating subject for mushroom expert Malcolm Clark. “There are these remarkable creatures living in dirty, dark and damp places. Mushrooms need a great immune system to survive.” In other words, they develop remarkable compounds for survival and these have been discovered to be medicinal.

Clark is the chairman of Gourmet Mushrooms Inc in California and founder of Mycology Research Laboratories. He and William Ahern, co-founder of MRL, were in Kuala Lumpur recently to give a talk on Mushroom Nutrition: Clinical Applications to members of the Malaysian Society for Complementary Therapies, organised by Bio-Life Marketing.

Medicine from mushrooms is easily recognisable as penicillin, streptomycin and other major antibiotics. “All the ‘mycin’ part is usually a fungus,” said Clark, “It’s also in an anti-rejection drug used in organ transplant. Every year in California people get poisoned by mushrooms they pick which destroy the liver. They can take several other mushrooms to heal them.”

While all mushrooms are fungi and not all fungi are mushrooms, they are vital to human existence. “If all fungi die tomorrow, we will follow two weeks later,” said Clark. “They help break down material which helps create part of our atmosphere.”

More recently the exciting news about medicinal mushroom products is that they have been gaining a role in cancer therapy, and are increasingly used as adjunct nutrition for immuno-compromised patients. This is due to the long-chain polysaccharides found in mushrooms which have been shown to be potent boost to the immune system.

“There’s a cancer drug made from shiitake mushrooms that has FDA (Food and Drug Adminstration) approval. The drug, Lentinan, is used as an adjunct to chemotherapy. It’s non-invasive with chemotherapy. A Japanese corporation has been selling it for 15 years now.”

A biologist by training, Clark is a British who has lived in Africa, Portugal and Japan, who finally settled into mushrooms in 1976 in Sonoma County, California. While culinary mushrooms are sold to high-end restaurants, medicinal mushrooms go through the Mycology Research Laboratories which has identified some 40 varieties of them. “We have a huge library of cultures and we are identifying their various properties. Among these are Coriolus, cordyceps, Reishi (ling zhi) and Maitake.”

Even more fascinating is Clark’s expedition to the Himalayas in Nepal to look for cordyceps sinensis. “The true cordyceps is rare. When I was in Singapore three years ago I discovered that several of the cordyceps sold there were fakes. Some were actually made from gluten!”

Clark went on to research about cordyceps under a Japanese doctor, Shinya Yoshii, and journeyed up the Himalayas with him and other Japanese researchers. Clark, who is known as the Indiana Jones of mushroom species, collected 12 samples up at 4,877 meters. “The Nepalese have been using cordyceps for hundreds of years and have been selling them to Chinese traders who took them to China.”

Also known as dong chong xia cao, cordyceps is also known as the caterpillar fungus. “It lives on the larvae of the moth above 2,743 metres in the Himalayas.” At 4,877 metres, the air is very thin. You take three paces, stop and breathe. I tried eating cordyceps and it helped my breathing. Now there is scientific evidence that cordyceps helps asthma. It prevents asthmatic flux of the alveoli,” said Clark.

The cordyceps specimens were brought back to the Californian lab to extract living tissue for products. “This has been my company policy. We don’t buy cultures from other organisations or research companies as in many cases the cultures would have suffered and their biological properties decreased.”

Clark shared some fascinating information about mok yee or wood ear fungus (not a mushroom). “Research done in the US showed that people who ate in Chinese restaurants often did not suffer blood clotting problems. It was from eating mok yee.”

At the talk on mushroom nutrition, Ahern, who has a deep interest in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and is extensively involved in the European pharmaceutical industry, spoke on the medical and therapeutic uses of the various mushrooms.

Mushroom nutrition, as in the Coriolus versicolor, helps in fighting off viruses with cancer links, such as in the Human Herpes Virus-8, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Epstein-Barr Virus and Hepatitis B Virus. “It reduces the viral load, increases the white blood count and activates the immune response. Mushroom nutrition helps the body help itself with beta-glucans,” said Ahern.

Clinical research by the Mycology Research Laboratories in the UK has indicated the strong factor of mushroom nutrition in immune modulation, hormonal balance, detoxification and as an antioxidant.

While mushroom nutrition is not a substitute for cancer treatment such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery, it is adjunct nutrition that complements their use. It helps to restore the healthy functioning of the patient’s immune system.

Cordyceps sinensis has its medical and therapeutic uses in respiratory health (asthma) and physical endurance, renal, cardiovascular and reproductive health, cirrhosis of the liver, as well as in cancer. It also helps those who wish to conceive by increasing the fertility of both the male and female.

The Reishi or lingzhi mushroom helps those with hayfever, is a tonic for the elderly and is an anti-ageing aid.
Maitake is an immune stimulant and has also been used in diabetic patients to control blood sugar levels.

Ahern, who has a background in finance and pharmaceuticals, has, since 1994, founded three firms involved in the marketing of the Giovanni Maciocia’s line of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The products are sold in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

There are 14 different ingredients in TCM and he thought about how to convince doctors of their efficacy. He came to the conclusion: mushroom nutrition. “The products are uniform, and to ensure quality control I found Malcolm Clark and David Law, a Hong Kong Chinese who is a mycologist and ex Merryl Lynch investment banker. Tom Chapman advises on the production of the capsules according to GMP standards.”

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OfflineMADPANTSDOME
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Registered: 06/22/05
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Last seen: 6 years, 7 months
Re: Medicinal side of mushrooms [Re: Wronguy]
    #6385537 - 12/19/06 08:04 AM (17 years, 3 months ago)

Great post.

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OfflineAudisy_99
Stranger
Registered: 02/14/15
Posts: 1
Last seen: 8 years, 9 months
Re: Medicinal side of mushrooms [Re: MADPANTSDOME]
    #21301712 - 02/19/15 11:17 PM (9 years, 1 month ago)

Thanks! I'll check into caterpillar mushrooms too. Haha!

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InvisibleBlueIndian
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Registered: 01/17/10
Posts: 858
Re: Medicinal side of mushrooms [Re: Audisy_99]
    #21303294 - 02/20/15 10:40 AM (9 years, 1 month ago)

Good article. Go to their website and watch the farm video tour...pretty bad ass.

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