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Dety
Old No.7
Registered: 09/14/04
Posts: 1,685
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Turkey Tail
#6559035 - 02/12/07 04:44 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Took the dog for a walk today just took the 1 picture.
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CureCat
Strangest
Registered: 04/19/06
Posts: 14,058
Loc: clawing your furniture
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Re: Turkey Tail [Re: Dety]
#6559333 - 02/12/07 05:43 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Ahhh, I found some nice freshies the other day too.
I know people cultivate these.... And that some claim medicinal properties. I find a lot of these, has anyone ever heard of Turkey Tails being of any market value? And if so, who buys them??
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xmush
Professor ofDoom
Registered: 10/22/05
Posts: 2,421
Loc: Jaw-juh
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Turkey Tail [Re: CureCat]
#6559528 - 02/12/07 06:12 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
CureCat said:
I know people cultivate these.... And that some claim medicinal properties. I find a lot of these, has anyone ever heard of Turkey Tails being of any market value? And if so, who buys them??
New age weirdos and gullible hippies
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xmush
Professor ofDoom
Registered: 10/22/05
Posts: 2,421
Loc: Jaw-juh
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Turkey Tail [Re: xmush]
#6559751 - 02/12/07 06:47 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Actually, it does a great job of biodegrading various human made pollutants such as PCBs and industrial dyes. It seems to be a great sponge for environmental toxins. Given that, I'd be a little worried about what it does to your insides!
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CureCat
Strangest
Registered: 04/19/06
Posts: 14,058
Loc: clawing your furniture
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Re: Turkey Tail [Re: xmush]
#6559871 - 02/12/07 07:12 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
xmush said: New age weirdos and gullible hippies
I know a LOT of those.
Quote:
xmush said: Given that, I'd be a little worried about what it does to your insides!
The sponge aspect or the biodegrading aspect?? I assume the biodegrading- but, this mushroom is normally dried and then boil into tea, or powdered and capsulated, right? Sooo, I don't think it would be alive and able to do damage in such manner... Not to mention, the fruiting body is not the nutrient leaching portion of the mushroom. Hmmm, I may misunderstand. Ellaborate?
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xmush
Professor ofDoom
Registered: 10/22/05
Posts: 2,421
Loc: Jaw-juh
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Turkey Tail [Re: CureCat]
#6559959 - 02/12/07 07:33 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Oh I was mostly joking about what it would do to your insides. But I was imagining that if it could break down all of these nasty chemicals in the environement, I wonder what it would break down inside of you - the wall of your colon perhaps. Ahh, but I was just being facetious (hehe). In reality, I'd be more worried about its ability to soak up things like heavy metals. This is something we worry about with all mushrooms, which is why we don't eat ones growing on the sides of busy highways, but I think this species may be extra good at soaking up the nasties. In all honesty though, I doubt it would do much harm. And it has been used medicinally in Asian countries. But let's just say that the actual evidence for its purported medicinal effects lags far behind the hype that the nutraceutical industrial complex stamps on the side of a bottle.
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CureCat
Strangest
Registered: 04/19/06
Posts: 14,058
Loc: clawing your furniture
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Re: Turkey Tail [Re: xmush]
#6559984 - 02/12/07 07:39 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Yeah. I have a hard time finding evidence to support the alleged medicinal aspects of these mushrooms. I guess I'd be willing to try the tea though.
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xmush
Professor ofDoom
Registered: 10/22/05
Posts: 2,421
Loc: Jaw-juh
Last seen: 14 years, 5 months
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Re: Turkey Tail [Re: CureCat]
#6560384 - 02/12/07 09:09 PM (17 years, 1 month ago) |
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Well there are various polysacharides found in this and other mushrooms that have immune-system modulating effects. And various studies have found that one such substance from turkey tails can modestly improve survival for people with gastric cancer. The question then becomes, if I don't have gastric cancer, is there any benefit to taking this substance? Or, do I want to blindly alter the normal function of my immune system because, say, Paul Stamet's website makes a claim like this: "The orally-bioactive glucans and proteoglycans isolated from mushrooms are currently the most promising class of immunoceuticals. Without doubt, they are capable of simultaneously augmenting all the key pathways of host immunity." Even if this is true (and I can tell you that 'without a doubt' statement borders on negligence), is this a good thing? The immune system is a tremendously complex system that functions normally in an exquisite balance. Typically 'augmenting' one pathway of immunity comes at a cost of another pathway. Overstimulation of certain pathways leads to chronic diseases like asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and others.
Science takes time. It is very likely that we will continue to find substances in fungi that are full of promise and can promote health, prevent certain diseases, or cure certain diseases. But any grand claims or promises of great effects with no risk should be looked at very skeptically. And putting these things into our bodies should be done with forethought and caution. And it is especially troubling that people looking into cures and benefits from mushrooms can fall into the 'it's natural so it can't hurt me mindset,' despite the fact that we do things like identify all natural Galerinas and Amanitas for people every day!
Thanks for getting this discussion going CureCat - it's a fun one, though maybe better suited to the pub or medicinal mushroom forum. And I've made some generalizations in here that are certainly not meant for you.
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