Wow! There are sooo many individual herbs that excite me. That said, there is a class of herbs that I have found fascinating ever since my first discovery of them years and years ago—MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS (YAY)!
After working as an oncology nurse, and then becoming disheartened by the traditional medical care model, I dove feet first into the world of all things natural and holistic. It is here that I found my love of medicinal mushrooms. Paul Stamets may never know this, but his research and passion on the topic of mycelium to, not only heal our internal ecosystem, but our outer ecosystem had me at Host Defense (lol).
I truly do not have a favorite when it comes to the abundance of antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antitumor, and immune-modulating effects of medicinal mushrooms; I love them all for different reasons. However, in keeping this blog post short and sweet, I am choosing chaga to speak about today. Please let me know if there is a medicinal mushroom you would like discussed next. 😊
#1 In “Chaga—King of the Mushrooms” by David Wolfe, he mentions that chaga contains more superoxide dismutase (SOD) than other sources touted to be rich in this super-antioxidant, such as barley grass, seaweeds, and marine oils. He also states that chaga contains 25 to 50 times more SOD than other medicinal mushrooms that may be more well-known, like rishi, shiitake, and maitake.
#2 In Russia, chaga has been revered for its activity against a multitude of cancers (liver and lung to name but just two biggies). Many of the anticancer properties can be attributed to beta-glucans, often described as the healing long-chain, non-sweet carbohydrates, otherwise known as polysaccharides. According to David Wolfe, researchers have, so far, found 29 types of beta-glucans in chaga.
#3 Chaga is known to act as a support in chemotherapy and radiation treatments. For instance, it has been stated that betulin (an extract of birch bark in which chaga grows) is known to possess powerful liver-protective properties that can help in the detoxification of chemotherapy chemicals and radiation damage. In addition, the antioxidant properties can quickly quench the strong oxidative damage to healthy tissue caused by radioactive chemotherapy. Furthermore, the melanin found in chaga may bind radioactive isotopes into less toxic forms, allowing the detoxification of the elements to occur.
As a side not, due to its high level of melanin, I had suggested the use of chaga for a customer/client of mine when I was the owner/operator at our raw, vegetarian and superfood marketplace, and she surprisingly noticed that chaga (used internally and externally) was helping to reduce the pigmentation changes of her vitiligo. She had areas where her patches of no piment were filling in with pigment again. I found this to be highly inspiring.
#4 Chaga appears to have antiviral abilities. For instance, in an article on pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, scientific research found that extracts of chaga had an antiviral effect on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1. In other research on this site, chaga has been shown to have antiviral effects when it comes to the hepatitis C virus. Using animal cells, the researchers found that the extract of chaga was able to decrease the infective properties of hepatitis C by 100-fold in just 10 minutes.
#5 In an article on sciencedirect.com, chaga extract was shown to reduce inflammation brought on by ulcerative colitis in animal subjects. Researchers found that the anti-inflammatory effect of the extract in the colon was due to its ability to suppress the expression of chemical mediators of inflammation.
As another side note, I can recall one time when Paul Stamets did a presentation in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for all of us who sold his products. He mentioned that when the issue is directly in the colon, the capsules were best to consume if you could only choose one. Even better, is capsule consumption in conjunction with the extract throughout the day. Why not get the best of both worlds when it comes to the wonderous antioxidant and DNA support of the enchanting chaga!
Online Sources Utilized:
Comments