Posted on 15th Mar 2010 @ 3:51 PM

About Mushrooms

Mushrooms are unique, stationary like a plant, yet built from chitin, the same material contained in the shell of a lobster. Understanding the properties of chitin is critical to understanding how to choose an effective, high-quality medicinal mushroom product.

Chitin is indigestible by humans.(1) Yet chitin, which makes up the cell walls of mushrooms and mushroom mycelium, contains the potent immune stimulating compounds common to all medicinal mushrooms, the polysaccharides.(2) Practitioners of Traditional East Asian Medicine and modern clinical researchers both use the same preparation technique to overcome this barrier, hot water.

Only a heated liquid solution can break down the indigestible chitin and release the active compounds into a concentrated, bio-available form.3 When used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for chronic conditions or immune health medicinal mushrooms are always prepared with heat and water, as a tea or a decoction. (4,5,6,7) Medicinal mushrooms are never used in the un-extracted form (as mycelium bio-mass powder or dried mushroom powder), and rarely prepared as a tincture (soaked in alcohol and water in the absence of heat).

Scientific research backs this traditional preparation method. Every published, independent study on the use of medicinal mushrooms for immune health has been conducted with a hot water or hot water/alcohol extract. Every form of extraction, including precipitation with alcohol, requires a heated liquid solution to first release the polysaccharides, the primary active compounds, from the chitinous cell walls of the mushroom and mushroom mycelium.(8)

This is true for Reishi;(9,10) Coriolus versicolor;(11,12) Maitake;(13) Shiitake;(14,15) and Cordyceps.(16) All of the well-known isolates are also extracted in a heated aqueous solution, including Maitake Fraction from Maitake, PSK/VPS and PSP from Coriolus versicolor, and Lentinan and LEM from Shiitake.

According to the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia mycelium bio-mass products are inferior because of a "lack of bio-availability". This publication also states that concentrates derived through proper extraction contain active compounds "magnitudes higher than what is available in crude mycelium biomass preparations".(17)

At Mushroom Science we take these lessons seriously. Our dehydrated hot water extracts are formulated to deliver all of the important constituents unique to each mushroom. Every batch is analyzed for purity, contains guaranteed amounts of the active compounds, and is offered as a pure extract, containing no mycelium bio-mass or ground mushrooms as filler.

Cordyceps

Cordyceps, Cordyceps sinensis, Cordyceps Cs-4. Cordyceps is a diverse supplement. It is used to promote energy and endurance, as well as for issues relating to respiratory health, kidney health, immune health, occasional fatigue and adrenal fatigue.

All of the modern clinical research on Cordyceps has been conducted with hot water extracts of the Cordyceps sinensis Cs-4 strain, the same strain we use at MushroomScience to produce our high potency Cordyceps extract. Every batch of MushroomScience Cordyceps is guaranteed to contain the same effective levels of polysaccharide and adenosine compounds as used in the human clinical research.

Coriolus

Coriolus "Super-Strength", Coriolus PSP, Krestin,Turkey Tail, Trametes versicolor, Coriolus versicolor. Coriolus "Super-Strength" and PSP are used to maintain, protect or restore immune health.

Known as Krestin or PSK in Japan, and as PSP or Yun zhi in China, the hot water extract of this medicinal mushroom is the world's most thoroughly researched supplement for immune health. There have been more than 400 animal studies and over a dozen placebo-controlled double-blind human clinical studies published in peer reviewed medical journals.

MushroomScience is the only company in North America offering their customers research quality PSK ("Super-Strength") and PSP, and has been acting as a consultant for the recently funded $1,000,000.00 study on these extracts.

Maitake

Maitake, Maitake Mushrooms. Maitake and the tea from maitake mushrooms are used to maintain, protect or restore immune health.

Maitake mushrooms are called the "dancing mushroom" in Japanese folklore and make a very tasty addition to the dinner table, being used in a variety of soups and sauces.

Reishi

Reishime (Reishi Gano 161) (Ganoderma lucidum) (Reishi mushrooms) Tea made from reishi mushrooms is the premiere tonic herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Reishi Gano 161 is a powerful preventative, liver tonic, and immune tonic. Reishi extracts can also prevent altitude sickness if continual daily use is started 10-14 days before experiencing the increased altitude.

In TCM an extract of the mushroom fruit body is used, never the mycelium. The modern clinical research has also confirmed that Reishi mushrooms, not the mycelium, must be used as the mushroom contains essential beneficial compounds that the Reishi mycelium is missing.

The shiny red surface on the cap of the reishi mushroom, a physical feature not present in the mycelium, contains the triterpenes that provide the significant health benefits for the liver Reishi is famous for. At 6% triterpenes the MushroomScience Reishi Gano 161 extract is the most potent Reishi supplement on the North American market. Compare the label with any other brand. The MushroomScience Reishi extract is currently being used and studied in human clinical trials at Bastyr University, one of the top Naturopathic Medical Colleges in North America.

References

1. Upton, R., et al. Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) Standards of Analysis, Quality Control, and Therapeutics. American Herbal Pharmacopoeia. p. 9 (Sept. 2000).
2. Alexopoulos, C.J., Mims, C.W. Introductory Mycology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 10, 1979.
3. Upton, R., et al. Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) Standards of Analysis, Quality Control, and Therapeutics. American Herbal Pharmacopoeia. p. 9 (Sept. 2000).
4. Xie, Z., et al. Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Commercial Press Ltd., Hong Kong, p. 201 (1988).
5. Liu, B., Bau, Y., Fungi Pharmacopoeia. Kiniko Press, p. 170-72 (1980).
6. Jianzhe, Y., Icons of Medicinal Fungi from China. Science Press, Beijing p. 145 (1987).
7. Bensky D., et al. Materia Medica of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Eastland Press, Seattle, p. 338-39 (1993).

Reishi

1. Upton, R., et al. Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) Standards of Analysis, Quality Control, and Therapeutics. American Herbal Pharmacopoeia. p. 9 (Sept. 2000).
2. Liu, B., Bau, Y. , Fungi Pharmacopoeia. Kiniko Press, p. 170-72 (1980).
3. Xie, Z., et al. Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Commercial Press Ltd., Hong Kong, p. 201 (1988).

Coriolus

1. (U.S. Patent #4,229,570)
2. Liu, B., Bau, Y., Fungi Pharmacopoeia. Kiniko Press, p. 198-200 (1980).

Maitake

1. Jianzhe, Y., Icons of Medicinal Fungi from China. Science Press, Beijing p. 195 (1987).

Shiitake

1. Chihara, G., et al. Inhibition of Mouse Sarcoma 180 by Polysaccharides from Lentinus edodes (Shiitake). Nature, Vol. 222, p. 637 (1969).
2. Liu, B., Bau, Y., Fungi Pharmacopoeia. Kiniko Press, p. 170-72 (1980).

Cordyceps

1. Bensky D., et al. Materia Medica of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Eastland Press, Seattle, p. 338-39 ( 1993).
2. Upton, R., et al. Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) Standards of Analysis, Quality Control, and Therapeutics. American Herbal Pharmacopoeia. p. 19 (Sept. 2000).