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The popularity of medicinal mushrooms in the West has been increasing rapidly in recent years, much in part to the growing need for natural and alternative health remedies.

There is even a host of scientific research studies that have discovered just how powerful these fungi can be. Studies have shown that medicinal mushrooms contain strong immune boosting properties that may offer help to individuals with cancer, asthma and other chronic illnesses.

Here is a list of the key benefits associated with medicinal mushrooms:

• Restores a weakened immune system


• Improves cardiovascular health and functioning


• Reduces inflammation


• Improves the functioning of the liver


• Prevents the growth of tumor cells


• Enhances cognition and neurological functioning


• Promotes blood sugar balance

Some of the most popular medicinal mushrooms routinely used by herbalists and Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners are Shiitake, Reishi, Maitake, Cordyceps, Agaricus, Coriolus, and Hericium.

Mushrooms live on the bottom of the ecological ladder. Because of their low totem pole status, they have developed a strong immune system response to help protect them against potentially harmful invaders. Mushrooms’ ability to fight off potential infections is similar to the way that humans’ immune systems have developed over time to protect against viruses, bacteria and pathogens.

When mushrooms are confronted with an invader, they release special polysaccharides, which are long sugar chains, to render the invader ineffective. In essence, they deactivate the power of the invader to inflict any harm. Given this powerful immune response, mushrooms are believed to offer the human immune system enormous health benefits.

But these polysaccharides must be pulled out of the mushroom’s cell walls so that they can be used in an effective supplement form.

The benchmark process for creating effective medicinal mushroom products uses heat and water in a manner that is similar to making, not steeping, tea. Referred to as hot-water extraction, it is the only clinically-proven method for pulling out these polysaccharides from the fungi cell walls, therefore making them available for absorption and assimilation.

But unfortunately, most mushroom supplements, even those prescribed by health practitioners or found in health food stores, use an alcohol extraction process or rely on un-extracted mushrooms. Such methods have not been confirmed via scientific studies to carry the same effective benefits as those processed through hot-water extraction.

It is therefore very important to check with the manufacturer to confirm that extraction techniques use the hot-water extraction method before purchasing the supplement.

MGN-3 and AHCC (ImmPower, Kinoko) are modified rice bran supplements that provide active compounds called arabinoxylane and alpha glucans.  These products do not deliver therapeutically effective levels of beta glucans, the clinically researched immune boosting compounds found in all medicinal mushrooms.

When making modified rice bran supplements like AHCC mushroom enzymes are added to the manufacturing process to further break down the cellulose in the rice bran, creating higher levels of arabinoxylane (it is the broken down cellulose that has always provided the active compounds for these types of supplements, once sold as "Bio Bran" before they started adding mushroom enzymes to the manufacturing process).

However, the amount of mushroom material used in this bio-conversion process does not constitute the level of mushroom based raw material normally needed or used when making mushroom supplements. There are no detectable levels of beta glucan in these rice bran supplements and if they are there, they are certainly far below the effective doses identified in the clinical research on mushroom extracts.
Arabinoxylane creates an immune response by interacting with receptors in the gut.  Mushroom beta glucans pass through the gut, enter the lymph system and create an immune response by interacting with receptors on the surface of the immune cells (the attached document explains the process in diagrams).  AHCC and mushroom extracts are complimentary, not redundant. Mushroom extracts offer a patient using AHCC an entirely new and different pathway for influencing immune health, a pathway of documented effectiveness when the appropriate dose is used.

In fact, the reason that companies selling AHCC and Immpower want you to think that they are mushroom supplements is that mushroom supplements work better and the research on mushroom supplements is much more detailed and extensive.

One other point; the AHCC people claim they have a "hybridization" of the different medicinal mushrooms.  That is absolute nonsense.  You can hybridize two roses because they are the same species but not a daisy and a rose, as they are two different species.  In the same way it is impossible to create a hybrid out of two different species of medicinal mushrooms like Shiitake and Maitake and it is absolute nonsense to suggest you can, it shows how little these people know when it comes to real science (of course there is the exception of a mules being bred from the mating of a donkey and a horse).

However, you must be careful when choosing a medicinal mushroom supplement.  Medicinal mushrooms and mushroom mycelium MUST be extracted with hot water to guarantee bioavailability and to create the potency needed for therapeutic effect. (Hot water extracts are dehydrated then encapsulated).  Although hot water extraction is used in 100% of the thousands of independent references, herbal and medical, 90% of the mushroom supplements available in the U.S. and Canada are ground up mushrooms (un-extracted), mycelium grown on grain or rice (un-extracted), or tinctures of these materials (hydro-alcohol “extracts”).  These supplements are 1/30th to 1/80th the strength of a dehydrated hot water extract and are significantly less potent than the materials used in traditional herbalism or the clinical research.
The primary active compounds, the polysaccharides (beta glucans), are found inside of the indigestible cell walls of the mushrooms and mushroom mycelium (made of chitin).  Only hot water extraction can liberate these active compounds while maintaining their structural integrity and concentrating them to defined and therapeutically useful levels.  Also, polysaccharides are not alcohol soluble; therefore tinctures are not an effective means of preparing mushroom supplements.

The good news is that every mushroom supplement label, whether thru inclusion or omission, conveys the information needed to determine quality and type.  Hot water extracts (except for the hot water extracted MaitakeGold 404) will list the polysaccharide (beta glucan) content, as a percentage, on the label in the Supplement Facts panel.   None of the un-extracted mushroom products or tinctures will list polysaccharide/beta glucan content on their labels.  If this potency information is missing the supplement should be avoided.

• 100% Used in Traditional Herbalism
• 100% Used in The Clinical Research
• Proven Effective for Therapeutic Use

There are thousands of studies proving the effectiveness of hot water extracts (liquid and dehydrated). At the date of this latest revision, on 6/20/2008, our research has not located any independent studies verifying the effectiveness of mycelium bio-mass, un-extracted mushrooms, or alcohol tinctures (hydro-alcohol "extracts"). Which product would you bet your health on?

Why a Hot Water Extract?

Dr. Mark Stengler N.D., in his recent book "The Health Benefits of Medicinal Mushrooms," made the observation that all of the independent scientific studies on medicinal mushrooms are based on the use of hot water extracts.

All of the references from Traditional Chinese Medicine also recommend hot water extraction when preparing medicinal mushrooms. We have absolute consensus on this issue from two distinctly different healing traditions. Why do they recommend hot water extraction?

The answer is simple and is based on two factors.

BIOAVAILABILITY – The immune supporting polysaccharides common to all medicinal mushrooms and mushroom mycelium are found inside of the cell walls. However, the cell walls of the mushrooms and mushroom mycelium are made from an indigestible fiber called "chitin," the same material a lobster shell is made of.

Hot water extraction is the only clinically validated method for breaking these polysaccharides out of the indigestible cell walls. Even soft mushrooms like Shiitake are prepared as a hot water extract or a tea when used medicinally.

CONCENTRATION – The immune supporting polysaccharides found in the cell walls of mushrooms and mushroom mycelium comprise only 0.5-2% of the total mass by dry weight (depending on the mushroom), not enough to have effect even if they were bioavailable. Most hot water mushroom/mycelium extracts are at least a 20:1 concentration.

Hot water extraction dissolves the indigestible fiber (chitin), allowing the fiber to be removed from the extract when the water is removed. This process concentrates the polysaccharides to the effective levels identified in the published research.

Click on either of these pages to see a larger version.

Studies Verifying the Need for Hot Water Extraction in Different Medicinal Mushrooms

Reishi
Liu, B., Bau, Y. , Fungi Pharmacopoeia. Kiniko Press, p. 170-72 (1980).

Xie, Z., et al. Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Commercial Press Ltd., Hong Kong, p. 201 (1988).

Coriolus
(U.S. Patent #4,229,570)

Liu, B., Bau, Y., Fungi Pharmacopoeia. Kiniko Press, p. 198-200 (1980).

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

Shiitake
Chihara, G., et al. Inhibition of Mouse Sarcoma 180 by Polysaccharides from Lentinus edodes (Shiitake). Nature, Vol. 222, p. 637 (1969).

Liu, B., Bau, Y., Fungi Pharmacopoeia. Kiniko Press, p. 170-72 (1980).

Cordyceps
Bensky D., et al. Materia Medica of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Eastland Press, Seattle, p. 338-39 ( 1993).

Upton, R., et al. Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) Standards of Analysis, Quality Control, and Therapeutics. American Herbal Pharmacopoeia. p. 19 (Sept. 2000).

By Elena Leong

Our living environment has become increasingly more polluted, our diets unhealthy with processed foods that are full of preservative, harmful fats, refined carbohydrates, and sugars which fill our stomach but do not nourish our body optimally. On top of that we are leading very busy, hectic, and stressful lifestyles. Even though we boast to have the best and modern time-saving electrical gadgets and appliances most people are left with no time or no stamina for exercise which everyone knows is vital for health.

All these have put a great deal of strain on our immune system which has to constantly function on a hyper mode, trying hard to neutralize the environmental pollutants we are exposed to and ingested toxins from foods and drugs, trying to help your body maintain a state of homeostasis or balance for optimum health. When this physiological balance is not restored, the common physical symptoms that will manifest are:

• allergies
• cancer
• cardiovascular disease
• obesity
• chronic fatigue syndrome
• depression
• aging prematurely

The immune system is a complex network of specialized cells and organs such as the spleen, thymus and bone marrow that defense any foreign viruses or bacterial when they invade your body. We get sickly easily because of an impaired immune system. T-cells is a product of the thymus gland which protects you against harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites, but it shrinks as we age, reducing the production of T-cells. This is why it's so important to boost your immune system as you get older to avoid sickness. Many are searching for natural healthy diets, nutrition supplementation and exercise to nourish and strengthen their immune system to work more efficiently.

The discovery of medicinal mushrooms such as cordyceps and ganoderma lucidum (reishi) or Lingzhi has been documented in many reputable studies on its ability to restore our bodies’ balance and natural resistance to disease.

What is Cordyceps?

Cordyceps or Cordyceps Sinensis is a rare parasitic organism grows primarily on the Tibetan plateau at high altitudes of 14,000 feet. In Chinese, its name means ‘winter worm, summer grass’ or “caterpillar fungus.” It is nature’s cross marriage of the insect and plant kingdom. When it was first discovered about 2000 years ago the Chinese thought the herb was a worm. The fungus mushroom is a product from a type of fungus which parasites upon the larvae of the Chongcao bat moth and forms a fungus/larva composite body, and it takes five to seven years to complete its life cycle.

As part of the Chinese culinary delicacy, the cordyceps mushroom was used in soups and brews with pork and poultry. Due to its scarcity and high price, its use was reserved exclusively for the Emperor’s Palace in China. Cordyceps has been recognized for centuries and has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). For generations, it has been considered the premier agent in the Chinese culture for:

• restoring energy
• longevity and quality of health
• treating lung problems
• strengthening kidney functions

In 1993, three women Chinese athletes set new world records in the National Games in China. Their coach attributed their success to intensive training and supplementation with the cordyceps mushroom. Today many scientific studies have proven the numerous health benefits from this fungus.

Recently, a small study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting (1999), showed that a cordyceps-based supplement (CordyMax, Pharmanex) significantly increases maximal oxygen uptake and anaerobic threshold, which may lead to improved exercise capacity and resistance to fatigue.

Health Benefits of Cordyceps:

• enhances endurance, stamina and exercise performance
• reduces fatigue
• relieves asthma
• fights sexual dysfunction
• improves libido in man and woman
• promotes healthy lung function
• improves kidney and liver functions through metabolizing and excreting toxic substances
• promotes healthy cholesterol levels
• improves respiratory functions
• promotes natural vitality

Everyone from young to old can enjoy the benefits from cordyceps mushroom which is sold in forms of its natural dry fruiting body, powdered form, tinctures, dietary supplement or in tonic soups.

Copyright 2005

Sneezing, coughing, fever, aches and pains...

Worried about flu symptoms like these? As winter approaches, most of us are.

But this year, the flu seems even more alarming, thanks to increased health concerns about the H1N1 influenza strain, also known as the swine flu. Even though this strain doesn't appear to be particularly threatening, it has the potential to mutate into a more dangerous form.
The main question my patients have been asking is whether they should get vaccinated against H1N1 or against the regular flu.
This is not a simple yes or no answer. The guiding principle of functional medicine is personalized care, not the one-size-fits-all belief that everyone should have the same treatment. This applies equally to vaccines. There is risk and benefit to every medical treatment or procedure.

That is why in today's blog I want to review what you need to consider if you are thinking about vaccination, discuss some of the risks involved, and provide you with a comprehensive 7-step plan for preventing swine flu and staying healthy all winter long.

Should You Get Vaccinated?

The choice to get vaccinated is an individual one. Selective vaccination may be helpful for some groups of people--but not everyone. Here are the facts as I see them

• The current strain of H1N1 is a generally mild strain of the flu. It sounds scarier, but, so far, fewer people have actually died from it than from the traditional flu. It may mutate but it hasn't yet. Pushing widespread vaccination on low-risk populations exposes them to unnecessary risks.

• If the H1N1 mutates, the current vaccine may not be effective against it.

• The studies on the H1N1 vaccine have been limited in the rush to market.

• The 1976 swine flu vaccine was linked to a serious neurological disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome, which causes severe (but usually temporary) paralysis.

• The government has agreed to protect vaccine manufacturers from any lawsuits due to side effects of the vaccine, otherwise pharmaceutical companies would not make it.

• The Centers for Disease Control recommends vaccination for high-risk groups--not necessarily everyone. The key groups that would benefit most from the vaccine are healthcare workers, pregnant women, caregivers of children younger than six months, children and adults under age 24, and adults who have underlying medical conditions, such as asthma, heart disease, or diabetes. If that doesn't describe you, you should think twice about having the vaccine.

• The multi-dose vials of the vaccine contain mercury as a preservative. If you are a pregnant or nursing woman I would insist on the single-dose vial, which does not contain mercury. Unfortunately, the number of mercury-free vaccines is limited.

For these reasons, I only recommend vaccination for high-risk individuals. But whether you get vaccinated or not, it is critical to support your immune system through natural means to help prevent the flu. Here are 7 simple steps you can take to do that.

7 Steps to Staying Healthy All Winter Long

This list of natural remedies was put together by all the doctors and nutritionists at the Ultra Wellness Center to help keep you healthy through the flu season:

1. Drink plenty of fluids, especially warmer fluids. With dry air inside and out, winter can be a particularly challenging time to stay hydrated. Consuming adequate fluids supports all your body's functions, including the immune system. Make soups and broths (from scratch with fresh vegetables, if possible) and drink them throughout the week. Drink herbal teas like ginger and echinacea daily. Keep a bottle of filtered water with you at all times. Avoid concentrated fruit juices and sweetened beverages, as the sugar content is harmful for the immune system. If you do drink juice, dilute it with two-thirds water.

2. Try a daily saline flush. Along with staying hydrated, flushing your sinuses with mild salt water helps to keep mucous membranes moist, which protects you from microbes. You can use a neti pot or easy-to-carry plastic bottles that come with saline packets to take with you to the office or when traveling.

3. Avoid simple sugars as much as possible. This includes sweet treats and desserts but also white flour and refined grain products, which turn into sugar quickly. Studies have shown that refined sugars can suppress your immune system for hours after ingested.
4. Have protein with each meal. Proteins are the building blocks of the body, including your immune and detoxification systems. It's important to eat organic, clean, and lean animal protein, as well as plant-based proteins (legumes, nuts/seeds), with each meal and snack.

5. Add garlic, onions, ginger, and lots of spices (oregano, turmeric) to your meals. Add these to your soups and vegetable dishes, as well as to bean dips and sauces. Garlic and onions offer a wide spectrum of antimicrobial properties.

6. Eat multiple servings of colorful fruits and vegetables high in vitamins C and A and phytonutrients, which support the immune system. Choose more leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower), peppers, sweet potatoes, and squash. Aim for 3 to 4 servings of fruits and 5 or more servings of vegetables a day.

7. Get sufficient sleep We all know sleep restores and heals the body. Without adequate sleep, optimal immune function is next to impossible. Get in a better rhythm and head to bed earlier on dark winter nights; aim for 7 to 8 hours a night. Incorporating various relaxation and breathing techniques throughout the day to help with stress and allow the mind to rest is also very helpful.

Supplements for Immune Support

In addition to the steps above, I also strongly encourage you to take the following supplements to support your immune system:

• Vitamin D3: Adequate vitamin D status is critical for optimal immune function, which cannot be achieved without supplementation during the winter months. For accurate dosing, get your levels of 25 OH vitamin D checked. The ideal blood level is 50-75 ng/dl. Many of us need 5,000 IU or more of vitamin D3 a day in the winter. Start with 2,000 IU a day for adults, 1,000 IU for children.

• Buffered vitamin C: We've long known the role of vitamin C in supporting the immune system. Take 500 to 1,000 mg through out the day with meals and snacks.

• Zinc citrate: You can take an additional supplement or consume more foods high in this powerful immune supporting nutrient. Oysters and pumpkin seeds are the best food sources.

• Probiotics: Healthy gut flora supports a healthy gut, a major barrier against pathogens that is integral to the immune system.

• Fish oil (arctic cod liver oil): This old-time remedy for good health and robust immunity still stands true. Arctic cod liver oil contains additional vitamin A and D for added immune protection.

• 1-3, 1-6 Beta glucans: Much research has shown that these compounds up-regulate the function of our innate immune system. This part of your immune system is the first line of defense against viruses and bacteria. It helps your white blood cells bind to and kill viruses and bacteria.

• Antiviral/anti-bacterial herbs: Many herbs have broad-spectrum antimicrobial effects or immune-enhancing effects. Formulas contain different immune boosters such as astragalus, echinacea, green tea extract, elderberry, andrographis, goldenseal, monolaurin, various immune enhancing mushrooms, and beta 1, 3 glucan.

• Cordyceps and other mushroom extracts: These possess immune-supporting properties. Look for supplements that that contain these, as well as zinc and vitamin C for a three-pronged approach to immune support.

By following this plan, you should enjoy vibrant health, all winter long.

Now I'd like to hear from you...

Will you get a flu shot this year?

Have you or a loved one gotten the H1N1 virus?

What immune-boosting measures do you swear by?

To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD

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).

"Integrative Oncology" is an individualized approach to caring for the person with a diagnosis or history of cancer.

"I'd like to welcome you to Integrative Oncology Essentials. My name is Dr. Brian Lawenda, and I am one of only a handful of physicians in the United States who is a radiation oncologist, integrative oncologist and medical acupuncturist.

I developed this website as a means of sharing up to date "Integrative Oncology" news, information and resources with my patients. I hope that this content is helpful to anyone living with or beyond a diagnosis of cancer. I will do my best to keep delivering updates on various topics relevant to my patients and others." -Brian D. Lawenda, M.D.

http://www.integrativeoncology-essentials.com/