Mushrooms as Medicine...

Mushrooming...From the Forest to the Laboratory and Beyond

When walking through the forest, you will notice strands of long white ropy material. This is the mycelium of mushrooms. Spores are like the “seed” of the mushroom. And once spores begin reproducing, mycelium develops. Mycelium runs throughout the forest floor, intertwining among the roots, adding to moisture and building soil. Mycelium runs, gaining strength, feeding on decomposing matter and building potency, until conditions are optimal for fruiting. Mushrooms fruit when the air temperature, soil temperature, and moisture level are favorable. The fruiting body of the mushroom pushes up through the soil and a mushroom is born.

Most mushrooms are not poisonous or edible. But a select number of mushrooms are being researched for anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties. Some studies show that mushrooms for cancer treatment may be growing right in your backyard!

In Western medicine, traditional treatments for cancer like chemotherapy and radiation are standard protocol upon diagnosis. In Eastern Medicine, and most other areas of the world, cancer is treated from a whole person perspective. This wholistic approach takes a look at lifestyle factors and the overall mind, body, spirit of the person. Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine and indigenous healers around the world have used mushrooms for thousands of years to treat the whole person and a variety of health issues.

So what is it about these mysterious mushrooms that helps fight serious diseases like cancer? In nature, mushrooms facilitate decomposition and transform dying materials into new life. They are regenerative. Some mushrooms, like Hericium erinaceus, or the Lions Mane mushroom, is proving, from a scientific perspective to be quite the regenerator. In one study, after severe DNA damage, those taking Lion’s Mane mushroom showed an increase in nerve regeneration. Could mushrooms be so powerful as to regenerate damaged nerves? The Okanagan-Collville Indians were known to bathe their babies in a broth of mushrooms with the idea that like mushrooms, which are so strong they move rocks as they grow out of the soil, babies subjected to the broth would grow up strong enough to move men. Do these indigenous uses of mushrooms have any application in treating medical conditions today?

In Japan mushrooms have been used medicinally for at least 3000 years. Japanese scientists have isolated a specific polysaccharide named PSK, from Tramates versicolor, or the Turkey Tail mushroom, which is used extensively to treat cancer. The principal immunologically active fractions are PSK, which is a water soluble, protein-bound polysaccharide and PSP, a polysaccharide-peptide. In studies, PSK inhibited sarcoma. When given to cancer patients, they show increased interferon production. PSK is used most often in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy, as an immune adjuvant. Survival rates improve considerably when PSK is added to the traditional therapies. Turkey Tail is one of the most well-researched mushrooms for cancer treatment.

Medicinal mushrooms are getting attention these days, and they are becoming more widely available. What in the past may have been purchased from a street vendor in a third world country, is now available at your local pharmacy or health food store. Most health food stores have a section of medicinal mushrooms, which are available in supplement form (capsules) or tincture form (liquid). Many companies sell medicinal mushrooms over the internet. And here they are sometimes available in whole form, dried. When using whole mushrooms, take them in tea for the best results. Mushrooms must be heated for bioavailability.

From the forest to the laboratory and beyond, mushrooms for cancer are proving to be a valuable resource for treating serious medical conditions. Strong immune enhancement and nerve regeneration properties make medicinal mushrooms a great compliment to any wellness program.

For more information on mushrooms as medicine, check out "Medicinal Mushrooms, An Expoloration of Tradition, Healing, & Culture", by Christopher Hobbs, L.Ac.