Medicinal mushrooms are not the trippy type, but they have superpowers nonetheless and have been used in medicine for thousands of years.
Many times in the past, people have asked me what supplements I like to take. I always exclaim, “medicinal mushrooms!” and people laugh and say, “you mean magic mushrooms?” Nooo….
The type of medicinal mushrooms I speak of won’t get you high, but they might elevate your existence.
Medicinal Mushrooms are like magic for the mammalian immune system.
Think of your body like a powerful machine with hardware, operating systems, and software. The medicinal mushrooms are like a program that you can install to fight off viruses and reduce inflammation. They also can help burn fat and get you ripped abs, but that won’t be the focus of this article.
I believe that medicinal mushrooms have great preventative and curative properties.
Take me as an anecdotal example. In the last six years, I’ve never taken a single sick day or called out to work due to illness. Yes, I consume a foundation of fresh foods and eat balanced nutrients that on a regular basis, but the medicinal mushrooms have played a huge role in my ability to ward off disease.
There have been times in the past when I started to get a sore throat or a runny nose.
And then I mega-dosed on medicinal mushroom powder, with symptoms literally disappearing within hours. And by mega-dose, I’m talking like 100 times the suggested serving size without any negative effects — because mushrooms are basically food anyway.
Please note that I am not making a recommendation for you. That was me sharing my experience.
How can medicinal mushrooms cure covid-19 symptoms and reduce the pain of the coronavius pandemic?
Even though I could go back and give you decades of research, there are already researchers publishing new articles every month about the efficacy and promise of medicinal mushrooms to cure covid-19. Or at least be an effective tool in the battle of health and wellness.
Agaricus blazei medicinal mushroom:
“Asidiomycota Agaricus blazei Murill (AbM), Hericium erinaceus (HE), and Grifola frondosa (GF) have been shown to exert antimicrobial activity against viral agents, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and parasites in vitro and in vivo.
Since the mechanism is immunomodulatory and not antibiotical, the mushrooms should be active against multi-drug resistant microbes as well.
Since these Basidiomycota also have anti-inflammatory properties, they may be suited for treatment of the severe lung inflammation that often follows COVID-19 infection.
…Shown to improve symptoms and quality of life in IBD patients via an anti-inflammatory effect.
Hence, such mushroom extracts could have prophylactic or therapeutic effect against the pneumonic superinfection and severe lung inflammation that often complicates COVID-19 infection.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32657436/
Chaga medicinal mushroom (very powerful!)
“Natural substances such as herbs and mushrooms have previously demonstrated both great antiviral and anti-inflammatory activity. Thus, the possibilities of natural substances as effective treatments against COVID-19 may seem promising.
One of the potential candidates against the SARS-CoV-2 virus may be Inonotus obliquus (IO), also known as chaga mushroom. IO commonly grows in Asia, Europe and North America and is widely used as a raw material in various medical conditions.“
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32854262/
AHCC (Active Hexose Correlated Compound) from Shiitake medicinal mushroom.
“AHCC is an α-glucan-based standardized mushroom extract that has been extensively investigated as an immunostimulant both in animals and/or in humans affected by West Nile virus, influenza virus, avian influenza virus, hepatitis C virus, papillomavirus, herpes virus, hepatitis B virus and HIV by promoting a regulated and protective immune response.
Although the efficacy of AHCC has not yet been specifically evaluated with respect to SARS-CoV-2 disease, its action in promoting a protective response to a wide range of viral infections, and the current absence of effective vaccines, could support its use in the prevention of diseases provoked by human pathogenic coronavirus, including COVID-19.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32162896/
Medicinal Mushroom mycelium extracts
“Coronavirus pneumonia is accompanied by rapid virus replication, where a large number of inflammatory cell infiltration and cytokine storm may lead to acute lung injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and death. The uncontrolled release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6, is associated with ARDS. This constituted the first study to report on the variability in physicochemical properties of β-glucans extracts from the same edible mushroom Lentinus edodes on the reduction of these pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress.
Our findings demonstrate significant physicochemical differences between Lentinan extracts, which produce differential in vitro immunomodulatory and pulmonary cytoprotective effects that may also have positive relevance to candidate COVID-19 therapeutics targeting cytokine storm.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32162896/
Medicinal mushrooms contain valuable Vitamin D and are a rare food/plant source of Vitamin D for health benefits.
If you have been following the American response to covid, you may know that Dr. Fauci recommended people take Vitamin D supplements for immune system benefits. Guess what, mushrooms are one of the best natural sources of vitamin D.
“Mushrooms are a rich source of vitamin D2 that when consumed can increase and maintain blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in a healthy range. Ingestion of mushrooms may also provide the consumer with a source of vitamin D3 and vitamin D4.“
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
So instead of buying Vitamin D supplements, you might be getting a fair amount of vitamin D by eating culinary mushrooms and ingesting medicinal mushrooms.
Essentially every organ and cell in the body has a vitamin D receptor. More than 200 genes are directly or indirectly regulated by Vitamin D. This hormone is one of the most effective biochemicals capable of keeping cell growth in check by modulating proliferation and differentiation and when a cell has a propensity to become malignant to induce apoptosis and inhibit angiogenesis
By the way, here is a quick list of some of the benefits of Vitamin D:
- Anti-cancer (decreases cell proliferation)
- Anti-inflammatory
- More than 60% reduction of developing heart disease
- Anti-hypertension, lower systolic blood pressure
- Anti-obesity, pro-lean body mass
- Anti-diabetic, slows the rise of blood glucose
- Anti-depressent
- Improved cognition
- Parkinson’s prevention
- Bone health
- Strength and power, related to fast-twitch muscle fibers
- Reduced autoimmune disease risk
- More than 40% lower rate of influenza when supplementing 1200 IU per day
- Healthy bacterial balance in the female genital system
- Supports pelvic floor health
- Eye health and slows age-related macular degeneration
- Essential for bone health
Source: Vitamin D: The “sunshine” vitamin
Medicinal mushrooms contain many beneficial ingredients including beta-glucans and other undiscovered components valuable for human health.
Why are medicinal mushrooms so beneficial for humans?
The reason lies in the very nature of the mushroom itself.
The mushrooms need anti-bacterial and anti-fungal compounds to survive in their environment as they do not rely upon the sun for energy.
The mushrooms also contain compounds that directly stop viruses in its tracks as well as compounds that support general immune health that indirectly helps the human host fight viral attacks.
Medicinal mushroom extracts do the following:
- Inhibit viral enzymes,
- Inhibit the synthesis of viral nucleic acids,
- and inhibit the uptake of viruses into mammalian cells.
Other indirect antiviral effects are the result of the immunostimulating activity of polysaccharides or other complex molecules.
Polysaccharides or polysaccharide–protein complexes from mushrooms are able to stimulate the non-specific immune system and to exert antitumor activity through the stimulation of the host’s defence mechanism.
Preventing covid-19 deaths by preventing bacterial infections?
Pneumococcal pneumonia, caused by bacterial infection, is found in the majority of covid 19 deaths. As medicinal mushrooms are powerful anti-bacterial agents even against anti-bacterial resistant strains, they can become a powerful life saving tool.
Imagine taking an herb that not only fights off the main invader (virus), but also fights off the opportunistic bugs (bacteria) both directly an indirectly.
We’d be foolish not to take mushrooms then, right?
Modern medicine will never truly appreciate holistic health. But you can.
It is the nature of scientific method to have a hypothesis and to test against a control group. Yet, it is limiting because it often disregards the whole person and the inherent wisdom inside our bodies. We need science and we also need a greater perspective — the wisdom of the ancients.
What profit is to be made off of medicinal mushrooms? You can’t really patent a mushroom as it is essentially food. You won’t find a Fortune 500 drug company rushing to use mushroom extracts that they can’t make a profit from.
You don’t have to believe me. Listening to your body is what matters.
If you ever get into a position in which you are suffering and you feel that you have exhausted all of your options, I implore you to experiment with medicinal mushrooms.
Hope this helps.
Stay well, everybody.
Thanks for reading. More content and YouTube videos soon…