Mushrooms: The Underestimated Super Food

[Islander]

Monday, October 20, 2008 by: Leslee Dru Browning

(NaturalNews) Mushrooms have been used for thousands of years by traditional eastern healers but only recently by western healers in advanced medicine. Mushrooms are often classified as a vegetable or an herb, but they are actually fungi.

Mushrooms provide our bodies with the nutrients, proteins, minerals, and vitamins it needs to generate energy and repair cells. They are one of the most remarkable elements for a healthy immune system. They have been used to cure or improve eyesight, hearing, circulation, impotency, stop migraine headaches, tumors, influenza, and even cancer.

Mushrooms are low in carbohydrates, calories, and sodium and are cholesterol and fat free. High in fiber and protein, mushrooms are also rich in B vitamins to help maintain a healthy metabolism.

Mushrooms are an excellent source of potassium, a mineral that helps lower elevated blood pressure and reduces the risk of stroke. One medium portabella mushroom has even more potassium than a banana or a glass of orange juice.

Mushrooms are a rich source of riboflavin, niacin, and selenium. Selenium is an antioxidant that works with vitamin E to protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals. Male health professionals who consumed twice the recommended daily intake of selenium cut their risk of prostate cancer by 65 percent.

Regular ingestion of mushrooms over long periods of time has been proven to decrease the amount of cancerous cells in the body. They not only fight and reduce cancerous cells and tumors, but they help prevent more of those cells from forming in the body.

Types of Mushrooms and their Therapeutic Value:

Oyster

Oyster mushrooms are used to strengthen veins and relax tendons. �Tendon-easing powder� is an effective treatment for numbed limbs as well as tendon and blood vessel discomfort. Dried Oyster Mushrooms are high in iron which makes them a good blood builder.

Portabella

Portabellas contain a wide variety of B complex vitamins. They are also a great source of riboflavin, Pantothenic acid, niacin and a good source of thiamine, vitamin B6, folate, selenium, lysine, protein, zinc, copper, manganese, and iron.

Morels

Morels contain protein, vitamin D and B, riboflavin, niacin, and thiamine that help the body maintain a healthy metabolism. They also have copper, selenium, and potassium. They are low in carbohydrates, very low in calories and are fat free, not to mention, they contain very little sodium.

Maitake

Maitake may best be known for its cancer-fighting properties. The evidence confirming maitake's therapeutic value is impressive. Laboratory studies have shown that maitake extract can block the growth of cancer tumors and boost the immune function of mice with cancer. Maitake mushroom was found effective against leukemia and stomach and bone cancers. In addition, many doctors in Japan use maitake mushroom to lower blood pressure and blood lipids. This mushroom has also been reported to aid digestion by regulating the stomach and intestines, and helps eliminate food stagnation.

Porcini

Just like Morels, Porcini mushrooms contain copper, selenium, potassium, and protein.

Shiitake

Research has shown that Shiitake lowers cholesterol. Shiitake also appears to be effective against some of the more serious viruses we face today: HIV and hepatitis B and appears to be a formidable cancer fighter.

Reishi

Reishi mushroom is particularly beneficial for individuals with asthma and other respiratory complaints. Reishi is good for respiratory strength and for coughing. At least one population study confirms this claim. When more the 2000 Chinese with chronic bronchitis took reishi syrup during the 1970s, within two weeks, 60 to 90% felt better and reported an improved appetite, according to the article Medicinal Mushrooms by Christopher Hobbs, published in Herbs for Health, Jan/Feb 97.

Scientific Research:

Several scientists addressed the health benefits of mushrooms in a session in July 2008 at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo in New Orleans.

Mushrooms are low in calories, cholesterol and sodium, and they provide plenty of fiber and flavor when cooked. But the big news is that they are high in antioxidants, selenium, riboflavin and other healthful substances that protect the immune system and fight cancer.

Mushrooms contain high amounts of beta-glucans, compounds that occur in the bran of cereal grains and in yeast. These substances help to keep immune cells in a state of vigilance, guarding against disease, said Lana Zivanovic, Ph.D., with the University of Tennessee�s Department of Food Science and Technology.

Mushrooms also contain cancer-fighting substances, said Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., director of surgical research at the Beckman Research Institute in Duarte, Calif.

Chen�s lab experiments show that mushrooms� cells contain mechanisms that suppress breast and prostate cancer cells. He is following up his lab work with clinical trials funded by the Mushroom Council. Results should be out in a year, he said.

Research is showing that mushrooms contain ergothioneine, an antioxidant that contributes to immune support and protection of the eyes, skin, liver, kidneys and bone marrow.

Scientists have unearthed other mushroom benefits including robust amounts of selenium, vitamin D and potassium. "White button mushrooms have more protein, potassium, copper and selenium than oyster or shiitake mushrooms", said Robert Beelman, Ph.D., at Pennsylvania State University�s Department of Food Science. Whether mushrooms will be consumed more as foods or in supplements and extractions is yet to be seen. "But a rich opportunity exists in the marketplace", said Zivanovic.

Sources:

Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) (http://www.ift.org)

Lana Zivanovic, PhD, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tenn.

Robert B. Beelman, PhD., Pennsylvania State University, professor of Food Science

Schian Chen, PhD, Beckman Research Institute

Great Food (http://www.greatfood.com/)

Health Castle (http://www.healthcastle.com/food_supple...)

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http://www.naturalnews.com/024548.html

[PPARGammaGirl]

I have to admit I love mushrooms. When I was a kid and our main meal was (ugh) school dinners we used to get bread and jam or beans on toast for tea (dinner). Whenever my mum had mushrooms with her (cooked) dinner I used to beg for those babies.

[Aaltrude]

I love mushrooms too Gammagirl. You may recall that our last autumn was a bumper season for field mushrooms after the long, hot summer we had. I picked four large shopping bags full of mushrooms and you couldn't see where I had been in the paddock. These mushrooms have now all been dehydrated and are very handy to have when we want to throw some mushrooms in a dish we are cooking.

[Islander]

My Lithuanian grandmother and my Irish husband both knew their mushrooms from their toadstools. Now both are dead and I didn't pay enough attention. This fall I had 5 different fungi growing in my yard and not a clue which were edible. Isn't that sad?

[Reesacat]

It is. People have been eating mushrooms for thousands of years safely for the most part.
I suspect the wild mushrooms have some very powerful medicinal properties-they are key foods in traditional
Chinese and Japanese medicine diets and tonics. And they have been using mushrooms medicinally for thousands of years.
Even the cultivated ones are good.

[DizzyIzzy]

Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy.

That's all I have to say about that.

[Heart Ace]

I love mushroom so much! Very yummmyyyy!!! Thanks for sharing this post!!! Very interesting!

[Stoneharbor]

I was going to start a topic on the Chaga, and found this one already, so I'll post this here, as the Chaga isn't mentioned yet here, and doesn't show up in a search! This is from "Survival Topics" at
http://www.survivaltopics.com/surviv...inal-mushroom/

Yesterday while snowshoeing I came upon a fine chaga conk or tinder fungus, known scientifically as the chaga mushroom Inonotus obliquus. The Chaga is such a valuable mushroom for wilderness survival and health I wanted to introduce Survival Topics readers to some of the ways in which it can be identified and used to help keep yourself in optimum health.

Where Chaga Grows
Siberians and other northern peoples in Asia, Europe, and North America for centuries have highly prized chaga for its great medicinal and curative powers. Those of us who know its value seek it out when traveling in the northern forest.
Chaga is a parasitic carpophore that enters a wound on a mature tree, usually birch. The chaga grows under the bark and erupts into a grotesque black charcoal-like conk on the tree trunk; hence the Latin term "Obliquus" in its scientific name.
The Chaga conk grows with the birch tree for five to seven years during which time it absorbs nutrients and phytochemicals from the wood. When the chaga conk flower ripens it falls to the forest floor. Usually the host tree then dies, completing a 20 year cycle.
It is estimated that only about 0.025% of trees, only a few of every ten thousand, will grow a chaga conk. This makes the chaga mushroom somewhat rare even in its prime northern range.

Identifying Chaga Mushrooms

Chaga Conk The Chaga mushroom is a fungi that grows on the wounds of birches. Occasionally chaga is also found on ironwood, elm, alder and beeches but both paper birch and yellow birch seems to be its favorite.
This Chaga tinder fungus I found while snowshoeing yesterday is growing on a large yellow-birch tree that had been damaged years ago during logging operations. The outside of this easy to identify mushroom somewhat resembles the charred remains of burnt wood, being black and crumbly.
Of irregular shape, the inside of a chaga is the color of rusted iron or yellowish with white or cream colored veins. It is corky of texture and tends to become lighter in color closest to the tree. You can see the colors in third picture where I have pulled the chaga off the yellow birch tree using my tomahawk.
Chaga is known as a polypore fungus, which means it has pores instead of gills. The chaga mushroom does not hold a great deal of water as does other types of mushrooms. As the chaga conk grows its outside dries out, turns black, and cracks. I have seen large Chagas well over three feet (one meter) in length and one foot (.33 meter) thick.

The chaga mushroom is commonly known as the true “tinder fungus” for its use in building fires. In fact, chaga is the true tinder fungus, as opposed to the false tinder fungus which is shelf-like in shape and does not crumble.

Wilderness Medicinal Mushroom
Fire making aside, the chaga mushroom is also well known for its huge load of immune stimulating phytochemicals and betulin that can be consumed as a tea. Some of these compounds are derived from the birch tree and bark it consumes and concentrates in its flesh.
The chaga fungus has some of the highest amounts of anti-oxidants of any substance consumed by man. Siberian folk medicine and modern uses of a tea made from Chaga fungus include:

• boosting the immune system
• treating stomach diseases
• Intestinal worms
• Liver and heart ailments
• Cancers including those of the breast, liver, uterine, and gastric
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• anti-tumor activity
• The active compound inotodiol which works against influenza A and B viruses and cancer cells.
• Activity against HIV-1
• As an anti-inflammatory

Some experts claim the Chaga is the best anti-cancer mushroom of all.
Properties and Ingredients of Chaga include:

• Polysaccharides that enhance the immune system; treat cancer, live, HIV virus and other bacterial and viral infections.
• Betulinic acid to counter viral infections and tumors
• Triterpenes to lower cholesterol, improve circulation, detoxify the liver, treat hepatitis, bronchitis, asthma, and coughs.
• Germanium (a free-radical scavenger) to cleanse the blood, normalize blood pressure, and prevent tumors.
• Other nucleosides, phytonutrients, minerals, and amino acids including saponin, magnesium, chromium, iron, kalium, beta-glucan, inotodiol, isoprenoid, and others.

How to Make Chaga Tea

Harvesting Chaga
“He could not imagine any greater joy than to go away into the woods for months on end, to break off this chaga, crumble it, boil it up on a campfire, drink it and get well like an animal. To walk through the forest for months, to know no other care than to get better! Just as a dog goes to search for some mysterious grass that will save him…”
—From Cancer Ward by Alexander Solzhenitsyn”

Some northern peoples are said to drink Chaga tea on a regular basis as Westerners do coffee and suffer very low cancer rates because of it. Chaga is a bit on the bitter side, rather like coffee, and cork-like in texture.

When I come upon chaga in the forest I am apt to brake off a bit to chew on, and am sure to pack some away for use at home. With an item from nature’s free pharmacy that is this valuable to my health I make sure my chaga stocks are always full and take an extra hit when the opportunity presents itself. I don’t mind chewing on a bit of cork-like chaga conk since it is giving me a great boost of immune stimulating phytochemicals.

Russian Chaga Tea
This is perhaps the most written about method of making tea from chaga mushrooms:

1. Shred the inner part of the Chaga mushroom.
2. Soften in cold water for four hours.
3. Filter with a coffee filter and save the liquid and the softened Chaga separately.
4. Pour water heated to a temperature of about 50C (122F) over the softened chaga in a ratio of 5-parts water to 1-part fungus.
5. Let stand at room temperature for 48-hours.
6. Filter the new mixture and add this water to that prepared in step 3.
7. Use this batch within four days, drinking 3-glasses at eight hour intervals each day. After four days make a new batch of chaga tea.

Mushroom Hunters Chaga Method
Vladimir of Mushroom Hunter dot net uses this method, which also shows you how to store chaga for extended periods:

1. Remove the outer black part of the chaga using a chisel. It may help if you leave the chaga attached to the tree while you do this.
2. Cut the clean chaga into 1-inch cubes.
3. Dry the chaga cubes in a dehydrator at about 105 F.
4. When completely dry put the cubes in an air-tight container where they can be stored for years.

To use the chaga

1. Bring two gallons (8 liters) of water to a boil.
2. Let the water cool until you can touch the pot without it burning your hand.
3. Put 3 or 4 handfuls of the chaga into the water.
4. Cover the pot and let stand for 48-hours.
5. Strain the liquid and store in a refrigerator.
6. The cubes can be used at least two additional times.

According to the Mushroom Hunter some people say boiling the chaga releases additional cancer fighting ingredients so he as a last step he boils the cubes to obtain the last bit of goodness.

This wasn't quite the whole article, so read more at the link:

http://www.survivaltopics.com/surviv...inal-mushroom/

[Islander]

That was fascinating! I live in a part of the world where the chaga might be found. I'll be on the lookout next time I walk in the woods!

[Stoneharbor]

I was hoping you'd be the first of this group to find/try one! Glad you are enthused. I hear they are in North Carolina also. Now I must find what kind of tree, as I often hike there, and doubt there are many birch trees there.

An added morsel: From a YouTube I watched on collecting and curing (actually several) I learned that drying may be necessary to prevent mold, but it can cause some powdering I think, so a solution is to just get the 1 inch chunks and freeze them, pulling out 1 chunk at a time from the freezer bag. May save some time and energy.

YouTube: Gathering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l6uT...eature=related
Decoction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryfB6...eature=related

[Reesacat]

Stoneharbor-that is absolutely fascinating. When I lived and worked in a small coal-mining town in Richwood WV in the 1970's many of the folk had grown up in the woods and had Cherokee ancestors that had taught them about mushrooms. They gathered the wild mushrooms and greens (especially ramps). Now ultra-hip foodies paying through the eyeballs for the same things!

[Stoneharbor]

Just found this on the ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) value of chaga:

http://www.oracvalues.com/forum/thre...el-of-them-all

Its way up there ahead of acai, rose hips, raspberries and ginger.

[Reesacat]

Ahh, chicken soup with shiitakes.......that is about the closest I'm going to get to chaga!

[Islander]

Well, I gather rose hips in season, and I juice parsley and ginger root (and use them both in cooking, natch) but the odds of getting close to anything else on that chart are miniscule. My best friend has also read about chagas and we may go looking for them this fall. I no longer own my woodlot...but I do have a white birch on my front lawn that I'm keeping an eye on!

I have scored shiitakes, portabellas and chanterelles, as well as the common-or-garden supermarket variety, for half price on the produce markdown table. Dried, of course they last. Fresh, here's what I do: dice them, sauté them in butter until most of the juice has been extracted and reduced, then freeze them in one-cup containers. That way they are ready to drop into soups, stews or whatever. I sometimes slice the fresh ones into salads too, or sauté them to spread over a grass-fed hamburger. Can never have too many mushrooms!

[mellowsong]

I hate mushrooms...I think more texture than anything. Now I'm rethinking this and wondering if I can convince myself to add some to my diet. Of course around here, finding more than just plain ol' button mushrooms is probably asking too much!