These days everyone could use a little Fungi in their life. Mushrooms are vital in their function in everything from balancing ecosystems to providing a wide range and unique profile of active compounds to your medicine cabinet. One of my absolute favorites, Reishi or known as Ganoderma Lucidum has been used in chinese medicine for thousands of years. It’s even called “Lingzhi” which translates into divine mushroom or mushroom of immortality. This fungi and many others offer interesting immune, brain, energy benefits, and aid in increasing the biodiversity of our ecosystems.
When it comes to modulating your immune system, Reishi is my top choice due to its effects on the body's cells by:
“promoting proliferation and differentiation of immune precursor cells to effector cells.” (LIN, ZHANG Par. 3 ) as well as
“the water extract and polysaccharides exhibited significant anti tumor activity in tumor-bearing animals mainly through its immunoenhancing activity.” (LIN, ZHANG Par. 4)
In short and simplicity just Reishi alone contains valuable compounds that interact with our immune systems to provide support in multiple areas of our bodies by modulating it by keeping it from under/overreacting and allowing for a better state of homeostasis. While Ganoderma is amazing for everything immune, when it comes to keeping my mind sharp I choose Lion’s mane for it’s exclusive nootropic (brain enhancing) support.
For the longest time alzheimers and dementia have seemed like a permanent end of life sentence that some have to endure, but thanks to lion’s mane that may be no longer. On top of the ability to create neurogenesis in the brain (Lai, Naidu Par. 1) which is defined as the formation of new neural pathways. This allows for more connections, it battles the amyloid plaques that build up and remove the protective sheath called myelin on the brain's neurons.(Zhang, An, Wu Par 1 )
When the plaques are left unchecked and form this is what causes these disorders, quite literally preventing your brain from firing signals to and fro. I even cultivate my own Lion’s Mane because I favor not only it’s medicinal properties, but also it’s delicious texture and flavor that could almost be described as ‘mild seafood.’ I believe that mushrooms are vital to our ecosystems in so many ways. It’s important people like Paul Stamets exist to help bring them to all.
The wonderful medicinal qualities that all these mushrooms have to offer are easily available to anyone because of people like Stamets that have dedicated their entire life to Fungi. Paul has many TED talks, Youtube videos, and even a website called www.fungi.com that anyone can go to and learn more about his work. He and many others share the importance of preserving one of the most important lifeforms that gives us and nature life in so many ways.
You may be wondering where you can get your hands on some mushrooms. If so look no further than your local MaMa Jean's Wellness Department. Head over and talk to any of us or even me (Laine) at the Sunshine location to find out what a little fungi can do for YOU!
This article was written by Laine, one of our awesome Jeaners from the Wellness team! An avid naturalist, Laine has his green thumb stuck into anything and everything in the plant world. He strives to help repair the damage done to our ecosystems through working with fungi and populating the world as well as people's lives with mushrooms, herbs, and the bounty that our Earth has to offer.
Sources:
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Peking University. “Anti-Tumor and Immunoregulatory Activities of Ganoderma Lucidum and Its Possible Mechanisms.” Research Gate, Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, 25 Nov. 2004, www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhi_Bin_Lin/publication/8196043_Anti-tumor_and_immunoregulatory_activities_Ganoderma_lucidum_and_its_possible_mechanisms/links/568f1a6208aead3f42f0822e/Anti-tumor-and-immunoregulatory-activities-Ganoderma-lucidum-and-its-possible-mechanisms.pdf.
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Lai PL;Naidu M;Sabaratnam V;Wong KH;David RP;Kuppusamy UR;Abdullah N;Malek SN; “Neurotrophic Properties of the Lion's Mane Medicinal Mushroom, Hericium Erinaceus (Higher Basidiomycetes) from Malaysia.” International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2013, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24266378/.
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Zhang, Junrong, et al. “The Neuroprotective Properties of Hericium Erinaceus in Glutamate-Damaged Differentiated PC12 Cells and an Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model.” International Journal of Molecular Sciences, MDPI, 1 Nov. 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5133811/.
