Reishi mushroom
Ganoderma lucidum as it the Latin name for the mushroom commonly known in the west as Reishi, originatingfrom its Japanese name. It has been called the “spirit mushroom” and “mushroom of immortality”, due to its believed effect known in the beginning of its use. This is a mushroom that was naturally found to grow on trees, but nowadays it is very hard to find in the wild. Since the health benefits of this mushroom have been researched, and since this mushroom in the nature was getting harder to reach, the cultivation has started and it is mainly conducted on wood logs or sawdust, but also it can be cultivated in liquid media. Best base for its cultivation is 80% oak, 18% wheat and Ca CO3. Time is one of the biggest investments when cultivating Reishi because the period of incubation is almost 6 months long, sometime even 2 years. The body is 0.8-13 inches wide and 1.6-31 inches thick. This mushroom can be white, black, blue, yellow and purple, and has bitter woody taste or a bit umami taste. That is why this mushroom is most commonly used for tea preparation, although cultured mycelium doesn’t have bitter taste and is very often sold as a powder.
Most potent components in this plant are its polysaccharides and triterpenoides. Beta glucan is the main polysaccharide, found to increase bodily resistance against growth of tumors, it kills the tumor cells in the body and enhances the immune system (Jong and Birmingham, 1992). Triterpenoids are the largest group of phytochemicals, and in this mushroom they are the ones that give a bitter taste and have hepatoprotective, anti-hypertensive, hypocholesterolemic, anti-histaminic effects, anti-tumor activity, and effects on platelet aggregation and other effects (Boh et al., 2007).
In traditional medicine Reishi mushroom was used for asthma, gastric ulcers, insomnia, arthritis, bronchitis and as a stress relief food (Halpern, 2007). Many studies have been conducted that show the beneficial effect of this mushroom in different health condition, and some of them will be further mentioned to better understand all the beneficial effect that this mushroom has.
Some dietary fibers (polysaccharides) promote absorptive effect, thus absorbing the toxic compounds in the body, and as addition they also promote laxative effect. In this way they show its preventive action effect against colorectal cancer. One very particularly interesting information is that this mushroom has tendency to accumulate germanium, a well-known component for its cancer fighting properties. The treatment of cancer patients with Reishi mushrooms was found to modulate and activate immune reaction of the organism, it has direct cytotoxic activity on malignant cells, deactivation on carcinogenic compounds, protection of the cell in the organism and other mechanisms. Treatment with Ganoderma lucidum on cancer patients as a complement on conventional cancer therapies has contributed to better anti-tumor response of the organism, better symptomatology after chemotherapy, and better life quality (FP UKIM, 2014).
Based on in vitro evidence and clinical trials on patients with coronary heart disease using polysaccharide extract of Reishi, improvements of primary symptoms were noted. The chest pain was lower, palpitations, lowering of the abnormal appearance of electrocardiogram, lowering of the blood pressure, LDL but elevation of HDL, and lower triglycerides (FP UKIM, 2014). In a placebo controlled study on healthy well-nourished human subjects during 4 weeks it was found that this mushroom has antioxidant power, it lowers the risk factor of coronary heart and has not shown any toxicity (Wachtel-Galor, 2004).
Beneficial effect at patients suffering from Diabetes mellitus was noted at human studies when the polysaccharide extract form this mushroom was used. Then lower level of glucose in the plasma was noted, improvement of clinical symptoms and lower glycosylated hemoglobin.
Reishi may help lower the pain at patients with rheumatoid arthritis, when used in combination with other herbs. In conducted in vitro study there were some evidence that indicate lowering of the level of hepatitis B virus, at patients with chronically hepatitis B. In clinical study conducted for evaluation of Reishi mushroom at nephrontoxic patients with proteinuria resistant to steroid, after the treatment the level of proteinuria was lowered. One of the most exciting findings is the imunoenhancing effect and virus inhibiting effect of Ganoderma lucidum at HIV infection. Also water soluble extract of Reishi was found to have protective effect of DNA from oxidative stress. One very interesting effect that this mushroom has is in treatment of patients with Neurasthenia or commonly called Americanitis, a state of depressed mood, fatigue, neuralgia and similar symptoms, where use of this mushroom has elevated the sleep quality, enhanced their energy, the appetite, body weight, and the headache is eliminated (FP UKIM, 2014).
Reishi Mushrooms Fruits
FRUITS
Fruits are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, but low in fat and sodium. As fresh fruits are mainly consisted of water, generally they carry low calorie load meaning that in combination with other wisely chosen foods the total daily calorie intake may be lower. Dietary fibers that among others are found in fruits may lower the risk of diabetes and obesity, and heart disease. Fruits that have high amount of potassium as bananas, cantaloupe, citrus fruits, etc., may lower the blood pressure, and reduce the risk of developing kidney stones. Overall including fruits in a diet may reduce the risk of heart disease, including heat attack and stroke. They carry many different types of antioxidants and beneficiary phytonutrients, thus have been proven to lower the risk of developing certain types of cancer.
When mentioning fruits as superfoods mainly berries are on the top of the list. They contain many phytonutrients as anthocyanins, carotenoids, ellagic acid, polyphenols, quercetin, but also they are loaded with vitamin C, and other vitamins and minerals. Most commonly mentioned super berries are :
Fruits that contain many beneficial bioactive compounds. Pomegranate has antocyanines and ellagic acid, tropical fruits have beta carotene, bromelain and manganese, papain (Papaya), potassium, vitamin C, etc. Mainly the following fruits are mentioned as super fruits:
They have all shown antioxidant activity as well other fruits like. Acerola, elderberry and pomegranate is said to have immunity enhancing properties. Evaluating phenolic content in 23 different berries and red fruit, it was found that elderberry had the highest amount of total flavonols, then with almost half of this content followed chokeberry, eastern shadbush, blackberry, cranberry and others. Quercetin was found in biggest amount and it was almost in all analyzed berries. But most importantly among same species wild berries had 3 to 5 times higher amount of flavonols that the cultivated ones (Mikulic-Petkovsek, 2012).
FURTHER READINGS
Flavonol: Webster's Timeline History, 1947 - 2007
Fast screening of total flavonols in wines, tea-infusions and tomato juice by flow injection/adsorptive stripping voltammetry