“Eat mushrooms and you live longer! “, recommends Prof. Jan Lelley, professor of mycology at the University of Bonn. In his books, he presents a whole range of mushrooms that, in addition to enriching the menu, are said to develop amazing healing effects for various diseases. Mushrooms have always played an important role in folk medicine and have also been used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Now science is also becoming increasingly interested in the medicinal effects of mushrooms. How healthy mushroom varieties such as mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and Co. are, you will learn in the following.
Mycotherapy – mushroom medicine
Meanwhile, many scientists have become aware of the possibility of “mushroom medicine”. Prof. Lelley has even coined the term “mycotherapy” analogous to the herbal medicine called “phytotherapy“. Some of the mushrooms with the strongest healing effects are quite tough and therefore inedible varieties that have to be ground into powder in order to be ingested. Others, however, such as the mushroom, the oyster mushroom or the shiitake, are among the most sought-after edible mushrooms of all.
Mushrooms: healthy effect
Quite apart from their healing powers, experts recommend eating porcini and chanterelle, chestnuts, birch mushroom and edible bolete, hollyhock, pearl mushroom and butter fungus for many health reasons. Mushrooms are very low in calories and they contain different carbohydrates than plants: no starch, but mannitol, a type of sugar especially suitable for diabetics, which was originally discovered in manna. Mushrooms regulate digestion due to their fiber content and they provide valuable minerals and vitamins. Their health benefits are also said to be due to various secondary plant compounds. In addition, certain types of mushrooms are said to have special effects. For example, the Chinese morel Mu-Err, called Judas ear in our country, is said to stimulate the immune system and normalize excessive blood lipid levels.
Shiny lacquer porling
Inedible as an edible mushroom, the woody hard Glossy Lackporling (Reishi mushroom) has been considered an elixir for immortality in China for 4,000 years. Powders and extracts of the lacquer mushroom are said to lower blood pressure, activate the immune system, prevent inflammation, combat altitude sickness in the mountains, and be good for bronchitis, diabetes, and muscle cramps. Even in cancer therapy, the mushroom has been the subject of research. An anti-allergic effect in hay fever and certain food allergies is also attributed to the mushroom, because it is said to suppress the release of the neurotransmitter histamine, which is responsible for allergy symptoms.
Oyster Mushrooms
Oyster mushroom is cultivated for commercial use, but also grows in deciduous and mixed forests and parks on tree stumps and woody debris. It is said to have a strong cholesterol-lowering effect in particular. Extracts have been successfully used in Japan against various tumors. And Russian researchers have extracted an antibiotic called pleurotin from oyster mushrooms.
Mushroom as a well-known edible fungus
It is our most important and well-known cultivated edible mushroom. However, it is largely unknown that it is supposed to have a blood pressure lowering effect thanks to its active ingredient tyrosinase. Chinese healers recommend that young mothers eat mushrooms frequently to stimulate milk production for the baby. Finally, mushroom extracts have also been successfully used in animal experiments to treat connective tissue tumors (sarcomas).
The Halli’s mushroom
A pest to foresters that can kill trees, but it could serve as a medicine for cardiovascular disease: The parasitic fungus, which not everyone tolerates well, however, contains a number of active substances that can promote blood flow and oxygen supply to the organism. It is said to fight germs such as the pus pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and triggers meningitis. In China, hallimash tablets are made to strengthen the lungs and digestive organs.
Giant puffball: known as a civil servant’s cutlet.
20 to 50 centimeters in diameter, he has. And he can bring it up to 20 kilograms in weight. Young and white, it is considered a productive edible mushroom from which to fry cutlets, which earned it the nickname “Beamtenschnitzel” in the past. With its ingredients, the giant puffball is said to be able to help against anemia, chronic inflammation of the digestive organs and cystitis.Homeopathic preparations are used to treat bleeding after surgery, especially nosebleeds.
The Schopttintling
This white, finger-shaped fungus, which likes to grow in well-fertilized pastures, is a delicate fellow. It can be cultivated but hardly marketed, as it dissolves into an inky black liquid within a few days when warm. As an edible mushroom, connoisseurs have already put it on a par with the porcini, the emperor mushroom and the edible morel. And as a medicinal mushroom, it may have a career ahead of it as a diabetic drug, because it could lower blood sugar in the long term. However, it should never be enjoyed together with alcohol.
Shiitake mushrooms
The shiitake mushroom is certainly the most medicinal mushroom, and its distinctive, almost garlicky taste characterizes every shiitake dish. In Japan, it is recommended for normalizing blood pressure, against stomach ulcers, gout, constipation, neuralgia and as a brake on aging. Its effects against colds have been confirmed in scientific studies. Its possible protective effect against influenza virus A (influenza) has been investigated in various studies. In type 2 diabetics, it could increase insulin production. In addition, according to study results, it can lower cholesterol levels and is also thought to slow tumor growth. From the mushroom and its mycelium, researchers extracted the tumor drug Lentinan, which is now approved in Japan in combination with chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of stomach cancer. But whether the shiitake mushroom can be safely tried as a medicine is controversial. This is because, in very rare cases, severe skin rashes that last for weeks can occur after eating the mushroom, also known as shiitake dermatitis. Respiratory problems and gastrointestinal problems can also be the result, as the German Cancer Research Center warns. In doing so, it is following a warning issued by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment back in 2004.
Two-pored Egerling
The effect of the two-pored Egerling (also known as cultivated mushroom or Portobello) in relation to breast cancer was investigated in a 2006 study from California. The researchers found that the mushroom extract can interfere with the metabolism of aromatase – an enzyme that helps the body produce estrogen. The estrogen, in turn, is needed by breast cancer to grow.
Medicinal mushrooms as drugs?
More and more positive health effects of mushrooms are discovered and more and more products with vital mushrooms, capsules with mushroom extract or other products made from supposed medicinal mushrooms enter the market. One should make itself conscious however that such means in Germany are not certified as medicaments and may not be also accordingly recruited. Many of the presumed effects were proven so far only in the laboratory or in animal experiments. Even if the effect of the mushrooms is examined in the last years increasingly, the current state of knowledge is still very incomplete. Whether the mushrooms have the same effect on humans as they do on mice and whether they can really be used to treat or prevent diseases can therefore not yet be said with certainty. Therefore, mushrooms should not replace therapy under any circumstances. In addition, taking vital mushroom products can also cause serious side effects. Because it showed up that some of the alleged welfare mushroom products were contaminated with mold fungus poisons or heavy metals. It is therefore advisable to consult a doctor before using vital mushroom products. So while experts warn against buying vital mushroom products, there is nothing wrong with eating fresh edible mushrooms from a health perspective.
