Medicinal mushrooms

Mushrooms have been used as medicines by humans for 5,000 years or more. This article deals with five healing mushrooms: maitake, reishi/lingzhi, shiitake, Cordyceps sinensis, and Trametes versicolor [yunzhi]. Many claims are made for medicinal mushrooms. Out of sheer enthusiasm and/or for commercial motives, authors make exaggerated claims. No medicinal mushroom is a cure-all and no mushroom can make the body unassailable to disease. What mushrooms can do is stimulate the immune response, and/or the functions of the body that are already in place for preventing and fighting disease. Maitake is a culinary mushroom that lowers cholesterol, normalizes blood pressure, curbs appetite and helps against diabetes; shiitake, a delicious culinary mushroom, may help prevent AIDS; reishi/lingzhi, the "mushroom of immortality", has antitumor and antioxidant effects. Cordyceps sinensis is anti-aging and stamina-building, as well at anti-diabetic, and lowers cholesterol. Trametes versicolor, from which Krestin and PSP, anticancer drugs, are derived is being used clinically. These are fascinating providers of health benefits for patients with chronic conditions, and should help a growing aging population without side-effects or obscene pricing.