Mushrooms heal

Mushrooms are one of the first forms of life and their job in the ecosystem is to recycle organic materials. Whatever their host material is that they live off, they break down its complex molecules into simple forms. This results in many unique compounds, which are also easy for our bodies to absorb. In the case of most medicinal mushrooms, with some notable exceptions like cordyceps, they are tree mushrooms. They break down the largest living entities on the planet into simple compounds and those compounds are adaptogenic. That means that our bodies can use them very easily and for whatever our needs might be.

Almost 50% of the pharmaceutical drugs in existence, were developed initially from mushrooms and fungi and then synthetically isolated. But that is not the most effective way to get all the benefits from medicinal mushrooms. Studies have shown that the first way that certain mushrooms impact our health is that they are immune system modulators. They basically help support our systems, so that our body does the work and works smarter and better. Since the immune system is so closely tied to our digestive system, the compounds from mushrooms are directly available through the gut and can quickly improve our health as soon as they are digested and absorbed.

In order for mushrooms to be beneficial, they must eat well also. Studies have also shown that mycelium grown in a lab on grain, has very low levels of the desired compounds, when compared to fruiting bodies that grow on the actual host or raw materials they naturally come from. This only makes sense. If we eat nothing but empty carbs and we don’t get a complete diet with all sources of nutrition, our body suffers. The same goes for mushrooms. Thus, where your mushrooms come from is the first major factor in whether you’re getting all the nutrition you expect and need.

I want you to understand the extraction process. Most edible mushrooms are soft and chewy and their nutrition can be easily absorbed by our digestive system. But medicinal mushrooms are usually hard and comprised of chitin, a fibrous material that our systems cannot process and that can lodge in our gut. Thus, to release the beneficial compounds from the chitin, the mushrooms must be extracted. Some of those compounds can be extracted with water and some of them require a lipid solvent, like oils, ethanol or sugar alcohols. A complete extraction process requires both.

Some of those compounds are also sensitive to heat and can be destroyed by high heat and some require high heat to be released. Some of them can also be destroyed by certain solvents. So the only way to get a complete full spectrum of all the beneficial compounds, is with a multi-stage process that takes all these factors into account.

My friends at Chagit have done just that! I am so excited to share this company with you. They designed a process that results in a liquid extraction which holds all those compounds in a stable form, without destroying any of them during the process. Liquid is superior to powder, because every extraction starts as a liquid and then loses potency when it is dried into a powder. Freeze drying is the most gentle, but even freeze dried powder loses 5-7% of its potency. High temperature processing like spray drying can destroy up to 40% of the potency, including all the heat-sensitive compounds.

Something that sets Chagit apart, in my personal opinion, and makes them superior to any other mushroom brand, is a combination of those 2 factors listed above. They source only fruiting body mushrooms, from their natural environment, so they have a complete set of beneficial compounds. In the case of the mushroom chaga, they source it from Alaska, the purest and most potent place on Earth. Then, they use a 5-stage, multi-solvent, clean ingredient extraction process that ensures the highest possible level of those compounds is extracted from the mushrooms and other roots or herbs that they use for their blends. Quality is their top priority and because they control the entire supply chain and manufacturing, they have been able to keep their products very affordable.

The way that adaptogens, especially medicinal mushrooms work, is that they support certain systems within the body. Most of the studies show that those individual mushrooms are also beneficial in regards to cancer of those same systems and organs by inducing apoptosis of aberrant or malign cellular growth in those systems.

Simply put, if it doesn’t belong in your body, the mushroom helps your body recognize that and eliminate it. The vast majority of those studies have been in vitro, on cell cultures, because the cost of in vivo, human double-blind trials is extremely prohibitive and usually reserved for pharmaceutical companies. It is not in their interest to develop drugs that are a full-spectrum botanical extract, as they cannot be patented. However, full spectrum extracts of mushrooms are exactly what have been shown to be most effective and this is what you are getting from Chagit. This is the only brand of mushroom that I trust for myself and my husband who is fighting cancer.

The following mushrooms have been shown in studies to help with the following bodily systems and the cancers of those systems.

Chaga - digestive (including liver, stomach, gall bladder and colo-rectal), immune system (including lymphatic), skin, metastatic cancer inhibition
Lion’s Mane - Nervous system, brain
Reishi - Hormonal (including thyroid), lung, prostate, blood
Cordyceps - lung, blood, cardiovascular
Turkey tail - breast, colon
Maitake - breast, digestive
Coprinus Comatus - brain
Shiitake - gastic, prostate, uterine

This list is by no means comprehensive and studies are ongoing across the globe, but as a general guideline these are the most commonly used and beneficial medicinal mushrooms, that can be used as part of a cancer fighting program.

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