The Medical Magic of Mushrooms

Many wild mushrooms contain potent compounds for treating diseases like cancer,
diabetes, high blood pressure and even HIV.
Dawn in Telluride, Colorado is pretty chilly, even in the dog days of August. But the cold doesn't
matter much to me. I'm up to go mushroom hunting and my excitement is more than the morning
can cool.
It's my first time heading into the woods to gather wild mushrooms, especially ones I plan to eat.
But I'm not here to set off on some vision uest or to !ecome a candidate for a "idney transplant.
Instead it's the seventeenth annual Telluride #ushroom $estival and guiding my initiation into the
world of mycology are a couple hundred !iologists, nature photographers and amateur mushroom
fans from around the country. They've come together for the wee"end to see old friends, swap
mushroom news and en%oy the flavors of &oc"y #ountain earth pac"aged in the !right orange
folds of chanterelles or the mus"y aroma of matsuta"es. The festival is more than foraging
through mountain meadows for fungal delights. It hosts a series of wor"shops on the many facets
of interplay !etween mushrooms and human !eings. 'ne of the most popular wor"shops is on
medicinal mushrooms. &ecogni(ing mushrooms as powerful medicinals isn't such a leap from
recogni(ing them as food. Indeed, mushrooms are a !ridge !etween natural healing and the
world of gourmet coo"ing.
)The line !etween gourmet and medicinal mushrooms has !lurred,) says *aul +tamets, author of
several !oo"s on mushroom cultivation and one of the pillars of the #ushroom $estival. )All
gourmet mushrooms have medicinal !enefits.)
In Asian cuisine the consumption of mushrooms is as much for their medicinal !enefits as for their
taste or texture. This contrasts with the American or ,estern approach to food, where it wasn't
until recently that science confirmed that eating your vegeta!les did indeed prevent diseases. The
fact is that many wild mushrooms from around the world, including -orth America, contain potent
compounds for treating diseases li"e cancer, dia!etes, high cholesterol and !lood pressure, and
even .I/.
0i"ewise, the !iological niche occupied !y mushrooms has put them in competition with !acteria,
resulting in strong anti!iotic defenses that have yet to !e fully understood. According to +tamets,
pharmaceutical companies have largely ignored these compounds, perceiving mushrooms as
foods, and have left the research to scientists in Asia and 1urope. The result has !een a paucity
of American studies !ut an a!undance of reports from scientific communities overseas.
The potency of these chemicals cannot !e ignored. In the -ovem!er, 2334 issue of -utritional
&eview, Dr. &aymond Chang of #emorial +loan56ettering Cancer Center in -ew 7or" wrote that
)it is estimated that approximately 89 percent of the annual 8 million metric tons of cultivated
edi!le mushrooms contain functional nutraceutical or medicinal properties.)
*erhaps the most studied mushroom is the maita"e, or hen5of5the5woods. 7ou'll see them in
some stores: they resem!le a !all of deep shag carpeting. Compounds in maita"e called !eta5
glucans were shown in a 23;3 <apanese study to stimulate immune systems in animals to "ill
cancer cells, stop the growth of tumors, and spur accelerated production of natural "iller cells of
the immune system. It was discovered that when cancer cells were grown in vitro, the maita"e
!eta5glucans didn't wor", !ut rather was most effective as a catalyst for getting the immune
system into high gear.
Another study from 23;3 found that maita"e mushrooms reduced high !lood pressure after
hypertensive rats were fed the mushroom for a!out eight wee"s, while yet another study five
years later reported success using extracts of maita"e mushrooms to reduce !lood glucose levels
in dia!etic mice. In 233=, <apanese researchers reported that !eta5glucan extracted from
maita"es wor"ed to inhi!it .I/ and restrain !reast cancer and recommended that maita"e
extracts !e used with other AID+ drugs.
Broad5capped shiita"e mushrooms, another variety familiar to chefs and medical researchers
ali"e, was first recogni(ed as a potential weapon against .I/ in <apan in the mid5eighties !ut too"
almost ten years to gain recognition here. 'ne compound, lentinan, a "ind of !eta5glucan
extracted from shiita"es, was used !y <apanese oncologists for over twenty years to stem the
growth of malignant tumors.
This same compound got star !illing at the +ixth International Conference on AID+ in 2339, when
reports were pu!lished showing lentinan's a!ility to increase immune system cells. +ince then
lentinan has !een studied in the >.+. for .I/ treatment and is now listed !y the -ational Institute
of .ealth for the enhancement of immune function in .I/ infection.
&eishi mushrooms, "nown as ?anoderma lucidum or varnished wood conch, is !est reserved for
ma"ing tea according to the experts, !ut is no less potent a medicine than the other two. It's often
used in a traditional Chinese medicinal preparation called ling (hi. )0ing (hi) is also the name
researchers gave to a protein extracted from the mushroom in a 2338 study documenting its
a!ility to "eep the immune system from attac"ing transplanted tissues.
Another study that same year demonstrated how ganoderma extracts wor"ed to protect the liver
and actively scavenge for free radicals. <ust last year, the International <ournal of Cancer
pu!lished a study on the anti5tumor and immune5modulating effects of ?anoderma lucidum. 0i"e
the maita"e research, extracts of the mushroom stimulated the immune system to produce a host
of defenses and induced apoptosis or )cell5suicide) among cancer cells.
These three mushrooms represent %ust a sampling of the wide variety of medicinal mushrooms
out there. 'yster mushrooms, matsuta"e, wood ear, varieties you'll see in any upscale grocery
store or restaurant menu, are also in la!s proving their potential for healing.
But this is all old hat for the mycophiles @that's )mushroom lovers)A at the Telluride #ushroom
$estival. They "now mushrooms are powerful gifts of nature and are !usy out there pic"ing them
!y the !ushel to send to the $estival "itchen which produces a spectacular array of dishesB
roasted matsuta"es, hedgehog mushroom stew, penne with shrimp russulas and of course, the
tal" of the festival, &ita's $amous Chanterelle +trudel. At $estival's end, chatter a!out medicinals
and immunomodulation su!sides in favor of a glass of wine and a sampling of the mushroom
spread and crostini. )There's a lot more people this year) says one veteran reveler, )I guess more
people are getting turned on to mushrooms.)