Medicinal Mushrooms
Medicinal mushrooms have important health benefits and exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities, including antiallergic, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiviral, cytotoxic, immunomodulating, antidepressive, antihyperlipidemic, antidiabetic, digestive, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, nephroprotective, osteoprotective, and hypotensive activities. Their use for promoting and maintaining a good state of health and the treatment of diseases has been around since ancient times in Asian regions, while in the West, this approach is considerably more recent.
These activities are attributable to many bioactive metabolites known as polysaccharides, present in the mycelium but above all in the fruiting body. The best known and most abundant are α- and β-glucans. Another class of compounds that are very important for their bioactivity are the terpenes. They modulate the immune system by stimulating the expression of genes coding for proteins involved in the immune response.
Not all mushroom products are created equally;
Bioavailability; the active ingredients must be extracted to guarantee and optimize therapeutic potential. The extraction method may vary depending on the species. For example Reishi and Chaga are the only ones that benefit from a dual extraction method (alcohol/hot water). With Lions Mane alcohol extraction is best. All other species benefit from a hot water extraction.
When choosing a brand you should look for what is in the product (bio-actives such as beta-glucan, cordycepin and triterpenes. These should be specified/guaranteed on the official label) AND what is not in the product (heavy metals, fillers, additives).
Most brands conveniently omit these on the labelling and provide no quality control. If there are no details on the label and no third party test report steer clear. No vendor would ever leave out good test results. Listing percentages of the main bio-active compound(s) makes it easy to judge the quality and to determine the value for money.
Formulation; Many people assume tinctures are also a good choice. In a tincture the alcohol is still present and dissolved in the alcohol are the ingredients we are after. Those dissolved ingredients in general add up to roughly 5% of the total content. The rest is useless alcohol (and maybe some other liquid). For example a 30ml bottle would contain on average ~1gm of dissolved alcohol soluble mushroom ingredients. This would be in comparison to an extracted powdered form which can be bought in 100g quantities.
Blends; A number of products will offer ‘blends’ of multiple mushrooms. The thought being 'you get a lot of mushrooms for the price of only one’. This is not correct. You will only notice the shared/overlapping effects (immune support), but not the mushroom-specific effects. Most individual mushrooms in a blend are going to be under-dosed for their specific action.
If you are interested in what mushrooms can do for your pets, or what conditions can be treated specifically using mushrooms please get in contact with us for a consultation.
