Mushrooms not just good, they're good for you
Over the past decade, the use of mushrooms as a food as well as a dietary supplement has increased.
Mushrooms contain a number of compounds that have a positive effect on the immune system and overall health and may be beneficial for the treatment and prevention of cancer. However, there may be substantial differences in the effectiveness of mushroom products on the market based upon how they are prepared.
Mushrooms are actually part of a larger group called fungi. What we normally consider the mushroom is actually the fruit of the fungi itself. The main part of the fungi lives underground.
The largest living organism in the world is believed to be one single fungi organism growing underground in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon. It is so large it covers more than six square miles of forest.
Fungi defend themselves from bacteria and other pathogens through a sophisticated immune system. One way they protect themselves is through the production of large sugars called polysaccharides. The same polysaccharides that help them to fight bacteria are beneficial to humans also.
One of the ways that our cells communicate with each other is through a complex recognition system involving polysaccharides. Under times of illness, the immune system produces polysaccharides that can mobilize its disease-fighting cells. For example, polysaccharides are known to robustly activate cancer-killing immune cells called NK cells.
Fungi have been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Historically, fungi-based medicines are prepared through hot water extraction, the method believed to result in the highest concentration of active polysaccharides. The majority of fungi-based medical research also uses hot water-extracted polysaccharides. Unfortunately, most mushroom supplements available in this country do not use hot water extraction. The makers simply grind up the mushroom or use an alcohol extraction called a tincture.
The cell walls of mushrooms are made up of a substance called chitin and that is where the active polysaccharides are located. Chitin is a very hard, indigestible substance. It is what makes lobster shells so strong.
Simple grinding of mushrooms does not release the polysaccharides; it simply makes smaller pieces of chitin and some feel that the grinding process may actually damage the active polysaccharides.
Unfortunately, most of the commercially available mushroom preparations are either ground-up mushroom or alcohol extracted. It is unlikely that either of these methods provides the same amount of bioactive polysaccharides as hot water-extraction method.
I am a believer in the health benefits of mushrooms. I often recommend them to my patients and the current data indicates that hot water extraction is the best way to go. In my research for this article, I was consistently referred by experts to one company in Oregon, MushroomScience, offering a variety of hot water extracted mushroom preparations.
• Patrick B. Massey M.D, Ph.D. is medical director of complementary and alternative medicine for Alexian Brothers Hospital Network.