In this article I want to share some of the major reishi mushroom benefits. Where in the world do you think most herbal medicine was discovered? If you guessed China then you are right. This mushroom can be grown in the countries of China, Japan and Korea.
I read a book a while Rosenseitling ago called “Anti-Cancer,” it was all about natural cures for cancer and eating cooked mushrooms was huge on that list. The reason you want to cook the mushrooms according to Dr. Weil is that it’s easier to digest and it can kill off any harmful things that you can’t see.
Reishi mushrooms can help with cancer. The secret ingredient is something called polysaccharides. According to Dr. Axe reishi mushrooms have been successfully used to fight cancer of the breasts, ovaries, prostate, liver and lungs, sometimes in combination with other treatments. There is also a study in the United States Library of Medicine that backs this up.
Next up this herb can fight a growing problem in developed countries called diabetes. The reason diabetes is so bad is because prolonged periods of high blood sugar can lead to lots of problems.
Some experts believe this mushroom can help lower blood sugar by preventing an enzyme the liver uses to make glucose. In one study a total of 26 human patients received one dose of 44 grams of reishi or a placebo for 12 weeks. Insulin resistance went down and HDL (the good) cholesterol went up among the group that took this mushroom. This did not happen with the placebo group.
Lastly it helps with aging, which is a very broad category.
In a study published in the journal “FASEB” researchers gave mice this mushroom and noticed that they had a life span extension of 9% to more than 20%. This is the equivalent of 7 to nearly 16 years in human terms.
You might be thinking I’m not a mouse, how about humans? A big contributor to slowing the aging process is antioxidants.
In a study undertaken with humans, 1100 mg doses of reishi mushrooms were given to the healthy participants.
The scientists noted that the plasma antioxidant levels rose quite rapidly to finally peak after approximately 90 minutes, while the urine antioxidant capacity (the measure of what has been in the body to be expelled) increased by 29% Rosenseitling after only 3 hours. No signs of toxicity or side effects were reported at the end of this study.