Medicinal mushrooms have been revered for their health properties for thousands of years providing such benefits as immune system enhancement, for cancer, mental function, athletic performance and many others.

Back in the days of the Chinese emperors, some of the best medicinal mushrooms were reserved for the royal family with rumors suggesting that some of the individuals consuming them living for close to 200 years...

That is of course debatable however it indicates the reverence that the Chinese had for medicinal mushrooms - and medicinal mushrooms are certainly used by many progressive Health Care Professionals.

There are many types of medicinal mushrooms, many of which many in the west would be unfamiliar with such as Chaga, Lion's Mane, Turkey Tail and many others.

One that many in the west are familiar with is Reishi mushrooms (typically most people are familiar with Red Reishi: however there are many other types of Reishi mushrooms: white, black and purple).

Research has been coming recently confirming the health benefits of Reishi mushrooms: the recent research has suggested that if Reishi mushrooms are given to mice it will expand their lifespan by 9 - 20 %.


In humans that would add 7 - 16 years onto our lifespan...

 Here is an article from Natural News on the topic

Now of course we cannot make a definitive correlation between the mouse study and humans however it sounds very promising - and exciting.

I have been consuming a number of medicinal mushrooms for a number of years, and I find a definite difference when I take them compared to when I do not.

The other important aspect about Reishi mushrooms is they are adaptogenic:

If you are not familiar with this term, it is a compound that allows a person to deal with both internal and external stress more easily.

Here is a definition of adaptogens: 

I refer to them as the medicinal herb "All Stars" (there are only about 20 in the world: another one you would recognize is ginseng)

Definition of an Adaptogen (from Google)

a substance that invigorates or strengthens the system (also called a tonic). Increases the body's ability to adapt to internal or external stress. is a term that applies to herbs that maintain health by increasing the body's ability to adapt to environmental and internal stress. Adaptogens generally work by strengthening the immune system, nervous system and/or glandular systems. A substance that modifies the metabolism of the body to combat particular forms of environmental stress. herbs that act in a nonspecific way to strengthen the body and increase resistance to disease and stress.

If you would like more information on adaptogens, you can refer to the article I wrote on the topic for the online journal I contribute articles to:

Nutricula: The Science of Longevity Journal

The Reishi mushroom product that I consume is the one that we offer through our company: it is a combination of not only red - but also black white and purple reishi, which all have distinct medicinal properties.

Here is a link in you want more information on it.

The majority of supplements I personally consume are medicinal herbs and other plants: and I certainly consider medicinal mushrooms to be some of the most important ones.

Regards,

Rob

The TRUTH is Out There




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(NaturalNews) Reishi mushrooms, also known as Ganoderma lucidum, have been praised for a very long time by Chinese and Japanese health practitioners. It was always regarded by Eastern royalty as the medicine of immortality. Although the Western world has barely started scratching the surface in regards to its true healing potential, researchers have still accumulated extensive data demonstrating that reishi definitely has life extending properties. Research conducted on laboratory mice showed that reishi was responsible for prolonging their life span by around 9% to 20%, the equivalent being about 7 to 16 human years.

Reishi displays the ability to reinvigorate brain neurons and capture and remove cancer cells. Plus, it inhibits the expansion of new fat cells in individuals suffering from obesity. It possesses dozens of natural bio-active compounds that have the ability to naturally treat a wide array of other harmful conditions or diseases, such as allergies, autoimmune diseases, asthma, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and liver diseases, just to name a few.

Reishi can help better manage age related mechanisms

So what makes it so appealing for your overall health ? It seems that reishi doesn't only target specific areas of the body but rather makes its effects felt on a much broader spectrum. You must remember that there isn't one single cause of aging and disease. There are various factors contributing to poor physical states; so, in order to reverse the undesired physical results, the actions to enhance your health must be global; therefore, you need to focus on a multi-targeted approach. That's precisely why the reishi mushroom is so powerful and useful with its hundreds of biologically active molecules working together in a synergistic way.

Researchers now know that three main components are essential to its anti-aging properties. Its polysaccharides help avoid cancer by boosting the immune system. Its triterpenes protect the liver, lower cholesterol levels and stabilize blood pressure. Its ganoderma lucidum peptide also plays a very important antioxidant role. These key components all provide the best possible protection on a cellular or DNA level.

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% after only 3 hours. Most importantly, no signs of toxicity or side effects were reported at the end of this study.

Reishi or, better yet, ganoderma lucidum can be taken orally mainly through supplements, but it is now also being commercialized and sold as a coffee product. You'll definitely want to make sure about the quality and purity of the product before buying this wonderful gift from life.

Sources for this article include :

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.herbwisdom.com

http://www.lef.org