Shiitake - A well-studied medicinal mushrooms, in Asia it is called "Imperial mushroom" for its outstanding medicinal properties.
Shiitake is a Japanese name derived from take, "mushroom," and shii, a type of chestnut tree (Castanopsis cuspidata) that mushrooms commonly grow on in Japan. In the forests of China and Japan, shiitake still grows wild on many other tree species, including alder, maple, oak, walnut, and ebony. When fresh, it has the color of a young deer covered with light spots. When dried, the mushroom cap looks like cracked old skin.
For thousands of years, Shiitake has been known in Japan and China for its nutritional and medicinal value. According to the archives, in 199 A.D. the local Kiusuyu tribe offered the Shiitake mushroom to the Japanese emperor Chuai as a universal remedy. In China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), shiitake was officially recognized as a medicinal product and members of the Japanese imperial court considered it a means for longevity and vigilantly guarded the areas where mushrooms grew from prying eyes. It is known from history that the emperors of China took broths of Shiitake in large quantities to start slow aging... Today Shiitake holds an honorable place in Chinese Folk Medicine. In Japan, as in China, where for centuries the best food was the prerogative of the royal family, Shiitake was called the "king" or "monarch of mushrooms", thus paying tribute to the excellent medicinal qualities of this mushroom.
The reputation of the shiitake as a highly valuable medicinal mushroom was promoted by the British botanist Miles Joseph Berkeley (1803-1889). He described it, gave the official name Lentinus edodes (Latin edodes - edible) and studied its medicinal properties.
Shiitake has been cultivated in China since the 1940th century. Today there are reliable methods that allow shiitake to be grown industrially. Shiitake is cultivated in two ways: in the first case, when it is necessary to grow a mushroom for the food industry, enriched sawdust or rice husks are used, and for the medical industry, the traditional slow method of obtaining high-quality raw material for medicine is used - grafting hardwood logs. In the past, Shiitake cultivation methods have been labor intensive and have inconsistent results. Basically, they consisted of rubbing the cuts made on the logs with the mushroom itself. In XNUMX, a professor at Kyoto University, Kisaku Mori, invented a new method of growing a mushroom that makes it possible to reproduce wild shiitake while preserving all its medicinal properties. The mycelium of the fungus was placed in the holes of the log, after which it was sealed with wax. Strong blows were applied to the log with a club for better penetration of the mycelium into the wood. After a year or two, at the appropriate temperature and humidity, it was possible to harvest mushrooms twice a year.
In the XIV century, the famous Chinese physician Wu Rui wrote about the benefits of shiitake in the treatment of various forms of malignant neoplasms. This fact was used to initiate fundamental research into the properties of shiitake in 1969 by Dr. Tetsuro Ikekawa at Purdue University in Tokyo - the Japanese equivalent of the US National Cancer Institute. Having revealed a great antitumor activity, Ikekawa isolated an active antitumor component - a hitherto unknown substance - a polysaccharide, which he named "Lentinan", from the Latin name of the mushroom "Lentinus". Since the discovery of Ikekawa, many scientific studies have been carried out in laboratories in many countries, clinical trials have been conducted in hospitals, as a result of which there are now a huge number of scientific publications about Shiitake. In Japan, Lentinan is approved as the official drug used in the treatment of malignant tumors. With its help, doctors support the immune function of cancer patients during chemotherapy and radiation, because no chemotherapy drug is highly effective without lentinan. In China, the pharmaceutical industry has also long been producing Shiitake extract for the treatment of cancers of various localizations.
The use of Shiitake extract
Which diseases can be used an extract from the Shiitake?
The extract is made mainly to:
- Treatment and prevention of cancer (malignant tumors);
- Treatment and prevention of benign tumors;
- Use as an adjunct to and after chemotherapy and radiation therapy;
That is why the concentrated drug and vypus repent in large doses, but in the framework of the Chinese Traditional Medicine it It is also used in:
- Infectious diseases;
- Diabetes mellitus, mostly - non-insulin;
- Cardiovascular disease;
- Multiple Sclerosis;
- Treatment and prevention of liver damage of any nature: toxic hepatitis, viral hepatitis B, C, D, J, initial stages of cirrhosis, fatty degeneration, steatosis, etc .;
- Treatment with weakened or compromised immunity;
Shiitake one of the first anticancer fungi became closely studied by scientistsTherefore, the β-1,6-1,3-D glucan polysaccharide extracted from its fruiting body got its own name - Lentinan. Lentinan, like any β-1,6-1,3-D glucan, has a broad front on antitumor immunity:
- increases the rate of maturation of antitumor lymphocytes
- Macrophages, NK cells and Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs);
- increases the lifespan of these cells;
- activates and enhances their antitumor activity (destructive activity of macrophages, natural killers and CTLs).
This means that β-1,6-1,3-D glucans activate white blood cells so that they can more skillfully destroy or degrade swollen cells;
- stimulates the release of tumor inhibitors by these cells (substances that inhibit the growth of tumors - cytokines: Tumor Necrosis Factor - alpha, TNF-; interleukin-1);
- Lentinan also increases the production of interferon and interleukin-2 in cancer patients. Substances known as cytokines, interleukin-2 and interferon in turn stimulate the cells of the immune system.
The second anti-tumor mechanism of Shiitake
In the spores of this fungus, substances were discovered, later called "Virus-like particles" - "Virus-like particles". These particles are similar in structure to viruses - an RNA strand in a protein coat. Due to their similarity to the structure of the virus, they cause complex responses of the body for the synthesis of its own alpha-interferon - a powerful protein component of the immune system that prevents and inhibits the growth of tumors.
Preparations of Shiitake
Available from drug Shiitake in several variants. Capsules containing powder and Shiitake extract in capsules.
One of the main active components of shiitake extract is the polysaccharide lentinan.
The properties of β-glucan are currently fairly well understood. It is known that lentinan:
- It is an immunomodulatory agent;
- increases the population of macrophages and NK cells in the circulating blood;
- promotes the production of secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA);
- It has antioxidant potential;
The second important component of the extract is lentinatsin.
It has:
- antifungal (in particular against Candida albicans);
- antitibakterialnym action;
- effective against measles and chickenpox viruses.
Additionally, shiitake extract It contains a unique amino acid complex.
According to Cheung (2008), amino acids are present in shiitake in an “ideal” nutritional ratio. (leucine 7%, phenylalanine 6,4%, lysine 5,5%, valine 5,4%, isoleucine 5%, threonine 4%, histidine 2,9%, methionine 1,7%, cysteine 2,8%)
kojic acidcontained in shiitake extract is a well-known and recognized depigmenting, whitening agent. In addition to depigmenting properties, kojic acid is a chelator and has its own antioxidant potential.
The drug in capsules Shiitake is part of two well-known mushroom complexes. 1. Liver cleansing with antiparasitic effect "Acura"and
2. Japanese weight loss system "Yamakiro"Whose use in the methods of the Kiev Center fungoterapii, Bio-regulation and Ayurveda gives positive consistent results.
System «Acura» is a preventive anthelmintic program that destroys parasites lay their eggs, which usually do not work antiparasitic drugs. In this way the system "breaks" the parasite life cycle, and repeated courses of toxic anthelmintic drugs are not needed.
Intensive weight loss with mushrooms and a special diet was developed in the clinic Koseikai and known throughout the world as a system "Yamakiro". This system is used in medical practice, when the need to lose weight in the shortest possible time. Now weight loss system "Yamakiro"Is used throughout the world, Hollywood's most famous actors (such as Minnie Driver and Harrison Ford) is required to spend extra slimming mushrooms before filming, as they have always been known as a big fans of" fast food ".
On the issue of treatment with drugs from shiitake mushrooms you can consult with specialists of our center and to buy drugs in our shop.
In section Fungoterapiya
В Kiev Center for Fungotherapy, Bioregulation and Ayurveda qualified doctors of alternative medicine are receiving. Cost of consultation 300 UAH. You can look at medical histories and treatment results on this link.
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