10 Health And Wellness Benefits That Medicinal Mushrooms Provide

There are many and varied medicinal mushroom benefits. Recently, conventional medical practitioners have been paying ever more attention to the traditions behind plant-based medicine.

While mushrooms aren’t technically plants in the eyes of some, since they’re fungi, they’re often associated with plant-based medicine.

Their use in herbal medicine goes back millennia, and for many good reasons.

Keep reading to learn 10 health and wellness benefits that various medicinal fungi and mushrooms can mean for you.

Medicinal Mushroom Benefits

1) Better Liver Health:

Some medicinal fungi are considered adaptogens. That means they help the human body adapt better to any local stressors.

If an external environment is especially toxic, it’s usually the liver which struggles more than other organs.

Adaptogenic mushrooms help the liver regenerate itself, by providing protection from internal toxicity and helping individual liver cells start growing again.

2) More Antioxidant Activity:

There is overwhelming evidence suggesting that high levels of free radicals hurt many different parts of the cells in the human body.

This cellular-level damage increases your odds of developing numerous health issues, especially as they relate to aging.

As such, anything you can do to neutralize free radical activity is a good thing. Several medicinal mushrooms are noted for robust antioxidant activity that scavenges most free radicals.

3) Cardiovascaular Protection:

Heart disease is a leading cause of mortality in not just the United States, but much of the Western and developed world. Lifestyle choices and diet are among the many various factors which can contribute to heart disease, but even those eating and living right can still have heart problems.

Fortunately, select medicinal fungi have compounds called triterpenes, which slow clotting and lower blood pressure in a person. Two specific triterpenes include sterols and gandoderic acid.

Sterols lower cholesterol and enhance blood circulation, while ganderic acid is thought to improve the flow of oxygen.

4) Blood Sugar Level Management:

Mushroom medicine might be effective in the management of safe blood sugar levels, which is crucial not just for those with diabetes, but anyone with prediabetes or even earlier levels of insulin resistance.

Select medicinal mushrooms have Cordyceps polysaccharides that result in strong hypoglycemic activity in diabetic mice.

These same polysaccharides also promote lower levels of cholesterol and trigylcerides. One study even shows that these can preserve renal functions and slow down breakdown of the kidneys.

5) A Tool Against Cancer:

Medical mushrooms aren’t a replacement for conventional cancer treatments, but they can help the overall fight.

The right mushrooms have those previously mentioned ganoderic acids that promote natural demise of cancerous cells while minimizing the toxicity of healthy ones.

There’s even evidence that melanoma cells are more susceptible to treatment and tumor growth is inhibited. Again, it’s not a cure for cancer, but it might mean not having as much chemotherapy in the long run.

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6) Immune System Enhancement:

Your immune system works hard in many ways. It fights off cancer cells and clears out debris, all in the effort to leave your body functioning at a high level.

This multifaceted and highly sophisticated system does this job 24/7, but it does slow down with age.

Medical mushrooms can boost the macrophages in the white blood cells of your immune system, ones that engulf and then digest anything looking unhealthy to your immune system, including cellular debris, cancer cells, foreign substances, and microbes.

7) Boost Your Mood And Defeat Depression:

Do you struggle with irritability, anxiety, and depression? Medicinal fungi are hardly a cure, but they can certainly make some of the symptoms easier.

Medicinal mushrooms usually are consumed as part of a healthy diet, even if just as an herb. Improper nutrition is a leading cause of depression and anxiety.

8) Better Athletic Performance:

Some research indicates that cordyceps extracts dilate the human aorta by as much as 40 percent. Your aorta is the primary artery your body uses to pump oxygenated blood into your overall circulatory system.

That boosts your blood flow and your endurance. Cordyceps also has adenosine and triggers ATP production for more physical energy. Japanese research demonstrated that Cordyceps supplementation enhance the performance of more than two-thirds of tested long-distance runners involved in one study.

9) Dealing With Allergies:

Allergies can come in many forms. Some are pet-related, whereas others are seasonal issues or just coping with pollen.

Whatever the cause, it means that your body is releasing more histamine than it should when it comes into contact with a triggering allergen. Allergies are different for everyone, but millions have them. Certain mushrooms are robust antihistamines, so they’re effective in dealing with all sorts of allergies.

These can range from food and drug allergies to hay fever and hives to serious issues like atopic dermatitis and anaphylactic shock. The right medicinal fungi might help you reduce or even avoid the symptoms related to allergies. These can include unwanted dripping, crying, sneezing, and sweating.

10) Improved Neurological Health:

Particular medicinal mushrooms have potent compounds that activate NGF in your body. NGF stands for ‘nerve growth factor’ and it’s a crucial peptide.

This small protein helps your neurons survive, grow, and maintain themselves. Through a process called re-myelination, neurons can stay healthy and functional as they efficiently conduct electrical signals. This helps you avoid age-related memory impairments like decreased levels of visual recognition and spatial short-term memories.

That means you remember recent things better, and you’re also more likely to recognize people, objects, and events that you’ve previously experienced. If you’re not good with names and faces, this might help.

Final Thought

As modern medicine continues looking for cures and anything that can help with the rise of so many diseases related to rising lifespans and increasing physical weight, they are looking into ancient and herbal traditions for anything and everything they can.

Plant-based medicine has a notable track record of results, and medicinal mushrooms and fungi are grouped into this kind of diet. As you can see, there are 10 notable benefits and advantages they can do for you and your health, if you pick the right ones.

As always, consult your physician before making any major changes to your health and wellness routine, especially in terms of diet and exercise. Medicinal mushrooms won’t likely cure anything on their own, but as part of a broader medical routine, they can be effective assistance.