Here’s a little-known secret for reducing inflammation: mushrooms and fungi. This kingdom of living organisms helps in many ways and will intelligently modulate the immune system, helping boost it when needed and helping tone it down when the immune response (inflammation) is excessive.
We call this a biological response modifier (BRM) or adaptogen. Fungi contain hundreds of chemical compounds that are adaptogens. We are discovering more and more of them, all the time. There are around 100 such useful compounds in the Reishi mushroom alone.
Adaptogens engage the immune system is a smart way, instead of all-out suppression, as most anti-inflammatory drugs do (aspirin, Ibuprofen, NSAIDs etc.).
Technically, the adaptogens are terpenes. These substances are resins and found in trees and other plants, as well as fungi, which of course are not in the plant kingdom at all.
These terpenes have great powers to reduce swelling, redness and pain, improve breathing and reduce the first stages of heart disease.
King of the anti-inflammatory mushrooms is the amazing Ganoderma lucidum mushroom; Chinese name Reishi.
In one scientific test, comparing the effects of Reishi to that of hydrocortisone, a simple hot water extract of the fruiting body was every bit as good as the drug. But there were none of the notorious side effects of the corticosteroid drug (immune suppression, water retention, stomach ulcers, etc.)
Here’s a short list of useful anti-inflammatory mushrooms:
- Hericium erinacous (Lion’s mane)
- Inonotus obliquus (Chaga mushroom)
- Polyporus umbellatus (The umbrella polypore; Chinese Zhuling)
- Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi, lingzhi)
Note: There are many useful species in the Ganoderma family
These are notes from my upcoming book “Fire In The Belly”. I hope it will be published in just the next few days.
I THINK YOU ARE A VERY SMART, INTERESTING DR. AND I LOVE YOUR WEB SITE BUT NOW WHEN I TRY TO GO INTO ALOT OF YOUR ARTICLES I GET AN ORANGE THING THAT CLICKS ON AND WON’T LET ME IN.
WOULD EATING MUSHROOMS FROM A JAR HELP MY INFLAMMATION RESPONSE?
I am surprised that you did not mention Maitake or Shitake. eb
Hi Keith
I’m interested in your new book. I have bought a number of your publications and I think that your stuff is really excellent. However, I don’t know who proof reads your books – because the proof reading is rubbish. I spent much of my life working with business professionals (lawyers etc). I know that there is a whole set of people out there who judge the accuracy of written material by the way it is presented. Bad grammar, poor spelling, omissions, and inaccurate cross-referencing quickly add up (in some people’s minds) to poor copy and, by association, poor accuracy of the material being presented. You don’t need that. You don’t need to alienate a part of your audience. It just requires a bit of time and effort. We are all our own worst proof readers.
This is meant genuinely as a positive piece of feedback. Let me know if I can help! E&OE!!
You are right Kevin. There are w-a-y too many mistakes.
Unfortunately, my lovely wife Vivien is severely dyslexic. She looks through for gross errors but can’t pick up loads of spelling mistakes.
I have to get to a position where there is TIME for hiring a professional proof reader!!
What about a good volunteer proof reader? I’ve been told that I do a good job checking out copy for some of the volunteer organizations that I help. Want me to give “Fire In Yhe Belly” a look see?
Anita
On it’s way Anita.
You have great articles on natural health & healing. I enjoy reading them a lot, especially since I’ve been studying the subject myself for over 30 years & have used natural remedies to keep in good health all those years. There are times when I need to see a regular doctor, but it is very rare that I do.
The best way to have your writing proof-read is to simply use the “Spell-Check” program that comes with a program like Microsoft’s Works Word Processor. I’m a pretty good proof-reader myself, however, when I’m typing, my brain sometimes gets a little ahead of my fingers & I mistype a few letters. The reason I mention this is because years ago, I purchased a book on Chinese healing & one of the chapters had a formula for longevity that I wanted to try, but one of the herbs was apparently misspelled since I could find no reference for it anywhere. I contacted the publisher & author of the book, but received no response. So, I was never able to try the formula.
Again, not everyone can use fungi- had a major reaction to ganoderma, hardly tolerate food mushrooms