Doctor's opinions

Fungal extracts are widely employed in traditional Chinese medicine. Shiitake (Lentinus edodes) and Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) contain polysaccharides that increase natural killer cell activity and inhibit tumor growth in animals and in humans. Like Astragalus, Shiitake and Reishi are used in contem-porary Chinese medicine as Fu Zheng remedies, which means they "support the normal", stimu-lating health, rather than being used as medication to treat sickness. A dose which stimulates immune responses is 900 mg per day of each. For people with severe allergies, it is advisable to use Reishi alone, as Reishi may inhibit allergic reactivity and Shiitake may increase it.

by Leo Galland M.D., F.A.C.N.

A team from the University of Western Sydney’s Centre for Complementary Medicine Research (CompleMED) is working with the Cardiac Health Institute to find out if the medicinal mushroom, Ganoderma lucidum, can reduce high blood sugar, often a precursor to diabetes - as well as treat other health problems.
The clinical trial is the first of its kind to rigorously test the mushroom - known in Asia as the ‘King of herbs’, because of its huge range of medicinal properties - and needs 170 Sydneysiders to take part.

Ganoderma treatment

Prof M T Joseph of Thodupuzha in Kerala's Idukki district says he was suffering from acute psoriasis eight years back. "Different systems of treatment, including allopathy, ayurveda and homeopathy, could not bring any relief. Then, I came across ganoderma through a friend who was cured of acute diabetics. After consulting a few experts, I started having ganoderma and, to my surprise, within a few months I fully recovered," he says.

"Another remarkable thing I found was that many other smaller problems like ulcer in the stomach and bleeding of the gum also were cured," he says, claiming that apart from building up immunity of the body, the mushroom also has anti-ageing properties.

Various products of ganoderma are being consumed by people in around 60 countries, says Dr Vengugopal, adding that these have been certified by United States Food and Drug Authority and approved by Japan in anti-cancer care.

While Indonesia has an approved diploma course in ganotherapy, various species of ganoderma have been included in Chinese pharmocoepia.

Dr. Albert Leung: But the fact is that they may not have the foggiest idea why ganoderma exhibits opposite effects. Me? I don't know either. But I would simply attribute all these effects to Mother Nature's work being superior to those of human endeavors; you just can't simply break it down to fit our limited scope of understanding.

Prof K K Janardhanan of the Department of Microbiology, Amala Cancer Research Institute, Thrissur, says he was impressed by anti-cancer properties of ganoderma during various studies.
"Our research has shown that methanolic extract of ganoderma lucidium, the variety commonly found in South India, possesses significant anti-tumour and anti-oxidant activities," he says.
"When mice were administered a dose of 500mg of ganoderma per kg of body weight after implanting a tumour, it was found that the tumour load was reduced by 97.7 per cent within 10 days," he says.

DXN