The Magic of Mushroom power......

During all of my research I have come across plenty of interesting articles about the wonders of the mushroom, particular mushrooms of importance are Shitake, Reishi, Maitake, Turkey Tail, Dong Chong Xia Cao, and Chaga here are some links that you might find interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuL_faveAnw
http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-questions/mushrooms-in-cancer-treatment
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/11November/Pages/anti-cancer-mushroom-research.aspx
http://www.phellinus-research.com/weblink/phellinus-linteus-cancer-research.com/index.htm

Ganoderma Reishi Mushroom – “The mushroom of immortality”
The benefits listed are backed by clinical studies conducted by the Japanese. Here is a list of some of them: Migraine headaches, Blood pressure – can lower blood pressure, so be careful if you are already taking a BP medication, anti inflamatory, asthma, improves kidney function, regulates immune system. Many cancer related benefits – also used to help chemotherapy patients. Cardiovascular problems, allergies, insomnia, menstrual problems, constipation, haemorrhoids. Improves energy level – general feeling of well being.

Shiitake – The black forest tree mushroom
Indigenous to China, Japan and other Asian countries. Shiitake mushrooms have also been cultivated for their medicinal properties since pre-historic times. These miracle mushrooms are known to have anti-fungal, anti-tumor and anti-viral properties. Lentinan, an active compound found in shiitake mushrooms, helps boost the immune system, enhancing your ability to fight infection and disease.

Maitake – The cloud mushroom
http://the-maitake-mushroom.blogspot.co.uk
Maitake mushroom extract is most widely known for its use as a cancer-fighting agent. Maitake mushroom contains polysaccharides and polysaccharide-protein complexes that the body uses to build the immune system. The extract's content of beta-glucan in particular serves as a healthy defense system to promote important immune system actions. The glucan effectively activates white blood cells that fight off the microorganisms that produce disease, including cancer. Maitake mushroom extract boosts the activity of these various cells to induce the production of interleukins and other lymphokines that have chemoprotective effects, slow tumor growth, and help to inhibit the spread of cancer.

Chaga – The black tree fungus. Helps stimulate the immune system to fight infection, cancer, and immune diseases. These miracle mushrooms grow on birch trees and look like a large slab of burnt charcoal. You can find it in China, Japan, Korea, Russia, East European countries, America and Canada. It's been found that Chaga contains anti-mutagenic compounds, that inhibit mutations, which are changes in DNA and RNA sequences. A compound found in both birch tree and Chaga called betulinic acid shows anti-cancer properties in laboratory studies. Chaga absorbs betulinic acid from the birch tree. Amongst the many claims of this mushroom is that it can inhibit tumour growth, kill's cancer cells, and stimulates the immune system to fight cancer. 

Chaga Mushroom growing on Birch Tree

If your serious about getting to know your fungi better then here's a link to a website that provides some gorgeous recipes all mushroom related. Enjoy.

http://www.moretomushrooms.com/mushroom-recipes/

New and now tested 'Smart Bomb' for cancer...

An article I grabbed from the news on the new and now tested 'Smart Bomb' for curing cancer.

Scientists have successfully tested a capillary "smart bomb" that simultaneously attacks cancer and boosts the immune system. The tiny hollow spheres become trapped in leaky tumour blood vessels, where they unleash an anti-cancer drug. At the same time the spheres, called nanolipogels (NLGs), release a protein that rallies the body's own defences. Researchers tested the spheres in mice on melanoma skin cancer that had spread to the lungs. Tumour growth was significantly delayed and the survival of the mice increased. The new technology overcomes a problem with cancer treatment that has been difficult to tackle using conventional therapies, say the scientists. Cancer tumours are known to secrete chemicals that confuse the immune system. But attempts to boost patient immunity while at the same time neutralising the cancer's chemical arsenal rarely work. The NLGs, described in the journal Nature Materials, package together two completely different kinds of molecule. One is designed to overcome a potent cancer defence weapon called TGF-beta, which stunts the local immune system. The other, an interleukin signalling molecule, boosts immune system activity. Researcher Dr Stephen Wrzesinski, from Yale University School of Medicine in the US, said: "One problem with current metastatic (spreading) melanoma immunotherapies is the difficulty managing autoimmune toxicities when the treatment agents are administered throughout the body. "The novel nanolipogel delivery system we used will hopefully bypass systemic toxicities while providing support to enable the body to fight off the tumour at the tumour bed itself."Each NLG is small enough to travel through the bloodstream, but large enough to get entrapped in leaky cancer blood vessels. Once trapped, they biodegrade to release their cargo.