MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS
Introduction
Mushrooms are not plants and thus do not use photosynthesis for nutrient acquisition. They have a spore-bearing fruiting body above ground and an extensive cellular network (mycelia) below ground. The fruiting body of mushrooms is an important food used in many cuisines worldwide. Additionally, several species have been consumed extensively as a natural medicine or folk tonic. Particularly in Asia, these mushrooms are considered as medicinal mushrooms. Some medicinal mushrooms can be cultured and are an abundant source of natural proteins and polysaccharides. These mushrooms have garnered considerable attention for clinical research investigating their biological functions
Functional mushrooms
In recent decades, medicinal mushrooms have been used to improve human health and strengthen the immune system. The activities that have been identified include immunomodulatory actions, and antitumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anticoagulation, and antithrombin activity. Based on the medicinal potentials of edible mushrooms, scientists and businesses have devoted considerable effort to increase the quality of cultivated mushroom. It’s estimated that approximately 14,000 species of mushrooms exist, with edible and medicinal mushrooms accounting for only a small proportion. More than 10 million metric tons of edible and medicinal mushrooms are cultivated annually worldwide. Products from cultivated mushrooms have been used extensively as food additives, health foods, and for medicinal purposes to treat cancers and circulatory disorders. Improvements in mushroom cultivation technology have brought countless benefits to commercial production and laboratory applications of mushroom.
Bioactive compounds in mushrooms
Many bioactive compounds, such as cordycepin, polysaccharides, polysaccharide-peptide complex, ergosterol, mannitol, peptides and protein/protease, in various mushrooms have chemotherapeutic or medicinal activity. The sources of these bioactive compounds include fruiting body, mycelia, cultivation broth, submerged cultivation mycelia and fermentation derivatives.
Plarrs Medicinal Mushroom Master Blend
This proprietary blend comes from rare strains of various species from around the world. The chemicals found in several species of the blend are regarded as biological response modifiers (adaptogens). This basically means that: (1) they cause no harm and place no additional stress on the body; (2) they help the body to adapt to various environmental and biological stresses; and (3) they exert a non-specific action on the body, supporting some or all of the major systems, including the nervous, hormonal and immune systems, as well as regulatory functions.