Two Powerful Mushroom Extracts You Should Take Every Day For The Biggest And Best Health Benefits

Some one once sang "don't fear the reaper" , why you would fear a machine that harvests grain I am not sure but fearing farming equipment is not the only fear out there.

Are you suffering from mycophobia? 

Does that word even mean anything to you?

Well if you have ever looked a button mushroom in the eyes and come out in a cold sweat or felt very uneasy then  may well be in the grip of mycophobia or the fear of mushrooms! 

Mycophobia is the irrational fear of mushrooms. Someone suffering from this condition can expect to experience a very high amount of anxiety from merely thinking of mushrooms, let alone actually seeing them. In fact, their anxiety may be so intense that they may even endure a full blown panic attack as a result of it.

DO YOU LOVE Medicinal MUSHROOMS?

Here at Vitalherbs.co.uk we would like to think of ourselves as mycophiles and with a little help from this article we hope you will become one too, for the exact definition of the word according the the Collins dictionary see below.

Definition of 'mycophile' mycophile in British English (ˈmī-kō-ˌfī(-ə)l) 

NOUN

1. a person who likes to eat mushrooms.

2. a mushroom or fungi enthusiast The mycophile of the group is able to slide each mushroom across his plate, naming it in Latin.

So now you know what mycophobia is and what a mycophile loves maybe it's time we give you so damn good reasons to start loving mushrooms and there many amazing health benefits. 

RELAX AND PROTECT YOUR MIND WITH REISHI mushroom Extract

• Helps improve immune system
• Neuroprotective
• May aid in relaxation and increase sleep length

Some people have a nice cup of chamomile tea to relax others a nice hot bath well why not add another chill bullet to your relaxer pistol? I've no idea what I just said either but I think you get what I mean. 

According to Chinese medicine Reishi has many functions but it's main area of expertise is nourishing the heart, calming the spirit and enriching the chi as well as general tonification and the treatment of coughs. 

But why would Reishi have any effect on mood?

One study showed that people suffering from neurasthenia a condition often associated with depression, anxiety or emotional stress found that after 8 weeks of taking Reishi mushroom extract they found they had less fatigue and a better feeling of well being.

Neurasthenia is hard to diagnose and according to WHO it is a neurotic disorder that may be behavioural rather than a physical condition.

It seems to be one of these conditions the patient can feel but the Doctors can't find a cause for. 

In Asia neurasthenia is considered less "imagined" and treatments can involve mandatory rest and isolation from stress with a slow build up of work/social interactions until the person feels better.

The translation in Chinese is shenjing shuairuo or weak nerves and the condition is culturally accepted with a diagnosis having no social stigma. 

Another great function of Reishi mushroom extract is its ability to stop oxidative stress and thus the damage or death of neuron cells. (1)

What is oxidative stress you may well ask? 

Oxidative stress or tissue damage is caused when blood supply returns to tissue after a period of ischemia or lack of oxygen (anoxia or hypoxia). This rather nasty effect can also go beyond damaging the tissue and can actually cause apoptosis or cell death. Not great if those cells are in your brain! 

Thus this oxidative stress-induced brain damage has been implicated in many neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's disease and stroke.

Don't know about you but if taking a bit of bitter Reishi mushroom extract every day can help lower this damage i'm in 100%. 

Results from studies suggest that Reishi polysaccharides regulate expression of apoptosis-associated proteins, inhibit oxidative stress-induced neuronal apoptosis and, therefore, have significant neuroprotective effects. 

So it seems Reishi could be your new favourite neuroprotective super hero! 

In another study aimed at discovering if Reishi extract could help aid with sleep depth and sleep length, Rats were treated with Reishi extract orally for 3 days, and on the third day, electroencephalographic and electromyographic recordings were made for 6h from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. in freely moving rats.

The results showed that the rats who were given the Reishi extract had significantly increased total sleep time and non-rapid eye movement (NREM), wthout influencing slow-wave sleep or REM sleep in freely moving rats.

The scientists concluded that "The mechanism by which the extract promoted sleep remains unclear, but this effect appears to be primarily related to the modulation of cytokines such as TNF-α. Furthermore, these data at least partially support the ethnomedical use of Reishi mushroom extract."

So if you have trouble sleeping or you have rats that keep you up at night partying in their cage maybe try taking Reishi extract for a few days and see if your sleep habits improve!

Maitake mushroom the lesser known health gem

• Helps improve immune system
• Contains large amounts of beta glucans
• May aid in regulating blood sugar levels 
• A tasty medicinal mushroom to eat

Maitake or Hen of the woods as it is known in most English speaking country’s, grows at the base of trees and more often than not at the bottom of its favourite tree the Oak.

During the end of last year on my way to my favourite wild swimming spot I found four impressive Maitake mushrooms growing at the base of a large oak tree and seeing as free food is always nice I decided to take one home.

This Maitake mushroom must of weighed 10kg or more, great news if your into foraging wild food the mushroom would provide many healthy meals and I will eat my bobble hat if it doesn't appear in the same place next year.

So what are the health benefits? 

Modern research on maitake extract benefits began in the early late 1970s in Japan under the direction of Dr. Hiroaki Nanba. He was researching the immune enhancing properties of mushrooms when he came to the conclusion that maitake extracts demonstrated more pronounced antitumor activity in animal tests, than other mushroom extracts.

In 1984, Dr. Nanba identified a fraction of maitake that possessed a significant ability to stimulate white blood cells known as macrophages (literal translation “big eaters).

Throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Dr. Nanba and other Japanese researchers continued to study maitake, trying to improve upon the antitumor and immune potentiating activity of maitake. The result of their work was the development and patent of MaitakeGold (U.S. Patent #5,854,404).

MAITAKE AND BLOOD SUGAR 

As a medicinal food, Maitake mushroom extract has several notable attributes. Foremost, several studies show it modulates glucose levels, which can be especially important for limiting the development of Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. Although this preliminary evidence looks enticing, robust clinical studies are needed to prove effectiveness for diabetes control in humans.

Maitake is one of the most promising medicinal mushrooms around although it does seem to live in the shadows of other more popular mushrooms like Lions mane, Cordyceps and even Chaga.

But like like many other polypores, Maitake contains polysaccharides that stimulate the immune system.

A polysaccharide is a complex carbohydrate made up of smaller sugar molecules. These sugars stabilize blood pressure, blood sugar, and have an effect on free radicals. 

Polysaccharides such as beta-glucans found in Maitake are increasingly being recognized for their non-specific immunomodulatory effects.

These so-called biological response modifiers can be potent antiviral and antitumor agents, not by killing viruses or cancer cells directly but by stimulating the body’s innate ability to marshal cellular defences.