Mushroom Benefits

Mushroom benefits are a wonderful way to add more raw to your diet.  They have benefits ranging from simple nutritional benefits to amazing medicinal benefits.  They have been used for thousands of years, and the Chinese use a variety of them in their herbal medicine today.

Mushrooms have powerful medicinal qualities.  

Research has shown mushroom benefits boost heart health, lower the risk or fight cancer, promote immune function, reduce inflammation, balance blood sugar levels, and many other attributes. Besides medicinal benefits, mushrooms have wonderful nutritional value. They are chock full of vitamins, mineral, proteins, and antioxidants.  It is good reason to add them to your diet!

Reishi Benefits

David Wolfe and John Stamens state that the reishi mushroom is shaped like the heart and is a beneficial mushroom for heart health.

• They are especially beneficial for those with asthma and respiratory illnesses. They have a healing affect on the lungs.
  
• In China and Japan they are used for thousands of years as medicine for arthritis, hypertension, and liver disorders. Studies now show that they have anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral,  antibacterial, and antioxidant properties that support why they were used for the above ailments.
• They are safe to consume daily, and support immune function.

Shitake Benefits

Shitake mushrooms are best known to benefit the heart, but they also have some very powerful other benefits.

•  Studies in Japan show they lower cholesterol by speeding up the processing of the cholesterol in the liver. This helps benefit the heart, lowering cholesterol.
  
• They are a cancer fighter. They appear to stimulate the immune system cells to clean the body of tumor cells.We have these tumor cells in our body at all times, some can be triggered to turn into cancer. 
  
• They also appear effective against some serious viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis B. More research is being done in this area as this can be an extremely valuable treatment for these viruses.
  
• They have wonderful nutritive value in treating nutritional deficiencies. They are just chock-full of good stuff! A great mushroom to add to your diet if your world is whirling and you may not be eating as good as you should.

Cordycept Benefits

• These are a favorite of athletes due to the benefit of increased energy and endurance. They increase the blood supply to the muscles, and increase lactic acid removal by the body.* This allows faster recovery after training.
  
• They are also used to lower high cholesterol, heart irregularity, asthma, and bronchitis.

Maitake Benefits

Maitake mushroom benefits are best known for their cancer fighting properties.

• The findings in a study published in the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Feb/Mar, 1996 showed that Maitake mushrooms was found effective against leukemia, stomach and bone cancers. It also showed that they gave relief for chemotherapy side effects such as nausea, weight loss, etc. Research also showed that combining Maitake mushrooms with conventional treatments further increases the effectiveness against the above cancers.
  
• They are also good for diabetics as they reduce insulin resistance.
  
• Doctors in Japan use them to lower blood pressure and blood lipids as a standard treatment.
  
• They can aid in digestion.

Chaga Benefits

Chaga mushrooms have more medicinal properties than any other single mushroom. The famous "Ice man", an extraordinarily preserved mummy found, had a medicinal bag with herbs found on him, and a large chaga mushroom tied to his side.

• Best Known as a cancer fighting mushroom. It is found on trees, most commonly the birch tree. It was approved in 1955 in Russia as a cancer fighting drug.
  
• Reportedly successful in fighting breast, lung, cervical and stomach cancers. Hobbs, 1995

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Consider learning more about the humble fungi's. 

A great site for purchasing dried mushroom powders is

The Raw Food World.

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