Reishi — King of the Mushrooms

There was a time when we were really hyped on mushrooms. We’d learned about the ABM mushroom that had been recently discovered (by western scientists; it had been known for hundreds of years by the locals) in the jungles of South America and we wanted to promote them far and wide. Then the company exporting them dried up and vanished, and then China started growing what they called ABM mushrooms, but there are no institutions that regulate what you call your mushroom and if it your particular mushroom is somewhat related to the ABM you can get away with calling it something that it isn’t.

However, the real ABM mushroom has to be grown in a jungle environment. This is why Japan built a huge “terrarium” in which the simulated the jungle environment to grow the ABM.

But this story, my friends, is about a completely different mushroom, one that I fell in love with because of all it does, that it until the day I made soup with it.

It’s bitter as hell and ruined the soup, and if I can’t eat it, I wasn’t about to supplement with it.

Recently, however, we found a company that grows organic reishi mushrooms, then extracts the “good stuff” from the bitter parts, and then goes on to extract even more of its goodness. (See below.)

So here we are writing about this glorious mushroom.

And when we say “glorious,” we are not exaggerating. It has been use for over 2,000 years in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and was originally called lingzhe, or “divine mushroom.” Because the oriental languages are widely connotative, it has also come to be known as the “mushroom of immortality.” 

Its botanical name is Ganoderma lucidium, the first part being Greek meaning “shining” and the second part being Latin meaning “shining,” so there you have it: a very shiny mushroom.

• First and foremost, like most mushrooms, the reishi mushroom is immune system supportive. The phytochemicals responsible for this include beta-glucan, polysaccharides, and triterpenes (known for their wound healing abilities). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25893368
  As to being an immune stimulant, we could list you study after study, but because 2,000 years of use actually does count , we’ll cover other manifestations of this mushroom’s muscle, only to mention in passing that people with HIV and Cancer have experienced very good results.
  A trip though WebMD gives us the following list of conditions this shiny mushroom has been known to assist:
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Cardiovascular disease
• Liver or kidney disease
• Respiratory diseases (such as asthma)
• Viral infections (such as the flu)
• HIV/AIDS
• Cancer and support during chemotherapy
• Pain during and after a shingles outbreak

After a bit more research at PubMed, we found these following attributes:

• Hypoglycmic (lowers blood sugar)
• Hypolipidemic (lowers fats, such as cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood)
• Anti-inflammatory
• Insulin sensitizing (hence, leptin sensitizing)

Finally, at MedLine Plus (a government database at the US National Library of Medicine) we found:

• Clogged arteries
• Noncancerous tumors in the colon and rectum (colorectal adenomas)
• Hepatitis B
• Shingles related pain
• Asthma and bronchitis
• Stress
• Altitude sickness
• Fatigue
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Insomnia
• Stomach ulcers
• Poisoning

On the downside, the reishi mushroom does interfere with some medicines. Because it inhibits platelet aggregation (from sticking together in a cluster), it is considered a blood thinner and should not be used if you are taking a prescribed blood thinner or herbs that thin your blood.

At the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center web site, they point out that if you take cytochrome P450 2E1, 1A2, and 3A substrate drugs, that the reishi mushroom might increase the side-effects of the drugs. So, ask your doctor because I’ve never heard of these drugs.

There are a few more “possible” side effects that we would be remiss not to mention before moving on.

Because of its blood thinning feature, in some rare instances, ganoderma can lower your platelet count too much and you’ll want to stay off of it for a while.

Symptoms of a low platelet count are dry mouth or dry nasal area, sometimes a bloody nose.

Here is a warning from WebMD, but keep in mind that the less you consume, the less your chances of side effects.

Reishi mushroom can also cause other side effects including dryness of the mouth, throat, and nasal area along with itchiness, stomach upset, nosebleed, and bloody stools.

If you are on drugs or supplements to lower your blood sugar, lower your blood pressure, adding this mushroom could lower those further than you want, so always see a professional before mixing reishi in with your supplementation or prescriptions.

An even rarer side effect is liver damage. This one is most interesting/ironic  side effects because ganoderma has been used traditionally to fight liver disease by detoxing the liver. Point in fact, there are papers at PubMed that claim ganoderma heals the liver and kidneys. Go figger.

Finally, if you have a fungus allergy, this ain’t for you either.

This is where we see some amazing features of this ugly tasting mushroom.

The polysaccharides in the reishi decreases blood sugar, thus is labeled hypoglycemic. A side-effect of this is a reduction in arterial stiffness.

Go ahead and click on the links if you want to see the studies, and we should tell you that these are limited studies, and further studies need to be conducted, but we live in a society where nobody is going to invest in these studies, so, we’re S. O. L.

Diabetes has some far reaching effects on the body, and kidney problems are just one of them. The reishi mushroom’s polysaccharides also reduce serum creatinine levels, which reduces the risk of nephropathy (death of the kidney). It’s anti-inflammatory properties also prevent nephritis, nephtrosis, and even rheumatic fever. Limitted studies also show that this mushroom lowers the amount of protein in the urine.

The effects of diabetes in the body can be ameliorated with the reishi mushroom because high blood sugar just ages the entire system (because it’s inflammatory) from your pancreas to your eyes.

One last roundup

Here are the benefits of the Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma)

• Anti-inflammatory
• Anti-oxidant
• Anti-Hypertensive (lower’s blood pressure)
• Anti-Tumor (prevents tumors/metastases, and shrinks existing)
• Anti-Viral
• Anti-Bacterial
• Strengthens/Modulates The Immune System
• Anti-Anxiety
• Hypoglycemic (lowers blood sugar)
• Hypolipidemic (reduces fats like triglycerides and cholesterol in the blood)
• Lowers Insulin Resistance (and, hence, leptin resistence)
• Reduces/Inhibits Allergic Response [PubMed]
• Protects Endothelial Cells (the lining of your arteries) [PubMed]
• Helps You Sleep
• Heals Liver & Kidneys [PubMed & PubMed]
• Aids Gut Health (prebiotic)
• Prevents Ulcers
• Helps Brain Function and Protects Against Seizures [PubMed]

To see all these listed at once at PubMed (. . .reported to have a number of pharmacological effects including immunomodulation, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, chemo-preventive, antitumor, chemo and radio protective, sleep promoting, antibacterial, antiviral (including anti-HIV), hypolipidemic, anti-fibrotic, hepatoprotective, anti-diabetic, anti-androgenic, anti-angiogenic, anti-herpetic, antioxidative and radical-scavenging, anti-aging, hypoglycemic, estrogenic activity and anti-ulcer properties. Ganoderma lucidum has now become recognized as an alternative adjuvant in the treatment of leukemia, carcinoma, hepatitis and diabetes) go here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19939212.

And we’d be remiss if we did not mention the usual (not to mention ubiquitous) caveat: “More evidence is needed to rate the effectiveness of reishi mushroom for these uses.”

(Editor’s Note: We tire of hearing this because we all know that enough studies will never be started, let alone completed because our health care system is profit based rather than patient based.)

Here is what MedLine Plus says about dosing:

In clinical trials studying cancer, chronic hepatitis B, coronary heart disease, or diabetes, doses of 600-1,800 milligrams have been taken three times daily. For high blood pressure, Linzhi extract (reishi) has been used in doses of 55 milligrams a day for four weeks. For pain management in herpes zoster, 36-72 grams of dry weight per day for up to 10 days have been studied. Other doses used are 500-1,125 milligrams per day for the treatment of proteinuria (excess protein in the urine) or 100 grams of reishi boiled in 600 milliliters water per dose for poisoning.

However, because of our perspicacity, we did find a site that pulled the dosing out of the studies using this mushroom and this is from that site:

In clinical trials studying cancer, chronic hepatitis B, coronary heart disease, or diabetes, doses of 600-1,800 milligrams have been taken three times daily. For high blood pressure, Linzhi extract (reishi) has been used in doses of 55 milligrams a day for four weeks. For pain management in herpes zoster, 36-72 grams of dry weight per day for up to 10 days have been studied. Other doses used are 500-1,125 milligrams per day for the treatment of proteinuria (excess protein in the urine) or 100 grams of reishi boiled in 600 milliliters water per dose for poisoning.

Once again, we should warn you that in cases of some cancer, tumor shrinkage was not always found, and MedLine Plus tells it this way: “Early research suggests that taking reishi mushroom does not shrink lung tumors. However, it does appear to improve immune function and quality of life in people with lung cancer.”

No, we are not exaggerating, but again, this comes with a caveat.

You get the best of the best from an MLM, or Multi Level Marketing company.

Yes, those companies that over price, over sell, over hype, and under pay. We’ve never liked multilevel marketing companies. And instead of writing why we hate them, let’s let others tell you who have had the same experiences as we have.

WHY I HATE MULTI LEVEL MARKETING AND YOU SHOULD TOO

EVERYONE HATES YOUR MLM: AN INTRODUCTION

Why I Hate Multi-Level Marketing

Why do people hate MLM, Network Marketing, and Pyramid Schemes?

Now, I have joined MLMs to get their products, but while using their products, I went in search of the same or better that wasn’t sold by an MLM and soon found them.

Right now, the company we found has a very unique product that is not being sold anywhere other than through their MLM, with one exception and that being in China (where the organic mushrooms are grown and processed).

We can already attest to the abuse we’ve received from them, the mailings, phone calls, and general harassment. You’d think we owed them money or something. Then after one of us bought a distributorship and bought products we discovered that they can’t be sold on the web except through their websites (that they create for their distributors).

Well, screw that. We’re giving them away as gifts for donations. And at a better price than you can get retail on the web. However if you really want to buy them at wholesale (they pitch “less than wholesale”) then you might want to join up. Just don’t forget we warned you.

So, business first: Here is where you can donate to our org and get yourself a Café Mocha that will not screw with your blood sugar (we have one regular customer who is diabetic and loves these mochas): www.mnwelldir.org/new/donate001.htm

Or go here: Organo Gold,  and the click on the three lines (menu) next to the magnifying glass and choose Products.

You can always write to us: ​[email protected] and ask for samples. We'll also send you an exclusive link to get these things cheaply by donating to our charity.  

I’ve actually heard a lecture from a functional physician who recommends this Mocha to his diabetic patients. The reishi mushroom lowers blood sugar.

Besides being an MLM (picture glaring look here), the company grows their own reishi mushrooms organically on logs high up in the Wuyi Mountains of China's Fuzhou region. Then the Fujian Xianzhilou Biological Science and Technology Company carefully picks them, and takes them to a sterile environment where they are gently dried, sterilized, and processed.

The processing removes the spores and removes all the bitter parts producing a tasteless powder.

Now get this: it takes a thousand pounds of mushrooms to produce one pound of spores, and little known is that the spores contain the highest concentration of the medicinal chemicals found in the reishi mushroom. If you just take the spores, whole spores, they'll pass right through you because they are protected by a very hard shell. There are chocolate bars on the market that claim they’re packed with reishi mushroom spores, but only a small percentage are actually cracked open and bioavailable (digestible).

This company spent a quarter of a billion dollars creating their facility with which to process these mushrooms. Then they spent a lot more money and a few years learning how to crack the spores.

Once that was accomplished, lo and behold, they discovered another protective inner shell, and back to work they went studying how to smash those little suckers.

The result is a product that has 99.9% of the spores cracked open, delivering these powerful nutrients better than any other product on the market.

Once again here is a link to where you can purchase or become a preferred customer or join the MLM: Organo. 

Believe me, when I can find this product available elsewhere, I’m going to avoid the MLM like the Spanish Flu.

Further Reading

Reishi Mushroom at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center