Mushrooms are typical spore producing fruiting bodies produced by major groups of fungi. Mushrooms serve in spore dispersal of the fungus. Although mushrooms are characteristic for the phylum Basidiomycota but some Ascomycetes also produce spores.
Some of these mushrooms are fascinating, others have many stories associated with them, some are edible and some other are so toxic that even a bite can kill human.
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| Ganoderma lucidum (A Medicinal Mushroom) |
But here I am only going to discuss about the medicinal important of mushroom. Here I will be discussing about the introduction of medicinal mushrooms and a brief history of use of mushrooms in medicine.
Medicinal Value of Mushrooms
- Homeopathic medicine
- Surgical dressing
- Anesthesia
- Heart and rheumatic ailment
- High blood pressure
- Antiviral and anti-cancer
Examples of Medicinal Mushrooms
- Shiitake (Lentinula edod)
- Enoki (Flammulina velutipes)
- Reishi or Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum)
- Maitake (Grifola frondosa)
- Agaricus blazei Murill
History for Use of Medicinal Mushrooms
- Medical mycology is as old as traditional uses of mushrooms. They have been used in medicine since the Neolithic and Paleolithic eras.
- Although mushrooms as medicine have been used in China since 100 A.D, however it was only in 1960 that scientists investigated the basic activity principles of mushrooms which were health promoting.
- Mushrooms have been used in health care for treating simple and age old common diseases like skin diseases to present day complex and pandemic disease like AIDS. They are reputed to possess anti-allergic, anti-cholesterol, anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties.
- Bahl in 1983 reported that mushrooms cure epilepsy, wounds, skin diseases, heart ailments, rheumatoid arthritis, cholera besides irregular fevers, diarrhea, cold, anesthesia, liver disease, gall bladder diseases and used as vermicides.
- In underdeveloped countries where protein malnutrition has taken epidemic proportions, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recommended mushroom foods to solve the problem of malnutrition.
- PSK, an anticancer drug derived from the mushroom, Coriolus versicolor in Japan in 1987 used as anticancer drug.
- Pharmaceutical substances with potent and unique health enhancing properties have been isolated from mushrooms. Fresh mushrooms are known to contain both soluble and insoluble fibers; the soluble fiber is mainly beta-glucans polysaccharides and chitosans which are components of the cell walls.
- Soluble fiber present in mushrooms prevents and manages cardiovascular diseases. Wasser in 2005 reported that mushroom health supplements are marketed in the form of powders, capsules or tablets made of dried fruiting bodies, extracts of mycelium with substrate, biomass or extract from liquid fermentation.
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References
Bahl N (1983). Medicinal value of edible fungi. In: Proceeding of the International Conference on Science and Cultivation Technology of Edible Fungi. Indian Mushroom Science II, pp. 203-209.
Wasser SP (2005). Reishi or Lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum). Encyclopedia of Dietary Supplements, Marcel Dekker, Germany, pp. 603-622.
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Post by:Sehrish Mushtaq
(sherry.a143@gmail.com)
