Friday Fungus - use the NHS not mushrooms for your healthcare!!

I’m always fairly skeptical about the medicinal claims made for food – not just because they are such a feature of the Daily Mail. And the claims made for the efficacy of various mushrooms fall into this somewhat doubtful category – which doesn’t stop the BBC treating it as some amazing scientific discovery! And mushrooms of one kind or another feature prominently in Chinese herbal medicine (nothing ‘traditional’ about this of course – more a Maoist deception).

The champion mushroom in Chinese medicine is lingzhi (Ganoderma lucidum) – more commonly referred to by its Japanese name of reishi. Its advocates propose it as a treatment for a bewildering and extensive collection of ailments! Longevity and prevention of diseases, insomnia, stress, influenza and common cold, asthma, allergies, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, high cholesterol (LDL), diabetes, headache, stomach ache, arthritis, back pain, skin care, hair loss, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and hepatitis.

Although I suspect these claims to be stretching the point – verging on nonsense – there is some evidence that reishi acts as an immune system stimulant. And that its use in combination with chemotherapy in some cancer treatments may be effective as well as an application in the management of HIV/AIDS. However, despite these claims – and the mushroom’s widespread use – the drug lists suggest there is insufficient evidence to support these claims. And like many mushrooms the reishi may have negative side effects:

“Reishi mushroom might be safe for most people. It can cause some side effects including dryness of the mouth, throat, and nasal area along with itchiness, stomach upset, nosebleed, and bloody stools. Drinking reishi wine can cause a rash. Breathing in reishi spores can trigger allergies.”

Fungi have proven an important source of medicines especially the microfungi like penicillin. But on their own mushrooms can taste great, look fantastic, make you high and poison you. Cure you? Probably not – stick to the good old NHS!