Written by Renata Filiaci, MSHW

*This is shorter version of my thesis from my Masters program. I wanted to provide my readers with the knowledge of each mushroom without having to read 30 pages worth of information. If you have any questions, feel free to write a comment or send me an email at renata@upstatecbd.org

The Western diet was established during the Industrial era and completely altered the nutritional physiognomies of ancestral diets. The Western diet is associated with the excessive overconsumption of sugars, carbohydrates, omega-6 fatty acids, proteins, salt, and processed foods. A proper nutritious diet should consist of the balance between micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids) for the body to function appropriately. However, the evolution of the Western diet has affected the disposition of the human body with the adjustment of seven fundamental qualities, such as glycemic load, fatty acid composition, macronutrient composition, micronutrient density, acid-base balance, sodiumpotassium ratio, and fiber content as mentioned by the authors Cordain, Eaton, Sebastian, Mann, Lindeberg, Watkins, O’Keefe, and Brand-Miller (2005). The constant imbalances in these nutritional qualities have contributed to an influx of inflammation, reduced regulation of fighting off infection, increased rates of cancer proliferation and metastasis, and increased risk for allergic and auto-inflammatory disease, which is also associated with an accumulation of oxidative stress influencing the development of chronic inflammatory illnesses (Minihane, Vinoy, Russell, Baka, Roche, Tuohy, Teeling, Blaak, Fenech, Vauzour, McArdle, Kremer, Sterkman, Vafeiadou, Benedetti, Williams, & Calder, 2015; Statovci, Aguilera, MacSharry, & Melgar, 2017; Myles, 2014; Manzel, Muller, Hafler, Erdman, Linker, & Kleinewietfeld, 2014).

Inflammation is a part of both the infectious stage and the healing process; as it is the reaction to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, toxic compounds, or irradiation yet provides an indication of the restorative process. When acute, or potentially chronic, inflammation is present, it is characterized by pain, redness, swelling, heat, and loss of function. Vasodilation is an inflammatory response that causes increased capillary permeability contributing to more blood surrounding the injured area resulting in said inflammatory symptoms (Copstead & Banasik, 2019; Punchard, Whelan, & Adcock, 2004). However, although chronic inflammation might present those characterizations, it also proposes that there is a maladaptation of organ systems that could be based upon the development of an auto-immune disorder, longterm failure to respond to symptoms, and inability to adapt to genetic predisposition to inflammatory diseases; the etiologies of inflammation can be infectious or non-infectious, diet being one predecessor (Chen, Deng, Cui, Fang, Zuo, Deng, Li, Wang, & Zhao, 2017; Myles, 2014).

Many people with acute or chronic inflammation use both over-the-counter or prescription drugs recommended by allopathic practitioners, such as a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID), anti-histamines, and prednisone; however, short and long-term use can present side effects, potentially severe side effects, as well as not adequately treat the illness. Long-term use of NSAIDs can lead to an increased risk of gastrointestinal ulcers and bleeds, heart attack and kidney disease (Maroon, Bost, & Maroon, 2010). Prednisone, which is a corticosteroid, has been linked to central nervous system side effects, such as psychiatric and cognitive disturbances (Ciriaco, Ventrice, Russo, Scicchitano, Mazzitello, Scicchitano, & Russo, 2013). Considering chronic inflammation can also present itself as cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, pancreatitis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease, cancer, autoimmune disease, and neurodegenerative disease, over-the-counter drugs, pharmacological drugs, and conventional medicinal interventions, like chemotherapy and radiation, have only masked and created more problems, rather than get to the root of causation (Minihane et al., 2015; Chen et al., 2017; Myles, 2014).

Cancer is a major public health problem worldwide with 1,735,350 new cancer cases in the United States in 2018 (Siegel, Miller, & Jemal, 2018). It is investigated that food intake and dietary patterns increase the development of cancer and is associated with the overall mortality among cancer survivors (Schwedhelm, Boeing, Hoffmann, Aleksandrova, & Schwingshackl, 2016). Modern and conventional treatment for cancer is chemotherapy and radiation, which is accompanied by long-term negative side effects that often cause patient discomfort and a low quality of life or potentially death. Depending on pathology of the cancer, some patients are given chemotherapy, numerous other drugs, as well as drugs that are used in approach to counteract chemotherapy-induced adverse effects. Chemotherapy can potentially cause nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue, central and peripheral neurotoxicity, and gastrointestinal disorders which may lead to anorexia, malabsorption, weight loss, anemia, and increased risk of sepsis, in which alternative therapies with fewer side effects should be an option for treatment (Nurgali, Jagoe, & Abalo, 2018).

The theory of using plants for medicinal purposes is a developing reality in Western culture and medicine, although Eastern medicine has incorporated plants into their diet to help with chronic illness for thousands of years, especially integrating mushrooms, medicinally and culinary. For the longest period, there were five classifications of living organisms, Animalia, Plantae, Protista, Archaebacteria, and Eubacteria. Mushrooms were originally a part of the plant kingdom, but recent studies and discoveries have made mushrooms deserving of their own classification, Fungi. Fungi are dependent on obtaining nutrients from other organisms, such as soil, plants, or the human body, by releasing enzymes to breakdown food sources, like weakened, decaying or dead matter, which categorize many mushrooms as saprotrophs. Although mushrooms are fungi, all fungi are not mushrooms, like mold and yeast. Mold can be found in cheeses, such as blue cheese, camembert, and gorgonzola, or used as an antibiotic, like in penicillin. Yeast can make beer or bread, as well as, live in the human body as a fungal infection like Candida (Isokauppila, 2017; Spampinato & Leonardi, 2013).

The anatomy of a mushroom consists of the mycelium, fruiting body, and spores. The mycelium is the root system as it absorbs water and nutrients from the surrounding environment which forms the fruiting body. It also works as a network, helping plants communicate between each other sharing information on unwanted pathogens and invaders that are entering this network. The fruiting body grows above ground and contains the stem and cap, often edible and associated with the therapeutic effects beneficial for humans. Within the fruiting body, the gills produce and release thousands to trillions of spores, acting as the reproductive component of the mushroom. There are mushroom spores everywhere, floating around, waiting to land and germinate, which will create another fruiting body. Mushrooms are also known as extremophiles, which give them the ability to withstand extreme environments that are typically inhospitable, such as in the sweltering desert heat, the freezing climate of Antarctica, and in nuclear disaster sites like Chernobyl (Isokauppila, 2017).

Community mindfulness in nutrition as a cornerstone for healthy life style has amplified. Functional and natural food is a concept of nutrition, based on the role of reducing the risk of disease. Mushrooms are low in calories, cholesterol free, and nutrient dense including selenium, potassium, riboflavin, vitamin B, niacin, vitamin D, proteins, and fiber (Valverde, HernándezPérez, & Paredes-López, 2015). Not only do mushrooms consist of important nutrients, the bioactive compounds of mushrooms, such as polysaccharides, amino acids, triterpenes, and terpenoids, have antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumor, antioxidant, antiallergic, adaptogen, immunomodulating, antiatherogenic, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective, and anti-inflammatory properties that have been used against chronic illnesses (Lindequist, Niedermeyer, & Jülich, 2005; Isokauppila, 2017).

There are ten mushrooms that are associated with relieving chronic illness and conditions due to their constituents including, chaga, cordyceps, enoki, lion’s mane, maitake, oyster, reishi, shiitake, tremella, and turkey tail. The purpose of this research is to apprehend that oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, caused by the consumption of the Western diet, is associated with a variation of diseases including arthritis, atherosclerosis, cancer, metabolic syndromes, hepatitis, neurodegeneration, and many other inflammatory illnesses, in which mushrooms can provide a beneficial therapeutic approach to managing and preventing these diseases.

Chaga: This mushroom contains polyphenolic compounds like antioxidants, triterpenoids and steroids, such as lanosterol, inotodiol, and trametenolic acids, and ergosterol peroxides, which are all cell protecting and immunomodulating compounds (Isokauppila, 2107; Youn, Kim, Park, Kim, Kim, Lee, Chai, Kim, Cui, So, Kim, & Park, 2008).

• Chaga extract decreases inflammation and suppresses proinflammatory responses from antibodies and proteins in in mice with colitis. After forty-eight hours after chaga administration, the HepG2 and Hep3B cell viabilities in cancerous cells of the liver reduced by IO initiated cell apoptosis and G0/G1 arrest, which halts DNA replication due to damage (Youn et al., 2008).
• IOGBR (chaga inoculated on brown rice) showed significant antioxidant activities against intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) especially on mice livers. It also exhibited substantial inflammatory activities by limiting proinflammatory markers such as nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2, cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6; overproduction of these markers can produce more inflammation (Debnath, Park, Kim, Jo, & Lim, 2013).

Cordyceps: The bioactive compounds of the cordyceps mushroom includes nucleosides, polysaccharides, sterols, proteins, amino acids, and polypeptides which present an array of pharmacological actions, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-apoptosis, and immunomodulatory as well as increase energy levels and boost oxygen flow (Isokauppila, 2017; Liu, Wang, Wang, Zhang, Zhang, & Han, 2015).

• After fourteen days, N6-(2-Hydroxyethyl) adenosine (HEA), an active compound of Cordyceps, decreased unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO)- induced renal tubular injury and fibrosis and suppressed inflammatory and renal fibroblast activity by modulating cytokine levels (Zheng et al., 2018).
• Th22 cells, excessive Th22 cells leads to IgA nephropathy (leads to kidney failure) and mesangial cell proliferation were decreased within one month of Cordyceps treatment in mice (Xiao et al., 2018).
• Lung function improved and expression levels of the inflammation markers decreased tremendously comparatively to the control group when given cordyceps capsules for asthma (Wang, Li, Huang, Chen, & Chen, 2016).

Enoki: Enoki, now cultivated and eaten internationally, is a favored and delicious edible mushroom high in nutritional value and bioactive compounds, such as proteins, vitamin B, traces of zinc, dietary fiber, polysaccharides, lipids, glycoproteins, phenols, sesquiterpenes, and mycosterol. These constituents have therapeutic effects in reducing blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol lipid metabolism as well as antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and anti-bacterial activity (Isokauppila, 2017; Tang, Hoo, Tan, Pusparajah, Khan, Lee, Goh, & Chan, 2016).

• Enoki powder and enoki extract presented a significant effect on lipid metabolism by lowering total cholesterol, total triacylglycerol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol as well as low density lipoprotein cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol in the serum and liver (Yeh, Ko, & Lin,2014).
• When mice and mice spleen lymphocytes were treated with enoki polysaccharides the results showed that long term exposure can increase the levels of CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ T lymphocyte, interleukin-2 (IL-2), and tumor necrosis factor-a which could activate proper immune function (Yan, Lui, Mao, Li, & Li, 2014).

Lions Mane: Traditionally used in Chinese medicine, its bountiful restorative constituents, β-glucan polysaccharides, monosaccharides, hericenones, and erinacine terpenoids, and myconutrients, have been used in treating stomach and digestive problems and neurodegenerative diseases.

• Compounds of lion’s mane mushroom beds, methyl 4-hydroxy-3-(3-methyl butanol) benzoate, 2-chloro-1,3-dimethoxy-5-methylbenzene, methyl 4-chloro-3,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde, and 4-chloro-3,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde (compounds 1-4), presented defense mechanisms against endoplasmic reticulum stress in mouse neuroblastoma cells, which predominantly provides neuroprotective activity (Ueda et al., 2009).

Maitake: The maitake mushroom, which is used fresh or dried in culinary dishes, is a natural superfood with bioactive compounds, such starch, natural oligofructoses, fructo-oligosacharides, lactulose, galactomannan, and indigestible polydextrose, dextrin and β-glucan (Jayachandran, Xiao, & Xu, 2017; Isokauppila, 2017). Maitake is also taken in powder or extract form; fraction SX and fraction D are watersoluble extractions mainly used when combating illness, specifically metabolic syndromes (Preuss, Echard, Bagchi, & Perricone, 2010; Isokauppila, 2017).

• After thorough investigation, the authors found that the ingestion of maitake mushroom extraction decreased age-related and sugar-induced hypertension via effects on renin-angiotensin system (RAS), enhanced insulin sensitivity, and reduced circulating levels of a cytokine associated with inflammation. After 120 days, the rats that were fed a standard control diet which was 20% sucrose, had significantly increased systolic blood pressure, while after only ten days, the rats fed fraction SX and fraction D the systolic blood pressure was considerably lower and at a normal level (Preuss et al., 2010).

Oyster: Historically used in Asian cuisine and medicine for its bountiful contents including, polysaccharides, lipopolysaccharides, proteins, peptides, glycoproteins, nucleosides, triterpenoids, lectins, lipids, and vitamin B; although, its shelf-life is short due to how delicate the mushroom is making it unacceptable for consumption after a few days from harvesting. Drying oyster mushrooms is the best way to preserve and prolong shelf-life and its valuable constituents, which have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and immunomodulating properties as well as the ability to lower cholesterol and regulate mood and sleep patterns (Tolera & Abera, 2017; Isokauppila, 2017).

• D-mannitol, extracted from fruiting bodies of oyster mushrooms, inhibited overexpression of angiotensin converting enzyme activity and reducing the blood pressure of hypertensive rats. Oyster mushrooms also reduced the amount of triglyceride and LDL, but elevated the level of high-density lipoprotein (Abidin, Abdullah, & Abidin, 2016).

Reishi: The reishi mushroom is also known as “the mushroom of immortality” due to its magnitude of bioactive compounds, such as triterpenoids, polysaccharides, nucleotides, sterols, steroids, fatty acids, proteins, peptides, and trace elements (Wachtel-Galor, Yuen, Buswell, & Benzie, 2011; Isokauppila, 2017).

• The reishi mushroom extraction had a tremendous outcome on immune, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor responses as it slowed down the formation of tumors, enhanced survival time in the rats, as well as increased the activity of cytotoxic cells. The improved activity of these cells inhibits tumor growth and boosts the immune system (Wang et al., 2018).

Shiitake: On top of a white stem is a brown umbrella shaped cap filled with significant medicinal properties, such as protein, lipids, dietary fiber, carbohydrates as well as vitamins and minerals. These components are responsible for the therapeutic effects, such as anti-carcinogenic and antitumor, hepatoprotective, cardiovascular, immunomodulating, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-hypercholesterolemia, antihypertensive, antifungal, and anti-obesity (Isokauppila, 2017; Rahman & Choudhury, 2012).

• After six weeks, total fat deposition and plasma triacylglycerol levels were significantly lower as well as body weight gain and fat deposition were prevented when given high-dose of shiitake powder, with high fat diet (Handayani, Chen, Meyer, & Huang, 2011).
• The hexane fraction, a solvent made from the fatty acids from shiitake mushroom, inhibited lipid peroxidation reducing the rate of oxidized lipid structure. Also examined, was the use of each solvent on human LDL, in which the hexane fraction inhibited LDL oxidation, conjugated diene formation, and the activity of the cholesterol (Rahman, Abdullah, & Aminudin, 2016).

Tremella: It is rich in protein, polysaccharides and dietary fiber as well as it contains a variety of minerals, trace elements and vitamins with bioactivities such as improving immunity, lowering blood sugar, lowering blood fat, anti-ulcer, anti-thrombosis, and antimutagenicity. Its polysaccharides are typically extracted and given as herbal medicine or a tonic (Isokauppila, 2017; Wu, Wei, Zhang, Linhardt, Sun, & Zhang, 2019)

• After two weeks, among the groups of rats, the rats that were fed 1g/day of fruiting bodies, submerged culture mycelium, or polysaccharide glucuronoxylomannan from tremella mushrooms compared to the control group had significantly decreased T-helper lymphocytes in the peripheral blood leukocytes and B-splenocytes and reversed the impaired glucose tolerance. The tremella extractions also increased interleukin-6 production in the peripheral blood leukocytes and B-splenocytes as well as T-cell immunity, which combats chronic inflammation and builds immune function (Hsu, Lee, Lin, Wasser, & Lo, 2014).
• The fruiting body of Tremella mushroom was dried and extracted and one mg was used for treatment on PC12h cells, rat pheochromocytoma tumor cells of the adrenal gland which increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease, for forty-eight hours, inducing neurite outgrowth at low concentration. PC12h cells were then exposed to β-amyloid peptide, in which pretreatment of Tremella fuciformis reduced the degree of β-amyloid peptide (Park, Lee, Kim, Yamazaki, Chiba, & Ha, 2007).

Turkey Tail: It is a potent medicinal mushroom high in lipids, proteins, polysaccharides, triterpenoids, and sesquiterpenes; however, it has two unique betaglucans, polysaccharide krestin and polysaccharide peptide, which set the turkey tail mushroom apart from the rest. These polysaccharides provide immune and metabolic support, anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties, the ability to regenerate white blood cells and treat hepatitis C and humanpapillomavirus (Isokauppila, 2017; Hobbs, 2004).

• Polysaccharopeptides by 80 U/mL (PSP) from the turkey tail mushroom showed chelating ability, which can detoxify unwanted heavy metals reducing oxidative stress. Also, PSP scavenged and neutralized free radicals against 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride, a free radical chemical compound, induced cell apoptosis in HaCaT (Jhan et al., 2016).
• A tolerated dose of turkey tail mushroom was given to immunocompromised breast cancer patients after chemotherapy and radiation. The women were split into groups by dosage, and were given either three, six, or nine grams/daily after completion of conventional oncological therapy. Although nine adverse events were records, yet not substantial, nine grams of turkey tail mushroom was seen as safe and tolerable as well as increased lymphocyte counts, natural killer cell functional activity, and CD8+ T cells and CD19+ B cells (Torkelson et al., 2012).