Who is Reishi Mushroom Good For Thier Health and Wellbeing?
Reishi mushroom is considered a very safe and gentle tonic herb that can be tolerated by almost anyone.
Traditionally known as the “Mushroom of Immortality” for its extensive range of longevity promoting benefits, Reishi is suitable for anyone who wants to:
- Reduce their stress levels.
- Enhance adaptability and manage life’s stressors with more ease and grace.
- Restore and maintain emotional equilibrium.
- Calm the mind and boost cognitive functions.
- Enhance the immune system.
- Support the Heart, Lungs, Liver, and Kidneys.
- Fan the flames of inflammation in the body.
- Boost antioxidants.
- Promote a better night’s sleep.
- Nourish and protect the skin.
- Elevate mood and happiness.
- Enhance their yoga and meditation practice.
- Protect against wifi and cell phone frequencies that may harm our cells.
- Extend their lifespan, and possibly, attain immortality (disclaimer: we can’t promise anything.).
Ganoderma Products have become very popular in America in the last few years, just as they have been popular in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries. The most popular Ganoderma is the species known as Ganoderma lucidum in Latin – and it is also widely known by its Japanese name Reishi, is the best known and most well studied of all the medicinal mushrooms. It has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for at least 5000 years. It is known in China as Ling Zhi and is considered to be “The Mushroom of Immortality”. All TCM doctors know that Reishi is one of the most potent adaptogens available. Adaptogens are those herbs and substances that increase the body’s resistance to stress and help it overcome all health challenges more quickly. Thanks to the modern advances in 21st Century American biotechnology, it is now possible to grow Reishi under controlled laboratory conditions – Reishi that is hundreds of times more potent than any Reishi grown in the wild, and even far more potent than the best Reishi farm cultivated on logs (also known as Duanewood Reishi). While most of the world’s Reishi supply comes from wild crafted fruitbodies, Aloha Medicinals Reishi is pure pharmaceutical grade, grown in America under strict laboratory conditions. Aloha Medicinals Reishi products are the same grade as used by most of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies and research universities today.
Reishi Reduces Stress and Improves Anxiety and Depression
Reishi’s most exciting and perhaps its most significant health benefit is its calming and stress-reducing ability. It is known as the ultimate anti-stress herb. This makes Reishi an important ally in today’s fast-paced and over-stressed world to keep our mental health strong.
Stress is one of the biggest underlying factors in disease. In one example, this study shows how stress can affect our physiology and create disease. It demonstrates the growing evidence that exposure to trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and associated stress responses may lead to increased autoimmune conditions. (21)
In TCM, Reishi mushroom is regarded as the best “spirit elevating” (Shen) tonic that positively promotes mental well-being, calmness, and helps cultivate more peace, love, and happiness in one’s life. Reishi has a long history of use in ancient China by Taoist monks and sages for cultivating spiritual energy, reducing stress, calming the mind, and transforming negative energy in the body.
For some people, the very idea of sickness and disease is enough to debilitate them whether they are facing illness or not. Reishi’s calming action puts people in a relaxed state which may help alleviate many of the psychological problems associated with patients dealing with a disease.
A study with breast cancer patients reported feeling “less anxiety and depression and better quality of life” after taking Reishi for just four weeks. (12)
Reishi Boosts Antioxidants and Reduces Inflammation
Inflammation is a complex biological response in the human body to protect itself from infections from foreign invading organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. It is an essential part of the body’s immune response and healing processes. Chronic or long-term inflammation can manifest into a whole host of symptoms, such as redness, swelling, joint pain, or more serious auto-immune conditions, like asthma and arthritis.
Reishi contains many compounds that show anti-inflammatory activity including the immune-modulating polysaccharides, triterpenes, phenolic compounds, and more.
The combination of Reishi’s immune-modulatory and anti-inflammatory action shows the potential therapeutic effect of autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
This study showed that a polysaccharide peptide from Reishi “significantly inhibited the proliferation of rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts… at least in part, by inhibiting the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) transcription pathway.” (23)
Scientists have found that many of Reishi’s terpene compounds including ganodermic A, B, C, and D, lucidenic acid B, and ganodermanontriol are all very potent antioxidants. These powerful substances have shown to fortify the body by improving oxygen regulation and counteracting the damaging effects of free radical scavengers.
This 14-day study on mice showed many antioxidant boosting effects including an increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione. The results also suggest that the antioxidants protect the blood from oxidative damage. (24)
Multiple extracts were shown to have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study concluded that Reishi could be “considered a useful therapeutic and preventive approach to various inflammation-related diseases.” (1,25)
History of Reishi Mushroom
Reishi mushroom is truly an “original superfood.” Some claim it’s been used for over 5000 years but more verifiable sources state the longest history and folklore is from China beginning at least 2000 years ago.
Reishi was first described in Shénnóng Běncǎo Jīng’s classic book on herbal medicine, the “Divine Farmer’s Classic of Pharmaceutics” (100-200 A.D). In the book, Shénnóng Běncǎo Jīng considers Reishi mushroom to be “The Most Superior Of All Herbs”, even surpassing the highly esteemed Chinese Ginseng.
“Reishi”, its most common name in the West, is a Japanese interpretation of the oldest Chinese name; Ruizhi which means “auspicious mushroom”. Other Japanese names for Reishi include “Mannentake” (10,000-year mushroom), “Hijiridake” (sage mushroom), and “Sawei-take” (good fortune mushroom).
In China, Reishi mushroom is called “Lingzhi”. Ling loosely means “spirit, spiritual, soul, miraculous, sacred or divine”, and Zhi means “animal, plant, fungus, or minerals used to concoct elixirs of long life”. Since Ling and Zhi have multiple meanings in Chinese, English translations include “Herb of Spiritual Potency”, or “Mushroom of Immortality”, and the “Divine Mushroom.”
Ling Zhi’s botanical name Ganoderma lucidum derives from Greek and Latin roots. Gano in Greek means “brightness” and derma means “skin”, while lucidumin Latin means “shining”. Together, it quite literally means “bright shining skin” which also speaks to Reishi’s skin-nourishing benefits.
Reishi is a polypore mushroom– it doesn’t have gills on its underside, instead, it releases its spores via fine pores and grows on both dead and living trees. It usually grows on the base or stumps of specific hardwood trees, in particular, maple and oak trees.
We are so certain of our quality that all Aloha Medicinals Ganoderma products carry our Unconditional No Questions Asked 100% Money Back Guarantee!
If for any reason you are not satisfied with your purchase, call our our direct phone line (702) 448-6051 and our customer service will arrange your return and full money back refund! And Aloha Medicinal is the actual producer of all the Ganoderma products we sell – not just brokers of someone else’s ingredients. Take a tour of our growing technology at the photo essay – How Are Medicinals Mushrooms Grown?
The ancient Chinese considered Reishi mushroom to be a miracle herb.
To this day, the presence of Reishi mushroom’s esteem throughout China is prevalent. This mushroom has been immortalised in Chinese culture through 5,000 years of civilisation. As a symbol of good health and fortune, Reishi is represented broadly in the literature and arts, in paintings of Gods, immortals, and Emperors holding sceptres shaped as Ling Zhi. It’s depicted in painted murals, sculptured into pillars, doors, archways, and other aspects of architecture, woven into silk robes, and featured in museums as “world treasures”.
Wild Reishi is so rare in nature that throughout the history of China, like many other medicinal mushrooms, its use was restricted only to the Emperor or Empress, the rich, and upper classes of society. It’s also known as the “phantom mushroom” due to its scarcity in the wild. The husks of Reishi’s spores are very hard, therefore they cannot germinate as readily as the spores of other mushrooms.
Nutrition and Biochemistry of Reishi Mushroom
Reishi mushroom is one of the most widely studied herbs in the world. With over four decades of scientific research behind it and hundreds of studies (mostly from Japan), Reishi has shown to be an incredible bioactive nutrient powerhouse!
Studies have shown Reishi to contain over 400 different compounds including polysaccharides, triterpenoids, nucleotides, sterols, steroids, fatty acids, proteins/peptides, mannitol, and trace elements. This massive diversity of constituents has been reported to have a number of pharmacological effects including “immunomodulation, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, chemo-preventive, antitumor, chemo and radioprotective, sleep-promoting, antibacterial, antiviral, 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.” (1,2)
This study concludes that “Ganoderma lucidum has now become recognized as an alternative adjuvant in the treatment of leukaemia, carcinoma, hepatitis and diabetes.”
The primary constituents responsible for Reishi’s broad range of health benefits are the polysaccharides and triterpenes.
Polysaccharides (Beta-glucans)
All medicinal mushrooms (but not all mushrooms) contain varying amounts of polysaccharide compounds. Polysaccharides are complex long-chain sugar molecules (healthy sugars) that have shown to significantly enhance and activate the immune system. These complex natural sugars are among some of the most potent immune forces ever discovered.
Reishi contains over 200 different polysaccharide compounds.
Polysaccharides essentially lock on to specific receptor sites in the immune system, activate their healing power, and work to increase the immune response. There are many different kinds of polysaccharides, most are water-soluble, and the most
common and well-studied is the beta-glucans, and Reishi is loaded with them!
Triterpenes
Reishi contains some of the most notable and highly biologically active triterpene compounds. The various oil-soluble compounds, ganoderic and lucidenic acids from Reishi mushroom are responsible for many of its therapeutic benefits. Studies have shown that Reishi’s triterpenes may have anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-histaminic, antioxidant, hypotensive and sedative actions. (3-5)
Triterpenes are only present in dual-extracted Reishi products. They are non-water soluble and therefore require alcohol to extract these oily substances from the fruiting body.
The triterpenes are also responsible for Reishi’s extremely bitter taste.
For all of you formulators – Ganoderma is also offered as a bulk powder ingredient for use in your formulations, which is 100% USDA and EU Certified Organic. Call our customer service representative at (702) 448-6051 for more information and to place your order today!
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.