Introduction to Fungi

There is no doubt: this is the season of the mushrooms. In supermarkets and fruit if they are in abundance and of various types: tacks, champignon, mushrooms, chanterelles, Boleto, and so forth. They are tasty, nutritious and most are good for health. The use of mushrooms with medicinal properties are well documented in the East, in Russia and in the last 2 decades in the United States. Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated the immunomodulatory properties that have made an important biological support to conventional therapy in chronic-degenerative diseases such as cancer and diseases autoimmuni.Ma mushrooms are good for everyone because they are foods rich in terms of nutritional and protein , B-group vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin A, many minerals, polyunsaturated fatty acids and other molecules with many activities beneficial to health. For this medicine is considered an excellent tool for the prevention of disease. Are also considered laxatives, antibiotics and even aphrodisiacs. The mushrooms are part of Italian culinary tradition, and besides being very good properties have also anticancro.Le first evidence of the benefits associated with regular consumption of mushrooms come from Japan because the owners of some species typical of eastern cuisine (like SHIITAKE el'enokitake which are also found in exotic foods stores and some supermarkets in Italy) have an incidence of certain cancers (especially stomach and colon) lower by 50% compared to the rest of the population. Ads by GoogleGli anticancer effects of mushrooms depends on the presence of particular polysaccharides, of which the most studied is the loupe. The mechanism of action of this polisaccardide is not fully known, but probably the molecule is able to stimulate the system immunitario.Anche some of our own mushrooms contain a loupe in sufficient quantities, such as Pleurotus ostreatus, known as the Common of mumps and champignon de Paris (the typical cultivated mushrooms that are used raw in salads, or cooked in oil) that are indeed rich. There are now numerous scientific studies that show what the traditional oriental medicine, particularly the Chinese, known for millennia, or that several mushrooms - maitake (Grifola leafy), SHIITAKE (Lentinus edodes), reishi or ling-zhi (Ganoderma lucidum) but also other less known, primarily as Cordyceps sinensis, Coriolus versicolor and Tremella fuciformis - have important immunostimulant properties and thereby naturally increasing resistance to disease or to cope more effectively. In China and Japan, many of these fungi are a typical ingredient in soups and soups and even today are used as a complement to standard medical and surgical treatments of different types of cancer. For some years, moreover, are also under investigation in the U.S. (as in the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York). It was shown that these fungi, thanks to the active substances contained in them (in particular, polysaccharides such as beta-glucans), stimulate, to varying degrees, the production of molecules and cells involved in immune response, such as interleukins, interferons, T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, macrophages. Many of them also have several other properties (tonic, antioxidant, analgesic, cholesterol lowering, hypotensive, hypoglycemic, epatoprotettrici etc..). Special mention deserves the ABM (Agaricus blazei and A. brasiliensis and A. subrufescens), which comes from Brazil and is one of the mushrooms "discovered" more recently. Studies conducted in Japan showed that the micete with the highest content of betaglucan and with the most significant effects of immunostimolazione. Although research has not yet completely ruled out possible interactions and contraindications to the use of fungi, have not detected significant side effects. In any case, the effectiveness of these natural remedies is no longer subject to debate. Using that naturopathy is typical of these fungi is designed to improve the natural defenses of the body, in all those situations of fragility of the land individually.