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What makes Cordyceps important for use with cancer is that it contains beta-glucans and polysaccharides. As the sugars break down, the numerous oxygen molecules are released on a cellular level, the result being that cancerous materials present are immediately destroyed. Cordycepin, one of the target compounds (nucleosides), inhibits the DNA repair mechanism and is probably responsible for its anti- viral (HIV) effects. What makes Cordyceps important for use with cancer This compound is useful in the treatment of high is that it contains beta-glucans and polysaccharides. | cholesterol levels, while lentinan is used for the As the sugars break down, the numerous oxygen __ treatment of cancer. molecules are released on a cellular level, the result If you extract Shiitake compounds using hot water being that cancerous materials present are and then use alcohol to precipitate out the immediately destroyed. Cordycepin, one of the target — polysaccharide fraction, the lentinan is concentrated compounds (nucleosides), inhibits the DNA repair and the resultant product is effective for cancer mechanism and is probably responsible for its anti- treatment or immune system stimulation. However, viral (HIV) effects. with this process you lose the eritadenine, and the extract has no effect on blood cholesterol. Full-spectrum Chemistries Consequently, even though a raw Shiitake product There is a lot of confusion today in the field of | shows great effectiveness in treating high cholesterol, pharmaceutical mushrooms as to he "standardised extract" available what form of mushroom product is oday is useless for this purpose. the best for use. There are various So, what is the more valuable components of the mushroom which product: the raw, full-spectrum have been used as separated Shiitake or the standardised extract? compounds. Is it the fruit-body, the a The answer is neither, or both. It mycelium or an extract standardised sult IS because really depends on what you are from some particular compound these chemical hoping to achieve with the which is responsible for the supplement. mushroom's properties? This compounds are For general health-supplement question is not as straightforward as produced as usage, the best product is the one it seems. hat has the greatest effectiveness Fruit body. This is the mushroom extracts that the over a broad range of conditions. In hat you see above the ground. It is q his example, it makes much more he spore- producing portion pharmaceutical sense to use a full spectrum of involved with reproduction. medicine industry products—the fruit body, Basically, the fruit body is . mycelium and broth. equivalent to the flower of a Is allowed to hold German precision created the plant. Fruit bodies only form in patent rights to concept of standardised extracts. response to some stress from them But now we are beginning to realise that mixed chemistries play a more important role in the effectiveness of how unrelated chemistries migh produce specific results. It is a complex form that is still no completely understood bu he environment. Mycelium. This is the growth orm of the organism under the ground where all of the life processes occur: — growth, eeding, competing for survival and some forms of reproduction. Broth. n cultivated produces clinical results no mushroom products, the mycelium can be grown __ available with standardised extracts. either by fermentation, in a tank full of liquid "broth", Most pharmaceutical mushrooms are utilised as or on a solid substrate of some material that is found extracts for their most potent and most successfu in the natural growth condition. products and formulas. But these are very specific and For the production of many mushroom-derived drugs targeted extracts, made for the particular purpose o and health supplements, the compounds are extracted concentrating specific compounds. Additionally, it is not from the mycelium but from the broth in which the — because these chemical compounds are produced as mycelium is grown. extracts that the pharmaceutical medicine industry is As an example, there are a number of allowed to hold patent rights to them. Natural foods pharmaceutical drugs produced from the Shiitake cannot be patented. mushroom: lentinan from the fruit body; LEM from There are two general categories of bio-active the mycelium; and KS-2 from the residual culture | compounds found in pharmaceutical mushrooms: broth, an extracellular compound. 1. The polysaccharides, which comprise most of the To extract lentinan from Shiitake mushrooms is a medicinal compounds, are soluble in hot water and pretty straightforward chemical process. But what not in alcohol. The immuno-stimulant type of action about another compound present in Shiitake, called so well known in mushrooms is from this class of eritadenine? compounds. If you are looking for immuno- compounds are produced as medicine industry is allowed to hold them. an 24 * NEXUS ..jit is because these chemical extracts that the pharmaceutical patent rights to APRIL - MAY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com