Cordyceps- Medicinal Mushroom
Cordyceps
There has been increasing interest in the health benefits of mushrooms since the commercial success in the far east of mushroom extracts as non-specific immune modulators in the treatment of cancer.
Of these mushrooms one of the most interesting is Cordyceps sinensis.
Cordyceps is known in Chinese as Dong Chong Xia Cao, which means Winter Insect, Summer Grass, and in the wild grows parasitically on the larvae of moths at altitudes of over 3,000m.
For this reason it was historically an extremely rare and precious medicinal.
Now, thanks to the development of cultivation techniques using grain based substrates, Cordyceps is available at prices comparable to other mushroom nutrition products.
No other mushroom has the range of effects on the system that Cordyceps does.
As with all medicinal mushrooms, Cordyceps exerts a modulating effect on the immune system by virtue of its beta glucans and related complex polysaccharides, increasing its ability to respond effectively to cancers and virally infected cells.
In addition it possesses significant quantities of nucleotide derivatives such as deoxyadenosine, which have been shown to interfere with viral replication.
Traditionally Cordyceps was used to treat fatigue, in the elderly and in those recovering from long illness, and it was one of the substances taken by the record breaking Chinese athletes of the early 1990’s.
The ability of Cordyceps to act in this way appears to be due to its ability to increase the efficiency of ATP utilization.
There is also evidence for Cordyceps’ ability to boost performance in a different way through increasing levels of male sex hormones and it is used as a treatment for infertility and sexual dysfunction.
In one study a dose of 1g/day resulted in 46 of 155 patients being able to resume normal sexual activity with a total of 64.15% showing improvement vs. 31.57% with placebo.
Another area where Cordyceps has potential is in the treatment of liver disorders with good responses both in patients suffering from hepatitis and from lifestyle related liver damage.
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