- Many compounds with medicinal effects, such as penicillin, were originally isolated from fungi.
- Fungi produce a vast number of bioactive compounds, many of which have not been investigated for their potential medicinal benefits.
- Many claims have been made about the potential medicinal benefits of mushrooms—a type of fungi—but there is little evidence to support claims made by the supplement industry, which is largely unregulated.
- A recent study found that nerve cells exposed to compounds isolated from lion’s mane mushrooms could promote neuron growth.
Many claims are made about mushrooms’ medicinal properties due to the fact that fungi are capable of creating a vast array of molecules, not all of which have been studied for their individual properties or medicinal potential.
However, there is a lack of evidence to support these claims, largely as the molecules which could have a medicinal effect have not been isolated or studied in the laboratory or in humans. Many of the claims made also allude to the consumption of mushrooms as a whole rather than the effects of individual molecules they might contain, as the dietary supplement industry is not regulated in the same way that medicines are.
The fungi species, Hericium erinaceus, more commonly known as lion’s mane mushroom, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for years and is the focus of many claims made about its potential medicinal uses.
Claims have been made about the potential benefits of this particular fungi in treating neurodegenerative conditions, and there is an ongoing trial to determine the effects of taking the fungi in capsule form on Parkinson’s disease patients, for example.
In order to observe the effect of the fungi on neurons in the laboratory, researchers in South Korea and Australia isolated several compounds from lion’s mane fungi as well as tested a crude extract from the mushrooms.
They published their findings in the
The study was funded…
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