Reishi mushrooms are very popular in Chinese and Japanese traditional diets. They are red-varnished and kidney shaped mushrooms. According to a recent study, this mushroom can be used to treat oxidative stress, lower cholesterol, and prevent the spread of cancer. The research study was done in a University in China and they looked at the effect of polysaccharides which come from reishi mushrooms on lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in mice. The mice were fed with a diet that is high in fat to induce obesity. And it is noted that obesity can damage cells and promote oxidative stress. After that they treated the mice with reishi mushrooms to see what effect it would have. Two different groups of mice were selected and given different body weight amounts of the reishi mushrooms. The results were positive. Reishi mushrooms reduced the body weight increases that the high fat diet caused and reduce fat in the liver and heart of the mice. They also decreased oxidative stress in the mice.
Key Takeaways:
- Reishi mushrooms, which are staples in various classical Asian pharmacopeias, are red in color and kidney shaped.
- One Chinese study used rodents fed a high fat diet, which is known to damage cells.
- The mice treated with optimal amounts of Reishi mushrooms had far less fat accumulation in the liver and heart.
“A recent study suggests that this type of mushroom can fight oxidative stress, lower cholesterol, and help prevent cancer.”