From laboratory and human clinical studies on medicinal mushrooms found that
a number of compounds in medicinal mushroom can stimulate immune function and
inhibit tumor growth. The main compounds observed were polysaccharides.
Polysaccharides are chains of sugar units that form in configurations from
tens to thousands of units long. They comprise the carbohydrate storage units
for plants and animals, and they can also have structural roles in plants,
fungi, insects, and crustaceans. Plants make starches as their storage units,
while animals store glycogen. Starches and glycogen are homopolysaccharides,
meaning that they have the same type of sugar throughout their chain.( According
to wikipedia)
Briefly,Polysaccharides are large, complex branched chain-like molecules
built from many smaller units of sugar molecules.
Polysaccharides have shown to have antitumor and immuno-stimulating
properties. Similar immune-activating polysaccharides from medicinal mushrooms
are also found in Echinacea and Astragalus. Besides the strong antitumor and
immune enhancing effects of polysaccharides in medicinal mushrooms, research has
also shown polysaccharides to have antibiotic and antiviral properties.
Medicinal mushroom polysaccharides also have the ability to lower blood pressure
and reduce blood levels of lipids and sugar.
Kirk
info@nutragreen.co.uk
