Health Benefits of Maitake
Fungus and mushrooms, specifically, play a vital role decomposing all living and non living matter on earth. Doing as much allows them to grow on basically any surface on the planet. Unlike plants, fungus don’t have the ability to create their own nutrients by absorbing light, instead, they release enzymes that break down the objects which they grow upon. After breaking down their nutrients they are able to absorb their new food. The mushrooms that we know are the fruits of the mycelial growth over the materials they break down and absorb. The matter is made up of many nutrients that are beneficial to humans. Coriolus versicolor also known as turkey tail mushrooms are polypore mushrooms that are not generally edible however their extracts contain polysaccharide peptides(PSPs) and polysaccharide krestin(PSK). [1] These polysaccharides are rich in beta glucan proteins which are found in many mushroom varieties besides turkey tail.
A mushroom we grow at Stellar Cap Kings, grifola frondosa, or maitake is a polypore mushroom that is an edible variety which has been widely studied in eastern medicine for anti tumor growth and increased immune response properties. Studies have found that comparing two sets of mice with tumors, one injected with PSK extracted from maitake and the other left to develop the tumor with no medicine, found that PSK treated mice had significantly smaller tumors over time. The mechanism for this process has yet to be discovered but the data is undeniable, PSK in mushrooms prevented tumor growth in these mice. Further testing also associated PSK to anti-inflammatory properties. Article [2] goes into more detail and has plots that describe many of the properties of PSK in mice immune response. It has been found that mice with toll-like receptors(TLRs)[5] are able to use the PSK to achieve the immune response. [2]
The mechanism by which these TLRs use the PSK has yet to be found but article [3] has found that stimulation of these TLRs leads to CD8-positive t cell metabolism which increases antiviral activity. The CD8-positive t cells are known to be an antiviral and anti-cancer cellular response. While the FDA has not approved mushrooms as a substitute to laboratory made drugs or even a complementary medicine, other countries have embraced the centuries old natural medicinal properties. Japan and China were able to isolate PSK independently and began using PSK as an anti-cancer drug. Today countries like Japan and China are ranked as some of the lowest in the developed world in terms of cancer rates. [4]
In conclusion, mushrooms of all kinds contain beta glucan peptides like PSP and PSK but more research needs to be done to fully understand their holistic effect on disease and cancers. Research is pointing towards increased immune response to cancer and viral cells but like always more research needs to be done to understand how the combination of these long chain polysaccharides like peptides and krestin with the other constituents of the mushrooms interplay and affect our bodies.
We at Stellar Cap Kings believe this research is more than enough to encourage us to continue growing gourmet mushrooms to share their delicious taste and overwhelming health benefits with the public.
NOTE TO READER: **All references have been left for the reader to learn more at their discretion. The information in our article was synthesized by one of our researchers using only the referenced articles who has extensive research experience in scientific research and writing.**
[1] Kobayashi H, Matsunaga K, Oguchi Y. Antimetastatic effects of PSK (Krestin), a protein-bound polysaccharide obtained from basidiomycetes: an overview. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 1995 Apr-May;4(3):275-81. PMID: 7606203.
[2] Lu H, Yang Y, Gad E, Wenner CA, Chang A, Larson ER, Dang Y, Martzen M, Standish LJ, Disis ML. Polysaccharide krestin is a novel TLR2 agonist that mediates inhibition of tumor growth via stimulation of CD8 T cells and NK cells. Clin Cancer Res. 2011 Jan 1;17(1):67-76. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-10-1763. Epub 2010 Nov 10. PMID: 21068144; PMCID: PMC3017241.
[3] Zhang E, Ma Z, Li Q, Yan H, Liu J, Wu W, Guo J, Zhang X, Kirschning CJ, Xu H, Lang PA, Yang D, Dittmer U, Yan H, Lu M. TLR2 Stimulation Increases Cellular Metabolism in CD8+ T Cells and Thereby Enhances CD8+ T Cell Activation, Function, and Antiviral Activity. J Immunol. 2019 Dec 1;203(11):2872-2886. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1900065. Epub 2019 Oct 21. PMID: 31636238.
[4] https://www.wcrf.org/cancer-trends/global-cancer-data-by-country/
[5] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00079/full
