Can Fungi Join Menu of Cancer Fighters?
Mushrooms have been used as medicines in China, Japan and elsewhere for centuries and have long been recognized throughout the world for their nutritional value. Now researchers in this country and elsewhere are studying whether this extraordinary plant may also offer protection against a number of diseases, including cancer.
Already, scientists know that mushrooms are nutritional powerhouses: low in calories, high in vegetable proteins and rich in zinc, iron, fiber and other essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Many researchers believe that the chemicals in mushrooms may also protect against the development of serious diseases. Some preliminary research supports this notion, but more studies--some of them already underway--are needed before we’ll know whether certain mushrooms really do protect against cancer.
Mushrooms are fungi, parasitic plants lacking chlorophyll--a group that also includes rusts, molds, mildews and yeast. There are more than 100,000 different species of fungi and they are almost everywhere. Although the word “fungus” tends to bring to mind those stubborn nail or foot infections, some fungi are good guys. After all, penicillin, streptomycin and other early antibiotics used to fight bacterial infections were extracted from fungi. And mushrooms may hold even more promise for broad medicinal use.
There are thousands of different varieties of mushrooms. Several types, such as reishi, shiitake, maitake, cordyceps and coriolus versicolor, may help fight cancer and other serious illnesses by enhancing immune function. These mushrooms contain important chemicals known as beta glucans, which can activate and increase the body’s production of anti-cancer immune-system cells. These immune-system cells inhibit tumor growth and destroy cancer cells. Mushroom extracts already are used with chemotherapy to treat cancer in China and Japan, and to fight HIV/AIDS in Asia.
The research cited to support the use of mushrooms to treat cancer and HIV/AIDS in those countries is considered by U.S. scientists to be less than adequate. The studies have been poorly designed and have involved results from laboratory or animal testing--not humans. Even so, the potential health benefits of mushrooms and of concentrated mushroom extracts (available as food supplements in the United States but not fully tested for safety) is so great that better research is warranted.
Researchers at Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center in New York are experimenting with the maitake mushroom, an exotic-looking variety that is much different from the small, umbrella-shaped white or button mushrooms most common in the United States. The maitake, whose scientific name is Grifola frondosa, is among a variety of mushrooms that are dark-colored, larger and unusually shaped. It grows naturally, primarily in Japan, and is round, smooth-topped and covered in what look like petals or feathers. Most strikingly, it is very large--typically about the size of a basketball, but sometimes as big as 4 to 5 feet across.
Early studies of the maitake have yielded encouraging results. It appears to stimulate immune function, which may also work to kill tumor cells directly. The government-supported study at Memorial Sloan-Kettering will test the mushroom’s effect on treatment of breast cancer patients.
Until research results are available, if you feel a need to boost your immune system and want to add a healthy item to your diet, consider a broader range of mushrooms. They won’t harm you and may have significant health value.
Mushrooms can be cooked with vegetables or added to roasts. Some restaurants serve a large sauteed portabello mushroom, instead of ground beef, on a hamburger bun. Mushrooms can be broiled, grilled or baked, simmered in wine, stuffed for a main dish, used raw in salads, as a garnish for soups, added to stir-fries or sandwiches. Mushrooms or food supplements that contain mushroom concentrates do not interfere or interact with chemotherapy or other medications. There are also no adverse side effects, as is sometimes the case with some herbal supplements.
Research over the next few years promises to deliver more good news about health benefits of the maitake and other mushrooms.
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Barrie Cassileth, PhD, is chief of integrative medicine at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Send questions to DrCas sileth@aol.com. Her column appears the first Monday of the month.
