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The post-antibiotic world of
Western Medicine is now beginning to study, evaluate, and test Chaga for the
active compounds underlying its historically understood homeopathic
benefits. As with many other natural medicinal foods and herbs, the modern
medical and scientific community is coming to understand that whole
supplements like Chaga, offer a complex balance of active compounds,
delivery mineral structures, and co-agents, more effective to sustaining a
healthy immune balance than isolated compounds synthesized from these
natural products.
The primary active compounds discovered
in Siberian Chaga are a variety of triterpenes and sterols, including Lanosterol,
Ergosterol Inotodials, Saponins, and Polysaccharides. Modern research is now
beginning to demonstrate that these compounds are effective for human maladies
treated by folk medicine practitioners with natural products, without toxic
side-effect, for millennia.
After being ignored for hundreds of
years by western pharmacologists, Chaga is currently enjoying a resurgence as a
possible treatment for a wide variety of diseases and health problems, including
chronic fatigue syndrome, the flu, stomach problems, and even HIV and certain
types of cancer. Recent studies in the U.S., Russia, and other countries have
shown Chaga to have anti-tumor benefits related to the mammary glands and female
sex organs; studies in Finland have demonstrated that inotodial, one of the most
active ingredients in Chaga, was effective against influenza virus and various
cancer cells; and Japanese research not only found similar antiviral activity,
but also discovered that Chaga shows activity against HIV (protease inhibition).
Chaga has even been classified as a medicinal mushroom under World Trade
Organization (WTO) codes.
Arguably, the most well known western
research conducted on the use of Chaga has been performed by Dr. Kirsti Kahlos
and her team at School of Pharmacology, at the University of Helsinki, Finland.
Dr. Kahlos’ team conducted studies validating the immuno-modulating impact of
Lanosterol-linked triterpenes effective as a flu-vaccination and for anti-tumor
applications.
Institutional studies at the University
of Tokyo, Japan have determined effectiveness of Inotodials in the destruction
of certain carcinosarcomas and mammary adenocarcinomas. The Melanin complex
produced by the Chaga mushroom demonstrates high antioxidant and genoprotective
effects ( Melanin Complex from Medicinal Mushroom Inonotus Obliquus, Journal of
Medical Mushrooms, 2002, vol. 4) . The polysaccharide beta-glucan, also present
in Chaga, is proven to be effective at inhibiting mutagenic and immuno-modulating
effects of cancerous tumors by triggering immune system response (SP Wasser,
2002, Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Israel).
The following article was published by
the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) a joint venture by the
National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.
Established in 1988
as a national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI creates public
databases, conducts research in computational biology, develops software tools
for analyzing genome data, and disseminates biomedical information - all for the
better understanding of molecular processes affecting human health and disease
Chaga
mushroom extract inhibits oxidative DNA damage in human lymphocytes as
assessed by comet assay.
Park YK, Lee HB, Jeon EJ,
Jung HS, Kang MH.
Department of Medical Nutrition, Kyunghee University, 1 Hoekidong, Dongdaemoonku,
Seoul 130-701, South Korea.
The Chaga mushroom (Inonotus
obliquus) is claimed to have beneficial properties for human health, such as
anti-bacterial, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. The
antioxidant effects of the mushroom may be partly explained by protection of
cell components against free radicals.
We evaluated the effect of
aqueous Chaga mushroom extracts for their potential for protecting against
oxidative damage to DNA in human lymphocytes. Cells were pretreated with various
concentrations (10, 50, 100 and 500 microg/mL) of the extract for 1 h at 37
degrees C. Cells were then treated with 100 microM of H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide)
for 5 min as an oxidative stress. Evaluation of oxidative damage was performed
using single-cell gel electrophoresis for DNA fragmentation (Comet assay). Using
image analysis, the degree of DNA damage was evaluated as the DNA tail moment.
Cells pretreated with
Chaga extract showed over 40% reduction in DNA fragmentation compared with the
positive control (100 micromol H2O2 treatment). Thus, Chaga mushroom treatment
affords cellular protection against endogenous DNA damage.
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