Tell Americans that a dish contains “mushrooms” and their minds automatically jump to button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), which have been grown commercially in the West since the 1600’s. In contrast, individuals from Far East Asia are far more likely to jump to Shiitake as the most logical ingredient. Shiitake, which has only recently become a common household name in the West, has a long history of commercial cultivation in Asia.
Also known as Chinese Mushroom or Black Mushroom, wild Shiitake is strictly an Asian species. It derives its name from one of its hosts, the Shii Tree, but can also be found growing on Asian oaks and beeches. Cultivating Shiitake is a tradition that stretches back approximately 1000 years in China.
What is less known in the West is that in the form of Shiitake extract, this is also the most studied medicinal mushroom of the Orient. The primary focus of research has been on the anti-viral [93] and anti-tumoral [94] properties.
The benefit of using Shiitake mycelium extract as opposed to the mushroom fruit body is that there are compounds in the mycelium that don’t exist in the fruiting body or that may be in much higher concentration in the mycelium.
In fact, the most commonly researched Shiitake extract is known as Lentinula Edodes Mycelia extract, or LEM for short. (Lentinula edodes is the Latin name for Shiitake.) LEM has been reported in various research papers as being anti-bacterial, [98, 99] boosting the immune system, [95, 96, 97] and being anti-tumoral. [100] A study on melanoma found that it killed the mutated melanoma cells but caused no harm to cells that were healthy. [101]
Lentinan is the name of another much researched compound isolated from Shiitake, named after the Latin genus name Lentinula. Lentinan is a polysaccharide that has been found to stimulate the human immune system to combat cancer. [102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110] It is currently used in Asia as an intravenous cancer drug.
Arabinoxylanes of Shiitake extract derived from rice cultivated mycelium have been shown to have powerful anti-viral properties. [111, 112, 113]
In particular, type 1 herpes simplex virus [114] and HIV [115, 116, 117] have been shown to respond to Shiitake extracts in clinical trials, although one study found that Lentinan by itself - isolated from the other active compounds of Shiitake - had no noticeable effect on HIV replication. [25]
Other studies worth a brief mention have reported positive findings in the use of Shiitake extract to prevent septic shock, [120] and to treat Candida [118] and chronic fatigue syndrome. [119]
Foremost American medicinal mushroom expert Paul Stamets, in his book Mycelium Running, lists several additional areas where research has indicated that Shiitake may be useful: Cholesterol; blood sugar, blood pressure; sexual dysfunction; kidney health; stress; liver support; prostate cancer; liver cancer; breast cancer. [134]
Note: The statements on this page have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Never use any medicinal mushroom or herb without prior approval by medical doctor.
Credit to Paul Stamets for research and source material.
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