Chaga and its beneficial properties
Recent WHO studies show that 80% of the world's population prefers to treat diseases with traditional therapies.
Drug therapy for some diseases mainly uses herbal medicine.
For example, the share of herbal remedies among cardiovascular drugs is about 80% and about 75% for the treatment of liver and gastrointestinal diseases. Herbal remedies are unique in that they can participate freely in metabolism and can be used continuously in chronic diseases.
Despite the high level of development of organic chemistry, many natural compounds are still difficult and expensive to synthesize.
Chaga mushroom is considered to be an ideal medicinal plant due to its unique composition of more than 200 species of active substances, healthy phytonutrients, and immunostimulating compounds.
Today, scientists continue to discover new beneficial properties of the fungus. The largest pharmaceutical companies are researching chaga substances and are planning to release new drugs based on chaga products.
We cannot publish treatment information and recommendations on our website; however, you can read more than 1700 articles about medicinal properties of chaga on open scientific platforms such as Pubmed, ResearchGate, Internetional Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms .
Benefits of Chaga
We can’t even count the number of benefits, which you can get consuming chaga mushroom!
Chaga is a unique source of health. It has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, acts as the strongest adaptogen, supports the immune system, causes antiviral and antitumor effects. Moreover, regular consumption of chaga products helps to control blood sugar and cholesterol levels, balance the central nervous system, and even protect your DNA!
Let's get into more detail.
Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Chaga
Studies of the chemical characteristics and biological function of chaga mushroom extracts have proven its high antioxidant activity, which can prevent or slow down cell damage.
In this regard, chaga mushroom has one of the highest ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity).
The antioxidant value of chaga mushroom extract described in ORAC units is 148,300 μ mol TE/100g. Just for comparison, ORAC level of wild blueberries is 2400, Ganoderma has ORAC level of 9244, which proves that chaga mushroom has outstanding antioxidant abilities.
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Chaga is the most powerful adaptogen!
The word "adaptogen" is used to describe plant medicines that have a balancing effect. Chaga is considered to be the most powerful adaptogens.
The reason for this is the presence of special substances in this mushroom called tannins.
They are able to fold protein and promote the formation of a protective layer on the mucous surfaces of the organs, thereby providing an anti-inflammatory effect.
Chaga mushrooms can also be useful in hypertension since it is most often caused by oxidative stress caused by free radicals. Chaga mushroom oxidation retardants can excrete free radicals from the body and therefore normalize blood pressure.
Below are the test results of the antioxidant activity of chaga extract from Chaga Laboratories compared to other known products with high antioxidant properties.
Chaga supports immune system
Chaga helps maintain and restore the immune system.
This is due to the large amounts of beta-D-glucans that counterbalance the response of the human immune system to negative external factors.
Biologically active substances of chaga have the ability to accelerate the immune system or slow it down when overactive.
The polysaccharides contained in this fungus absorb toxins and counteract the destruction of body cells.
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The antiviral effect of chaga mushroom substances
Studies provided by Japanese scientists Yusoo Shin, Yutaka Tamai, Minoru Terazawa, and research from Siberia, led by Professor Teplyakova, have shown that unique compounds contained in wild chaga mushrooms help to resist different viruses.
For example, chaga mushroom extract has demonstrated the ability to protect healthy cells from the herpes virus. Moreover, Chaga has proven effective in combating HIV-1, West Nile Virus (WNV), influenza viruses of various subtypes, and smallpox viruses.
According to scientists, the antiviral effect of the medical chaga is associated with a non-specific reaction with free particles of the virus. Chaga-derived compounds can block healthy cells, protecting them from viruses.
Studies were conducted on a large number of mushrooms, but only chaga showed the maximum antiviral activity.
Antitumor effect of of chaga extract
From ancient times, chaga extracts have been used as a treatment of cancer. Laboratory studies show that water and water-alcohol extracts made from chaga are effective against human and animal cancer cells (in vitro).
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Chaga Substances Manages Diabetes
Diabetes is one of the major threats to human health. According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with diabetes has increased from 108 million in 1980 to 463 million in 2019 and is steadily increasing.
A therapeutic approach to reducing hyperglycemia is to slow glucose absorption.
The polysaccharide synthesized from chaga fungus has an antidiabetic effect, being a natural and effective inhibitor of α-glucosidase (the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of the sucrose molecule into glucose and fructose), which prevents carbohydrates from entering the bloodstream and consequently decreases blood sugar after food intake.
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Chaga mushroom has positive effects on central nervous system
It is scientifically proved that chaga extract reduces cognitive dysfunction by lowering oxidative damage caused by a plant toxin (scopolamine) to the brain. The extract also restores the levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that promotes learning and memory, as efficiently as the reference drug tacrine.
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Chaga Normalizes Cholesterol Levels
Studies have shown that betulinic acid contained in fungus is capable of destroying LDL (low-density lipoproteins), which means "bad cholesterol" in the blood.
Chaga mushroom, among many antioxidants, also contains complex sugars called polysaccharides. These polysaccharides have a hypolipidemic effect, that is, contribute to the reduction of cholesterol in the blood. This is important because cholesterol is the cause of cardiovascular disease.
Protection against DNA damage
An interesting fact is that Chaga mushroom extract can protect cellular DNA from damage caused by free radicals.
Read more here.