Mushrooms offer hope in cancer battle

A Recent medical research has looked at the effect of the Maitake mushroom (Grifola frondosa) on a variety of common cancers. These mushrooms are native to the northeastern part of Japan and North America. They have been used as medicinal mushrooms for centuries in traditional Chinese and Japanese herbal medicine. They are also commonly used in Chinese and Japanese cooking. Numerous benefits of the Maitake have been proposed, ranging from anti-cancer effects to treatment for blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and hepatitis B infection. Most research has been focused on the use of maitake D-fraction, which is extracted from the Maitake mushroom...

Trials involving maitake mushrooms for other cancers have taken place. In a 1995 report from New York, researchers concluded that maitake D-fraction was able to activate the immune systems of mice that had been injected with liver cancer cells. A further study published in 1997 in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science found that maitake D-fraction was able to enhance the immune system and inhibit the spread of tumours in mice implanted with breast cancer."