Maitake mushrooms used in Chinese and Japanese cuisine shrink cancerous tumors by up to 75 percent, according to a new study. Researchers at New York Medical Center combined minute amounts of concentrated maitake extract with interferons—anti-cancer proteins used to boost the immune system—to make a potent cancer-killing cocktail. The combination works, they believe, by switching on an enzyme that controls the growth of cancer and stops the disease from spreading.
The researchers knew that both maitake mushrooms and inteferon could slow the growth of cancer cells when used independently at high doses, but found that when the two were combined, low doses could be used with remarkable effectiveness.
Dr. Sensuke Konno, head of urology at NYMC, heralded the breakthrough as "very significant."
The maitake mushroom, sometimes called "hen of the woods," grows on trunks or stumps of trees in temperate regions of North America, Europe, and Japan. A mature plant, which is composed of fan-shaped caps, can weigh up to 20 pounds.
Maitake contains grifolan, a beta-glucan polysaccharide (a molecule made of linked sugar molecules), that activates the body's cellular immune system.
Other researchers working on treatments for diseases including AIDs, high blood pressure, liver damage and diabetes, are taking a close look at the mushroom. Several studies found maitake reduces hypertension by up to 20 percent in 75 percent of patients. Another study is underway to measure the effect of maitake mushroom extract on the immune systems of patients with breast cancer.
"Many chemotherapy drugs currently in use have been derived from natural substances found in plants," Dr. Allison Ross, Cancer Research UK's senior science information officer, told the Daily Express. "It's not too far-fetched to think that mushrooms could be valuable sources of potential new cancer drugs."
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