CHAPTER 3
The Mushroom of Immortality
THE NAMES BY WHICH reishi is known give an idea of how revered the mushroom is in China and Japan. To the ancient Chinese, the mushroom was called lingzhi, or “spirit plant” (alternate spellings are ling zhi, ling qi, and ling chi). The Chinese character for lingzhi is composed of three pictures, one for “shaman,” one for “praying for,” and one for “rain.” Reishi has been called the “ten-thousand-year mushroom” and the “mushroom of immortality” because it is said to promote longevity. Reishi, the name by which it is known in the West, comes from the Japanese. The mushroom is also called the “varnished conk” on account of its shiny appearance, and the “phantom mushroom” because it is so scarce in the wild. The mushroom’s Latin name is Ganoderma lucidum, the etymology of which is as follows: gan means shiny, derm means skin, and lucidum means brilliant. Reishi has been called the king of herbal medicines, with many herbalists ranking it above ginseng. The late Professor Hiroshi Hikino of the University of Tohoku in Japan, a premier authority on Eastern medicinal plants, called reishi “one of the most important elixirs in the Orient.”
Reishi is not a culinary mushroom. Although some people use reishi to brew teas, the mushroom is usually taken for medicinal purposes as it has a very bitter, woody taste. Reishi is bitter because the mushroom contains terpenoids, the aromatic substances that have been known to have an anti-inflammatory effect (Chapter Two explains terpenoids). However, the cultured mycelium of the mushroom is not bitter, so people who take it in powder or capsule form need not be bothered by a bitter flavor.
Modern herbalists use reishi to treat a variety of ailments, including chronic fatigue syndrome and diabetes. It is believed to detoxify the liver and help cure hepatitis. Reishi can lower cholesterol, prevent the growth of tumors, and prevent blood clots. In traditional Chinese medicine, reishi is used to treat asthma, gastric ulcers, insomnia, arthritis, and bronchitis. The mushroom is supposed to be an antihistamine and has been known to ease the suffering associated with bronchial asthma and hay fever. Reishi is also used to alleviate the symptoms associated with stress.
Reishi is considered a tonic. As such, it can build energy and increase stamina, although many herbalists warn that it works as a sedative in the short term. It is believed that vitamin C assists the body in absorbing reishi. For that reason, many doctors and herbalists recommend taking vitamin C along with the mushroom.
In its natural habitat, the reishi mushroom is found in the dense, humid coastal provinces of China, where it favors the decaying stumps of chestnut, oak, and other broad-leaf trees. In Japan, it is usually found on old plum trees. The mushroom’s most distinguishing feature is its shiny, lacquered look. Reishi’s lustrous, well-preserved appearance may have contributed to its reputation as an herb that promotes longevity. It has a kidney-shaped cap that does not rot or lose its shape after drying. Sometimes the spores appear on the cap and give the appearance of sandpaper. The mushroom comes in six colors: red (akashiba), white (shiroshiba), black (kuroshiba), blue (aoshiba), yellow (kishiba), and purple (murasakishiba). Mycologist Malcolm Clark speculates that these mushrooms will be separated by taxonomists into different species in the next ten to twenty years because the morphology of the mushrooms is different. Red reishi is the Ganoderma lucidum, the mushroom that is used for medicinal purposes and is the subject of this chapter.
The reishi mushroom is extremely rare and difficult to find in the wild. Because the husks of the spores are very hard, the spores can’t germinate as readily as the spores of other mushrooms. To germinate, the right combination of oxygen and moisture conditions is needed. Fortunately, mycologists are now able to recreate favorable growth conditions in the laboratory (Chapter Twelve describes some advanced growing techniques). The mushroom that was once the provenance of the emperors of China can now be purchased in health food stores.
Reishi, like most of the mushrooms that are described in this book, has a colorful past. According to legend, Taoist priests in the first century C.E. were the first to experiment with reishi. They are supposed to have included the mushroom in magic potions that granted longevity, eternal youth, and immortality. The Taoist priests of the period practiced alchemy, and they were known for casting spells and mixing concoctions. They were looked upon as magicians or wizards. By present-day standards, these Taoists might be considered charlatans, but we must be careful not to look upon them with disdain or prejudice. Remember that alchemy is the beginning of chemistry. In wizardry begins science. Shamans, who treat the sick by summoning the forces of nature to the aid of their patients, were the first doctors. A poem by the first-century philosopher Wang Chung remarks on the Taoist priests’ use of mushrooms in their quest to attain a higher state of consciousness:
They dose themselves with the germ of gold and jade
And eat the finest fruit of the purple polyp ore fungus
By eating what is germinal, their bodies are lightened
And they are capable of spiritual transcendence
Reishi achieved pride of place in China’s oldest materia medica, the Herbal Classic, compiled about 200 C.E. In characteristic Chinese fashion, the Herbal Classic divides the 365 ingredients it describes into three grades: superior, average, and fair. In the superior grade, reishi is given first place, ahead of ginseng. To qualify for the superior grade, an ingredient must have potent medicinal qualities and also produce no ill effects or side effects when taken over a long period of time. The book says of reishi:
The taste is bitter, its atmospheric energy is neutral; it has no toxicity. It cures the accumulation of pathogenic factors in the chest. It is good for the Qi of the head, including mental activities. It tonifies the spleen, increases wisdom, improves memory so that you won’t forget. Long-term consumption will lighten your body, you will never become old. It lengthens years. It has spiritual power, and it develops spirit so that you become a “spirit-being” like the immortals.
Reishi’s reputation as the “mushroom of immortality” reached Emperor Ti of the Chin Dynasty about twenty-three centuries ago. The Emperor is supposed to have outfitted a fleet of ships manned by three hundred strong men and three hundred beautiful women to sail to the East, where reishi was believed to be growing, and bring back the mushroom. The ships were lost at sea. Legend has it that the shipwrecked castaways washed ashore on an island and founded a new nation there. The island, the story goes, is called Japan.
In the Pen T’sao Kang Mu (“The Great Pharmacopoeia”), a sixteenth, century text, compiler Le Shih-chen had this to say about reishi: “It positively affects the life-energy, or Qi of the heart, repairing the chest area and benefiting those with a knotted and tight chest. Taken over a long period of time, agility of the body will not cease, and the years are lengthened to those of the Immortal Fairies.”
In Chinese art, the reishi mushroom is a symbol of good health and long life. Depictions of the reishi mushroom can be found on doors and door lintels, archways, and railings throughout the Emperor’s residences in the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. At various times in Chinese history, the Emperor’s official scepter included a carving of a reishi mushroom. One emperor’s silk robe shows a peach tree, cloud forms, and, prominently, a reishi mushroom.
To the general population, the image of Reishi appears to have been a good luck charm or talisman. In pen and ink drawings, tapestries, and paintings, subjects sometimes wear jewelry or jade pieces made in the image of the reishi mushroom. Kuan Yin, the Chinese goddess of healing and mercy, is sometimes depicted holding a reishi mushroom.
Some believe that the resurrection plant in the popular fairy tale “White Snake” is the reishi mushroom. In the fairy tale, known to all Chinese children and the subject of operas and song, Lady White travels to faraway Kunlun Mountain to obtain the resurrection plant and revive her deceased husband. By demonstrating her love for her husband, she wins the plant, and her husband is revived.
Reishi has been part of the Chinese pharmacopoeia for many centuries. Knowing its reputation as a healing herb, scientists began studying reishi in earnest beginning in the 1980s. In the following pages, we present some of the most up-to-date studies on reishi.
Reishi and Skin Cancer
Aging doesn’t damage the skin; sunlight does. Sunlight is not just light and warmth. It is also composed of ultraviolet light. This kind of light can penetrate the skin and cause all kinds of damage to blood cells, nerves, and even the eyes. Long periods of exposure to ultraviolet light can damage the skin’s DNA. When the DNA is damaged and cannot recover, it may degenerate, and the result can be skin cancer.
To see if reishi can prevent this kind of damage and skin cancer as well, Korean scientists isolated DNA, placed it in vitro in a hot-water extract of the mushroom, and exposed it to ultraviolet radiation. They concluded that reishi shows “radioprotective ability” and guards against DNA damage. The experiment seems to indicate that eating reishi can slow the aging of the skin and protect as well against skin cancer.
Avoiding the ultraviolet rays of the sun is nearly impossible, but we can take precautions to keep exposure to a minimum. Wearing a hat and covering the skin helps. Applying sunscreen to the skin is also advisable, although only sunscreens that guard against ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B light are of real value.
Reishi and the Effects of Radiation Therapy
Sometimes cancer patients are prescribed radiation therapy. The purpose of the therapy is to kill cancer cells. However, radiation can have harmful side effects. Radiation—and sunlight as well, if you are exposed to it for too long—damages DNA. It has a hindering effect on the ability of blood cells to reproduce and proliferate. Radiation also kills blood cells, including the white blood cells that travel the bloodstream and go to infected areas.
White blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. The part of the bone marrow that produces white blood cells is very sensitive to radiation. As a result, one consequence of radiation therapy is a reduction in the number of white blood cells that are produced. Having fewer white blood cells can be dangerous because it makes the body more susceptible to infection and disease.
To test whether reishi can aid cancer patients who have undergone radiation, scientists at Hebei Academy of Medical Sciences in Shijiazhuang, China, did an experiment on laboratory mice. They irradiated the mice and then fed them spores from the reishi mushroom. The results of the experiment showed that reishi prevents the number of white blood cells from decreasing. Reishi also improved the survival rate of the irradiated mice. The experiment seems to indicate that reishi improves the immune function by keeping the production of white blood cells from dropping in spite of radiation.
Reishi as an Antioxidant
Terpenes, the chemicals found in terpenoids, are known to be anti-inflammatory (terpenoids are explained in Chapter Two). This means that they temper the action of the immune response. When you get a cut, for example, white blood cells assemble at the point of infection and cause swelling and redness. In other words, an inflammation occurs. But if the inflammation grows too big, the healing process is impaired. Terpenoids and other anti-inflammatories keep the inflammatory response in check and prevent it from harming the body.
Recently, scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong isolated some substances in reishi that belong to the terpene group. The scientists detected the following fractions: ganodermic acids A, B, C, and D, lucidenic acid B, and ganodermanontriol. These are very powerful antioxidants. An antioxidant is any organic substance that is able to counteract the damaging effects of free radicals on body tissues.
Red blood cells carry oxygen and remove carbon dioxide, an essential process for the functioning of the body. However, if the red blood cells do not do their jobs correctly, oxygen can have damaging effects. The antioxidants uncovered in this study help regulate oxygen use. From this excellent study, we can glimpse how reishi fortifies the body and helps the system stay in balance.
Reishi and Tumors
Essentially, the immune system can fight malignant cancer cells in three ways. One way is for cytotoxic T cells to kill the cancer cells outright. Another way is for the cancer cells to be weakened, and, in their weakened state, for the normal cells of the immune system to kill the cancer cells. The third way is for substances similar to toxins to kill the cancer cells. Three of the toxinlike substances that have been associated with controlling the growth and survival of malignant cancer cells are as follows:
To examine the immunomodulating and antitumor effects of reishi, scientists in Taiwan isolated polysaccharides from the fruit-bodies and tested them in vitro. The scientists discovered an increase in the production of the three toxinlike substances. The macrophages, monocytes, and T lymphocytes all increased their production of TNF alpha, interleukin 1 beta, and interleukin 6.
Interestingly, the increase in the three substances went to the upper level of the normal range. Too much TNF alpha can kill normal cells, for example, but the reishi polysaccharides did not cause the production of TNF alpha to rise to unsafe heights. This demonstrates the immunomodulating characteristic of reishi. It appears that reishi gives a push to the immune system, but the mushroom doesn’t push too far and overstimulate the immune system.