CHAPTER NINE
A Cure for Alzheimer’s Disease?
Hericium erinaceus IS FOUND throughout the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, East Asia, and North America. The mushroom’s exotic, otherworldly appearance has inspired admirers to give it a host of unusual names: Lion’s Mane, Monkey’s Mushroom, Monkey’s Head, Bear’s Head, Hog’s Head Fungus, White Beard, Satyr’s Bear, Old Man’s Beard, Bearded Hedgehog, Hedgehog Mushroom, Pom Pom (because it resembles the ornamental pom-pom ball on the end of a stocking cap), and Pom Pom Blanc (because Hericium erinaceus is white to off-white in color). In Japan, the mushroom is known chiefly as Yamabushitake. Yamabushi, literally “those who sleep in the mountains,” are hermit monks of the shugendo sect of ascetic Buddhism. Hericium erinaceus is supposed to resemble the suzukake, an ornamental garment that these monks wear. Take, the other half of Yamabushitake, means “mushroom” in Japanese. In China, the mushroom goes by the name shishigashira, which means “lion’s head,” and Houtou, which means “baby monkey.” In some literature, Hericium erinaceus is mistakenly called Hericium erinaceum.
The mushroom is two to eight inches across. Its white, iciclelike tendrils hang from a rubbery base. A sharp knife is often needed to remove the mushroom from the hardwood from which it grows. The mushroom favors dead or dying broadleaf trees such as oak, walnut, and beech. Recently, Hericium erinaceus was blamed in northern California for an outbreak of heart rot in live oak tress.
In traditional Chinese medicine, Hericium erinaceus is prescribed for stomach disorders, ulcers, and gastrointestinal ailments. A powder extract from the mushroom called Houtou is sold in China. In North America, Native Americans used Hericium erinaceus as a styptic. The mushroom was commonly found in Native Americans’ medicine bags. Dried powder from the mushroom was applied to cuts and scratches to stop them from bleeding.
Hericium erinaceus is a culinary as well as a medicinal mushroom. To some, it gives the hint of seafood, crab or lobster. The mushroom has a rubbery texture similar to squid. The commercial cultivation of Hericium erinaceus began quite recently. Until two decades ago, the mushroom was considered a rare find in the forest, but now its name can be found on the menus of gourmet restaurants.
As we mentioned, Chinese pharmacies carry pills and powders that are made from Hericium erinaceus. Very likely the people who take these powders don’t realize that they are taking powder cultivated with techniques developed in Sonoma County, California. How the Hericium erinaceus got from Sonoma County to China makes for an interesting story and it also illustrates how mycologists share information about medicinal mushrooms.
In 1980, a fellow mycologist informed Malcolm Clark that he had seen an unusual fruiting of Hericium erinaceus on a tree in Glen Ellen, a small town in Sonoma County some fifty miles north of San Francisco. Clark, co-owner and founder of Gourmet Mushrooms, Inc., had long been cultivating mushrooms for the gourmet market. He was told that the Hericium erinaceus specimen grew on a bay tree that had fallen over a winter creek. Clark, seizing the opportunity to study Hericium erinaceus firsthand, took his sleeping bag and some instruments from his lab in Sonoma County to the site in Glen Ellen and camped there for three days.
“I just watched the thing for a while,” he said. “I lived with it. It was important for me to be with the mushroom.”
Clark took observations regarding sun exposure, light, and humidity. He measured the mushroom. After the three days were over, he harvested the mushroom and took it back to his lab. There, Clark cultured the Hericium erinaceus specimen.
“I was able to make up a substrate and fruit the mushroom according to what I had been able to observe,” he recounted. “Then it was a case of improving it to find out how much better I could make it grow and under what control conditions.”
Clark’s chief interest in Hericium erinaceus at this time was developing the mushroom for the culinary market. He took it to Ernie’s Restaurant in San Francisco, where then chefJacky Robert took one look at the mushroom and exclaimed, “Ah, Pom Pom Blanc.” Clark trademarked the name. Pom Pom Blancs are now available in many gourmet restaurants.
Western science opened the book on Hericium erinaceus a few short years ago. Although the mushroom has been part of the diet in Japan and China for many centuries and its medicinal properties as a styptic are well known, scientists have hardly begun to study it. However, the mushroom has turned a few heads for its unusual medicinal properties. In a recent article in the International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, Dr. Takashi Mizuno of Shizouka University in Japan noted the following about Hericium erinaceus:
What was especially intriguing about Takashi Mizuno’s article was its implications for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Some four million Americans, including former President Ronald Reagan, suffer from this affliction, the most common form of irreversible dementia. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include confusion, memory loss, disorientation, and the inability to speak or reason. Scientists believe that the disease is caused in the brain by plaque buildup around nerve cells and by tangled up nerve fibers called neurofibrillary tangles. Alzheimer’s disease has no known cure, and it is always fatal.
Dr. Mizuno reported that compounds in Hericium erinaceus may encourage the production of a protein called nerve growth factor (NGF). This protein is required in the brain for developing and maintaining important sensory neurons. To put it simply, Hericium erinaceus may regenerate nerve tissue in the brain. For this reason, compounds in the mushroom may be useful in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. We look forward to more studies in this area.
Heridum Erinaceus and the Immune System
Recently, scientists at Zhejiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hangzhou, China, undertook an experiment to find out whether Hericium erinaceus can activate T and B lymphocytes in the immune system. These white blood cells circulate in the lymph and blood and flush viruses and bacteria from the body. The scientists were interested in knowing how Hericium erinaceus affected the lymphocytes and what would happen if the mushroom were used in conjunction with other substances known to stimulate lymphocyte production.
The scientists isolated T and B lymphocytes from the blood oflaboratory mice. They placed these lymphocytes in test tubes and spiked the test tubes with various combinations of a lectin called Con-A, polysaccharides from Hericium erinaceus, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), another white-blood-cell stimulant. The scientists observed the following:
From this experiment, it appears that Hericium erinaceus can playa role in boosting the immune system when it is used in combination with other substances, namely Con-A and lipopolysaccharide (LPS).
Heridum Erinaceus and Sarcoma Tumors
To test the effectiveness of Hericium erinaceus on tumors, scientists at the Kyoritsu Pharmaceutical & Industrial Co. in Japan transplanted sarcoma tumors into laboratory mice and fed the mice different doses of dried mushroom powder for fourteen days. At the end of the period, they cut out the tumors and weighed them to see if they had grown. The result of their experiment: the tumors either shrank or stopped growing.
The interesting aspect of this experiment, however, had to do with the mushroom’s overall effect on the immune system. The scientists concluded that T cells had not shrunk the tumors. Hericium erinaceus is not chemotherapeutic. The Hericium erinaceus extract worked by stimulating the immune system of the animal, which in turn helped to control and reduce the burden of the sarcoma tumor.