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What Are Medicinal Mushrooms?
Mushrooms: you can eat them as a complement to a pasta dish, salad, or burger. You can also do the ones with notable amounts of psilocybin or other psychedelic properties and have a nice little trip. This blog, however, will not be dealing with either of these types. This blog will cover mushrooms you won’t be able to find at the grocery store but can legally acquire to help you with one or more health conditions or symptoms.
Mushrooms-as-medicine is relatively new in the U.S., but it’s been around for a long time in other parts of the world. Thousands of years, even. Who knew? Well, people in China. China is the top producer of medicinal mushrooms that have potential health benefits. The Eastern Hemisphere long ago discovered the potential benefits of medicinal mushrooms and has used them in countless ways.
The mushrooms we’ll discuss below are not very tasty. This is not to say that the tasty ones are not nutritious; you can still eat portobello mushrooms and other edible mushrooms for some extra vitamin D and immune support. But the shrooms Green Dragon offers come in capsules, chocolates, and gummies to ensure folks get the right amount of these medicinal mushrooms.
What Types Of Mushrooms Have Medical Benefits?
There are about 14,000 types of mushrooms known to the scientific community. Around 20 percent of mushrooms are edible, and not all of those would be considered tasty by a reasonable person. Many types are dangerous to eat, so don’t ingest the ones growing in your yard after a few days of rain.
Behold our medicinal mushroom list below; each type we describe can be found in at least one Green Dragon product:
Lion’s Mane
What a cool name! It’s called lion’s mane because it usually looks like a lion’s mane. Some people think it looks sort of like cauliflower or pom-poms. What’s more, it tastes good to some folks, who might liken it to cooked lobster or other sea creatures.
However you want to put it in your body, lion’s mane, which grows abundantly in North America, could be good for your brain. It’s been suggested through studies that lion’s mane may improve memory, mood, and overall cognitive functioning. It’s also been used to help treat symptoms of anxiety, depression, brain injuries, and neurological conditions.
Cordyceps
People in China have realized the benefits of medicinal mushrooms for ages. One type they are quite familiar with is cordyceps, which often grow on the sides of trees at high altitudes. You can find them in the Himalayas.
Three potential benefits of cordyceps are decreased inflammation in the body, decreased fatigue, and increased tolerance for certain exercises. Some research has also suggested that cordyceps can lower one’s blood sugar and LDL (bad cholesterol). As with other types of mushrooms, cordyceps may also boost the immune system.
Turkey Tail
If you enjoy hiking or camping, there’s a good chance you’ve seen turkey tail mushrooms before. This type of mushroom often grows on logs and dead tree stumps. Note: It’s not nearly as tasty as turkey.
So, what can turkey tail do for you? It may lower inflammation and support immunomodulation, which is just a jazzy word for regulation of the immune system. In places like Japan, Korea, and China, patients battling cancer may use turkey tail supplements to both fight the disease and soften the potentially harsh side effects of treatments.
Reishi
The reishi mushroom is a heavy hitter. It’s been called the “queen mushroom” and “mushroom of immortality” at various times. Not bad.
This mushroom, which grows near the base of deciduous trees, has many potential uses. It has been shown to benefit people with high levels of stress—physical and mental. It may also be good for cardiovascular diseases, chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, food allergies, and autoimmune diseases. Reishi may also support the immune systems of people with certain cancers, particularly lung cancer.
Chaga
We’ll be honest; it’s not the prettiest-looking mushroom. But this isn’t a beauty contest. Chaga is thought to be helpful for people with diabetes by potentially helping lower blood sugar. It may also help slow the growth of tumors and some viruses.
Did we mention that it doesn’t look great? Well, it may actually help your skin from looking like it’s aged and give you somewhat of a glow. Isn’t it ironic?
Shiitake
Don’t you think shiitake is really fun to say? Even better, they even taste yummy to some people.
As if this mushroom couldn’t get any cooler, it may also help prevent your intestines from absorbing too much LDL, as well as outright reduce LDL levels. Like many other medicinal mushrooms, it could also have positive effects on the immune system and blood pressure.
Amanita Muscaria
Many people use amanita muscaria for that groovy trip, as it does have psychoactive properties. It can also be toxic if too much is consumed. If used in supplements, though, it can have a few health benefits.
Amanita muscaria may boost the immune system, decrease inflammation, and regulate the nervous system. Like many CBD products, amanita muscaria may also help consumers manage pain from sciatica, menopause, arthritis, and other conditions that may cause discomfort.
Tips For Using Mushrooms as Medicine
To be clear, medicinal mushrooms have not been proven to cure any disease or condition. You should not throw away your insulin, Ambien, atorvastatin, or other prescription drugs your doctor has given you for diagnosed conditions. And before you start taking medicinal mushrooms, run everything by the doctor. The decision ultimately lies with you whether or not to use mushroom supplements, though.
Microdosing
The practice of microdosing, or ingesting a particular amount of a substance so as to evaluate some effects without experiencing full-body effects, is catching on everywhere. Even stuffy white-collar professionals have begun microdosing LSD and other psychedelic substances to help spark creativity and enhance their overall cognition. Others living with depression and anxiety have found positive results from microdosing MDMA and other drugs.
Microdosing medicinal mushrooms and products containing such mushrooms can achieve a similar outcome. Most people who microdose mushrooms choose ones with psilocybin or another psychoactive compound. Green Dragon mushroom products do not contain psilocybin, but microdosing the chocolates, gummies, and capsules could yield positive results for you and your health.
How long does it take for medicinal mushrooms to work?
The short answer: it depends. Some mushroom products, such as our Green Roads mushroom capsules, can have some effect within an hour. You might notice increased focus fairly quickly, for instance. Conversely, your body probably won’t realize many physical effects of medicinal mushrooms for a week or two.
It may also depend on how you consume a mushroom product. Some popular dishes that often work well with medicinal mushrooms include:
- Soup
- Coffee
- Tea
- Lasagna
- Salad
At any rate, it’s usually wise to start at the lowest dose that makes you comfortable. We recommend dosages of between 25 and 100 mg for our chocolate products. Consider starting at 25 mg for a few days before understanding how you respond to the product.
Ready To Get In On The Shroom Boom?
We hope you’ve gained some useful information about medicinal mushrooms and their potential health benefits. While the science of medicinal mushrooms is not yet definitive, more is being learned each day about their positive effects thanks to increased awareness and accessibility.
It bears repeating: talk to your doctor before adding mushrooms or any other substances to your medical regimen.
If you have questions about medicinal mushrooms or our products before you buy anything, we’re here for you. Send us a message here or call us at (636) 220-6960.
- Use the right amount for your body.
- Pay attention to side effects.
- Talk to a doctor before starting any new medication plan, shroomy or not.
- Take time to find the right products for your needs and goals.
Shrooms that contain psilocybin are considered federally illegal, at least in the U.S., because psilocybin itself is a Schedule I Controlled Substance. This means that, in the eyes of the federal government, psilocybin has a high potential for misuse, no accepted medical uses, and can only be safely used under the supervision of a medical professional.
Whether or not this classification of shrooms is really fair is up to you, but there are fortunately other options for those looking to experiment without breaking the law. Remember our friend Amanita muscaria, the classic red-and-white toadstool mushroom? Its active ingredients are not controlled substances, which means they are not subject to the same restrictions and legal penalties.
Magic mushrooms, including those with psilocybin and things like A. muscaria, typically begin to kick in within about 30-60 minutes. Effects generally peak after an hour or two, and the entire trip will likely last from four to six hours.
There are, of course, personal and biological factors that can affect how long your shroom experience lasts. The potency of the shrooms in question, the dose you take, and your own metabolism can all influence how strong a trip is and how long it sticks around.
Once your trip has come to a close, you can likely expect the remnants of your fungal friends to linger in your body for about one to three days. Keep in mind, though, that most standard drug tests don’t check for magic mushrooms, and if they do, they’re almost certainly looking for psilocybin.
If drug testing is a concern of yours, it might be best to choose shrooms that are psilocybin-free or time your trips to leave enough days for your body to purge it from your system.
The word “shrooms” is generally used as an umbrella term for different types of psychedelic or “magic” mushrooms.
Unlike the mushrooms we might eat in a dish, shrooms often contain compounds that can produce psychedelic effects, like hallucinations, distorted senses, and altered states of consciousness, also known as “trips.” The most common psychoactive compound found in these sorts of shrooms is psilocybin, but not all shrooms capable of impacting the brain rely on psilocybin to do so.
Many people turn to shrooms for recreational or medicinal purposes (or both), which isn’t a new phenomenon; many types of mushrooms have been used for centuries or even longer to treat common ailments, promote spiritual exploration, and bring people closer together.
In fact, some shrooms, like fly agaric (Amanita muscaria), are so ancient that researchers have traced their origins back to the period before indigenous peoples crossed from Eurasia to the Americas via the Bering Straits. That means that shroom use has been around for almost as long as modern human society has!
