Mushrooms and Immunity
The Immunostimulatory Effect of Mushrooms
1. IntroductionSince its outbreak at the end of 2019, the novel coronavirus has become a major issue with cases confirmed worldwide. On February 11 2020, the WHO named it COVID-19, an abbreviated combination of “coronavirus”, “disease” and “2019”, the year it was first reported. It has put people’s lives in danger due to its rapid mutation, lingering aftereffects, and high rates of critical cases and death among people with pre-existing conditions such as lifestyle diseases and a history of cancer. Even with the spread of vaccines, experts are warning that it could be two years before the pandemic ends.
Pandemics have occurred in the past. However, this one is different with measures to prevent infection difficult to implement in this borderless age. So, should we just sit back and wait until the virus is over? No, until then, it is also crucial to try and boost our immunity as much as possible by eating well and avoiding stress. In this article I explain about the documented effects of mushrooms on immunoregulation, and thrombosis and platelet aggregation that have already been confirmed as clinical findings when infected with COVID-19. Now, the results I discuss in this article are not those on the effects mushrooms have exhibited directly on COVID-19 prevention, but the scientifically verified results on immune stimulation, platelet aggregation inhibition and thrombosis, and their functionality with the aim of investigating the potential of mushrooms.
2. The antitumor effect of mushroomsBeta glucans are generally believed to be the main constituent in the antitumor effect of mushrooms. Cancer has been the leading cause of death among Japanese since 1981 so experiments in which the substances with the antitumor effect were extracted from mushrooms and administered to mice have confirmed beta glucans increase immune function and have an antitumor effect.
The extract of most mushrooms contain (1,3)(1,6) β-D-glucans, but there are also pullulan-structured polysaccharides bonded with, for example, galactose, mannose, xylose and fucose, and α(1,4) and α(1,6) glucoside, as well as protein bonded with polysaccharides, terpenoids, and steroids. Our research group has confirmed that mushrooms express multifunctionality via the constituents expressing complex effects these compounds express,
There have been many reports on the effect of mushrooms on not only cancer, but also conditions such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes and allergic diseases. In antimutagenic and anti-inflammatory experiments with mushrooms as the ingredient, mixed sugar and protein composites (crude extract) were also confirmed to be more active than simple polysaccharides typified by (1,3)(1,6) β-D-glucans.
In other words, the constituents conducive to the prevention and improvement of disease by eating mushrooms are complex mushroom substances, and are surmised to act on metabolism that induces and transmits stimulation in substances that exist in the tissue and organs of human bodies, and between individual cells. At this stage, we can consider the complex constituents of mushrooms to be the active body for immunostimulation against tumors.
3. The immunoregulatory effect of mushrooms
Krestin made with Trametes versicolor (“Kawaratake” in Japanese) mycelium as the raw material as well as lentinan from Lentinula edodes (“Shiitake”) and schizophyllan from Schizophyllum commune (“Suehirotake”) have been developed as immunostimulants. In addition, antitumor effects have been confirmed in mushrooms such as Agaricus blazei Murrill (“Himematsutake”), Grifola frondosa (“Maitake”), Lyophyllum decastes (“Hatakeshimeji”), Trametes versicolor (“Kawaratake”) and Ganoderm lucidum (“Manentake” also known as “Reishi”) using evaluation systems from cell culture and animal experiments.
In the human environment, there are bacteria, viruses and toxic substances that are invisible to the naked eye. When these enter the human body, a signal is sent to cancer-forming cells which then progress into cancerous cells. However, humans are able to be healthy in such an environment because they are equipped with a mechanism called immunity that protects the body from foreign enemies such as bacteria and viruses.
The antigens of the bacteria and viruses that entered the body can, depending on the activity of T cells and natural killer cells (NK cells), kill the cells invaded by the antigens. The higher the immunity, the harder it is for bacteria and viruses to infect. Mushrooms have many actions to strengthen immunity. Strengthening immune function also improves resistance which prevents the contraction of many diseases. Thus mushrooms are believed to have the potential to prevent COVID-19 infection.