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Can Medical Mushrooms Save Humanity for a Second Time?

Updated on June 27, 2019
Aron Mejias MD profile image

I expect a better-educated society will create a better world. Only when we decrease our beliefs, we can be free.

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Before 1940, syphilis, pneumonia, gonorrhea, and bacterial infections were decimating the global population. Indeed, any simple infection was a sentence to death. Consequently, when somebody suffered an injury, or a wound was infected, he was doomed because neither the pharmaceutical industry nor doctors count with any drugs or therapeutic tool to treat his infection. Fortunately, Alexander Fleming changed the world forever after discovering Penicillin. It was the first medical mushroom widely used to treat human diseases1 and the origin of the antibiotics' era. The Penicillium fungi kill bacteria and protect humans from infections. Nowadays, researches and the pharmaceutical industry are focusing on medical mushrooms in the hope to find the cure for hundreds of ailments and hard to treat human diseases. The Psilocybin is at the front line with outstanding promising results for psychiatry's patients.

The potential therapeutic use of medical mushrooms2 is not only enormous, and they can be used by almost any medical subspecialty, but also the number of treatments obtained and drugs produced by their combinations is virtually unlimited. Today, the FDA counts with hundreds of clinical research that support the use of Psilocybin and other medical mushrooms as medical treatments3. Therefore, soon, doctors might prescribe medicinal mushrooms as the primary treatment for a variety of conditions.

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What Are the Proven Health Benefits of Medical Mushrooms?

Medical Mushrooms has been used by traditional medicine for ages. The scientific community fully agree that fungi and medical mushrooms produce more than 100 medicinal functions to improve human health such as4: antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiallergic, antibacterial, protect the heart and the blood vessel, kills viruses and dangerous fungi, clean the liver and detoxify the human body, improve mental health, fights and prevent cancer, etc.

For the last 60 years, clinical studies have proven the benefits of medical mushroom in the treatment of:

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Mental Health

  • Anxiety, Depression, and Mental Health. Psilocybin alleviates anxiety and depression found in terminally ill patients5 and most of the negative mental state associated with their conditions. The anxiety symptoms and sings are controlled and eliminated after an oral dose of Psilocybin. Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the USA and worldwide, some patients don’t respond to conventional drugs, for those people suffering from Treatment-Resistant Major Depression6, Psilocybin their symptoms notoriously in one week. Important to realize, patients stay in complete remission for up to 12 weeks after treatment completion.

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Addictions

  • Smoking Cessation. Starting Psilocybin therapy two to four weeks before quitting smoking facilitates the process and increases patient adherence. Another crucial point, it is 80% of patients treated remain abstinent from smoking6 after six months based on biological verification.

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Cancer Treatments and Immunological Disorders

  • Cancer Treatment. Several clinical studies are using medical mushrooms to treat diverse human cancer with excellent preliminary results. Four species show exceptional properties to prevent the growth of cancer cells, reduce the size of existing tumors, and help the immunological system fighting cancer.

References

  1. Alexander Fleming Discovery and Development of Penicillin - Landmark - American Chemical Society. (2019).
  2. Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Goodwin, G. M. (2017). The Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelic Drugs: Past, Present, and Future. Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 42(11), 2105–2113. doi:10.1038/npp.2017.84
  3. Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Carducci, M. A., Umbricht, A., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., … Klinedinst, M. A. (2016). Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial. Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 30(12), 1181–1197. doi:10.1177/0269881116675513
  4. Valverde, M. E., Hernández-Pérez, T., & Paredes-López, O. (2015). Edible mushrooms: improving human health and promoting quality life. International journal of microbiology, 2015, 376387. doi:10.1155/2015/376387
  5. Byock I. (2018). Taking Psychedelics Seriously. Journal of palliative medicine, 21(4), 417–421. doi:10.1089/jpm.2017.0684.
  6. Johnson, M. W., & Griffiths, R. R. (2017). Potential Therapeutic Effects of Psilocybin. Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 14(3), 734–740. doi:10.1007/s13311-017-0542-y
  7. Blagodatski, A., Yatsunskaya, M., Mikhailova, V., Tiasto, V., Kagansky, A., & Katanaev, V. L. (2018). Medicinal mushrooms as an attractive new source of natural compounds for future cancer therapy. Oncotarget, 9(49), 29259–29274. doi:10.18632/oncotarget.25660

This content is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for formal and individualized diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, and/or dietary advice from a licensed medical professional. Do not stop or alter your current course of treatment. If pregnant or nursing, consult with a qualified provider on an individual basis. Seek immediate help if you are experiencing a medical emergency.

© 2019 Dr Aron Mejias

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