Are you being conned by medical herb suppliers?

A friend called me last week looking for a specific shroom capsules. Due to its medicinal properties, she had been ordering it from Hong Kong and was looking for Canadian mushrooms.

Yun Zhi (China) is the name of the mushroom my friend was looking at. It was around 800$ per jar. Yun Zhi. Perhaps 800 dollars would pay for a label that has a botanical name to let people outside China know what they are actually buying. I had to cross refer Chinese mushroom names and scientific names in order to find that Yun Zhi is actually Trametes vericolor.

My jaw dropped to floor. 800$ for Trametes Versicolor! (Aka. Coriolus versicolor / Turkey Tail). If you are a mushroom collector, you might be thinking, either, that you must pick and sell this stuff or, that my friend was being completely ripped of. T. versicolor can be called “ripped off” as it is a common mushroom in every region of the world. If you have ever been in the forest, it is likely that you have seen this mushroom.

I had to research it more. My friend purchased a polysaccharide-based extract. These extracts are called PSK and PSP depending upon the mushroom strain. There is considerable evidence supporting their use in cancer treatments. The literature on these extracts is extensive. Robert Rogers The Fungal Pharmacy cites peer-reviewed studies that show they “inhibit growth of lymphoma, leukemic and other cancer cells” and “restore antibody (IgG), production in mice with sarcoma 180…”, and increase the five-year survival rate by 400% for patients with lung cancer. They also increase survival rates of patients with colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, and breast carcinoma patients. Rogers says that at least 16 papers examined the effects of the extracts on cancer cell proliferation. 40 also studied their ability in counteracting the immune system’s negative effects. He also mentions that 24 studies have shown that PSP and PSK increase survival rates. These extracts are known to have numerous health benefits.