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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ands-hype-turkey-tail-chaga-lions-mane-reishi
Mushrooms as Medicine? Supplement Makers Promise Major Health Benefits
A wave of entrepreneurs is getting into a space that has deep history—and is growing fast.
By Aja Mangum
July 21, 2022 at 6:35 a.m. EDT
Robin Miller practiced internal medicine in traditional settings for a decade, but got frustrated by the short amount of time she spent with patients and the poor tools at her disposal. She says it felt as if most doctors were treating symptoms and not root problems. “So I stopped the regular practice,” she says, “and decided to do integrative medicine.”
Miller did a two-year fellowship in 2000 with alternative medicine guru Andrew Weil at his namesake center at the University of Arizona. Weil has written more than a dozen books on the subjects of healthy living, and mycology (the study of fungi) is a passion: Since 2005 he’s teamed up with Origins cosmetics, which sells a Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Mega-Mushroom skin-care collection.
Mycology inspired Miller, too. In 2006 she opened Triune Integrative Medicine in Medford, Ore., where she combines conventional medical care with mushroom supplements, yoga, acupuncture, and other complementary therapies to treat conditions such as menopause and diseases including cancer.
One early patient was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare skin cancer. “The local dermatologist wanted to cut her finger off,” Miller says. “Which made no sense because by the time a tumor is there it has spread.”
Miller gave the patient Stamets 7, a blend of mushrooms and other fungi including royal sun blazei, cordyceps, reishi, maitake, lion’s mane, chaga, and mesima to support immunity. (The mix was formulated by Paul Stamets, who’s considered a rock star by many in the mycology world.) She also recommended turkey tail to soothe the nerves causing back pain.
Six weeks later, Miller received a call: When the woman’s doctor removed the tumor, the cells were dead. Miller notes that mushrooms may not work for everyone, but this patient’s chemo-resistant cancer responded well, and she went into remission. Several studies in the past decade have shown evidence of what Eastern medicine has long believed: That reishi, cordyceps, turkey tail, maitake, and other mushrooms can assist the body’s immune response...
Mushrooms as Medicine? Supplement Makers Promise Major Health Benefits
A wave of entrepreneurs is getting into a space that has deep history—and is growing fast.
By Aja Mangum
July 21, 2022 at 6:35 a.m. EDT
Robin Miller practiced internal medicine in traditional settings for a decade, but got frustrated by the short amount of time she spent with patients and the poor tools at her disposal. She says it felt as if most doctors were treating symptoms and not root problems. “So I stopped the regular practice,” she says, “and decided to do integrative medicine.”
Miller did a two-year fellowship in 2000 with alternative medicine guru Andrew Weil at his namesake center at the University of Arizona. Weil has written more than a dozen books on the subjects of healthy living, and mycology (the study of fungi) is a passion: Since 2005 he’s teamed up with Origins cosmetics, which sells a Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Mega-Mushroom skin-care collection.
Mycology inspired Miller, too. In 2006 she opened Triune Integrative Medicine in Medford, Ore., where she combines conventional medical care with mushroom supplements, yoga, acupuncture, and other complementary therapies to treat conditions such as menopause and diseases including cancer.
One early patient was diagnosed with Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare skin cancer. “The local dermatologist wanted to cut her finger off,” Miller says. “Which made no sense because by the time a tumor is there it has spread.”
Miller gave the patient Stamets 7, a blend of mushrooms and other fungi including royal sun blazei, cordyceps, reishi, maitake, lion’s mane, chaga, and mesima to support immunity. (The mix was formulated by Paul Stamets, who’s considered a rock star by many in the mycology world.) She also recommended turkey tail to soothe the nerves causing back pain.
Six weeks later, Miller received a call: When the woman’s doctor removed the tumor, the cells were dead. Miller notes that mushrooms may not work for everyone, but this patient’s chemo-resistant cancer responded well, and she went into remission. Several studies in the past decade have shown evidence of what Eastern medicine has long believed: That reishi, cordyceps, turkey tail, maitake, and other mushrooms can assist the body’s immune response...
