Wrote by Stephanie Oswald Certified Health Coach (IIN, graduated 2014) and an Registered Holistic Nutritionist.
Land Art Organic Mushroom Extract
This extract contains 5 key mushrooms used in phytotherapy to improve the immune system and help with energy levels and adapting to stress. The mushrooms specifically chosen for their extract are shiitake, maitake, reishi, chaga and lions mane. For hundreds of years medicinal mushrooms have been used in Asia therapeutically to treat infections.
Today they are popularly used for a broad spectrum of health and wellness applications, from use as an adaptogen for stress coping and energy production to supporting the body during cancer treatments. For more than 30 years in China and Japan, Medicinal mushrooms have been approved as an addition to standard cancer treatments.
Fruiting body
Land Art chooses to only use the fruiting body of the medicinal mushrooms in the extract. A fruiting body is generally what you would visually recognize as a mushroom. The mushroom's fruiting body comprises a stem, cap, and gills, and are generally what would be consumed from a culinary perspective. The fruiting body act as the reproductive component of the fungal system, dispersing spores and inoculating hosts. Fruiting bodies offer a much more effective, high-quality product than mycelium extracts. Fruiting bodies are considered “full spectrum” as they provide a wider array of the mushroom’s nutritional components. Fruiting bodies offer more minerals, including phosphorous, copper, zinc, and potassium. Fruiting body extracts also contain higher concentrations of vitamins, including vitamin C, vitamin D, beta-carotene, and various B vitamins. Medicinal mushroom supplements from non-fruiting body in most cases contain mycelium grown on a sterilized grain, usually brown rice. This means you do not get the beneficial compounds that are only found in the fruiting body of the mushroom, powdered mycelium supplements can also contain a large component of the ground up grain.
Benefits of Land Art Mushroom Extract
Some of the most noted benefits of taking a Medicinal Mushroom Extract include, Increased energy, better stress coping (adaptogens), Anti-fungal, Anti-cancer properties, treating infections, stimulating the immune system, preventing colds and flu, Anti-inflammatory and Cognitive enhancement. Adaptogens are plants that help the body adapt and cope with stressors of all kinds. Adaptogens are meant to help us get back to a state of homeostasis (balance) within the body. Basically, taking adaptogens helps train your body to better handle stress.
Shiitake
Shiitake mushroom is popularly used in Traditional Chinese medicine for its therapeutic effects and in the culinary world. It is native to East Asia and grows on decaying Hardwood trees. Some of the toted benefits of Shiitake include lowering cholesterol, improving circulation, cancer prevention, anti-inflammatory, immune system booster, antiviral and antibacterial.
Maitake
Maitake mushrooms grow wildly in certain parts of japan, China and North America. Maitake in Japanese means “dancing mushroom”, this is often related to the feeling of joy it sparked when this beneficial mushroom is found. Some of the most noted benefits of Maitake include, it is an adaptogen, assists in combatting mental and physical stress on the body, helps calm the mind and nervous system, in Traditional Chinese Medicine it is used to balance the stomach and spleen and has been found to help relieve arthritis symptoms.
Reishi
Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) is probably the most well-known and studied of the medicinal mushrooms. It is a fungus that is grown in hot humid areas of Asia that has been recognized and used for its medicinal properties for 2000 years. Some of the most well-known benefits include, immune system modulation and stimulation, anti-cancer properties, blood glucose control (potentially beneficial to diabetics), liver supportive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial and antiviral.
Chaga
Chaga mushrooms naturally grow on birch trees, so we can find them right here in Canada. Like most of the mushrooms present in Land Art’s Organic Mushroom Extract, it is popularly used in traditional medicine. For hundreds of years in Russia and Northern European Countries it has been used for its medicinal benefits. Studies show Chaga to help slow the progression of lung, breast and cervical cancers. Some of the most popular benefits of Chaga include, Immune system boosting, antioxidants, lowering cholesterol, cancer prevention, blood sugar lowering, antiviral and anti-inflammatory.
Hydne hérisson
Lions Mane(Hericium erinaceus) has a long history of use in Traditional Chinese medicine.Lions mane has a shaggy haired appearance instead of the typical mushroom stem and cap, this is actually to increase surface area where the mushroom can manufacture and release spores for reproduction. It is actually quite a rare species of mushroom and typically grow higher up on trees where they are more difficult to harvest.Some of the most popular Lions Mane benefits include, supporting cognition and memory, anti-cancer effects, mood booster, immune system strengthener, nerve regeneration and protection against H. Pylori infections.
