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Mushrooms Used as Cures throughout History
5,300 years ago, an injured and starving man from Val Venosta, Italy, fled across an Alpine glacier to escape pursuers. But his enemies caught up with him and with a practiced arrow-shot penetrated his shoulder blade and subclavian artery. Before long, he was dead from blood loss. “Oetzi the Iceman” was found mummified in 1991. On his person were pouches containing mushroom remedies, the oldest known proof in existence of medicinal mushrooms usage.
One of the mushrooms was Birch polypore - Piptoporus betulinus - which it is believed he used as a remedy against intestinal parasites. Eggs of the whipworm parasite (Trichuris trichiura) were found in his intestines. The other mushroom in the possession of Oetzi was Tinder fungus - Fomes fomentarius - which has been traditionally used in Europe to cauterize wounds and stop bleeding.
Birch polypore and Tinder fungus are both polypores, which have pores on their undersides, hence the name. Most polypores grow on trees and none is known to be poisonous.
Polypores are usually considered inedible due to the fact that they are hard and wood-like. But for ancient peoples all across the globe - from China and India to Europe and the Americas - polypore teas and poultices have none-the-less been indispensible allies to human health at least for as long as written and oral traditions can recount.
In North America, some Indian tribes used polypore extracts as remedies against smallpox and other illnesses that arrived with the Europeans. Birch polypore was among these. Other polypores used were Chaga (Inonotus obliquus), Reishi (Ganoderma resinaceum), Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor), and the now threatened species Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis).
Although nearly extinct today, Agarikon was once common in the old-growth forests of ancient Europe. Greek physician Dioscorides referred to Agarikon as a remedy for tuberculosis in Materia Medica, 65 B.C. It’s the earliest record of a medicinal mushroom in European literature. Two millennia later, the historic use of Agarikon in Poland was put down in writing in the article Medicinal mushrooms in Polish Folk Medicine by K. Grzywnowics. Again, it included lung conditions, as well as rheumatoid arthritis and infected wounds.
Up to this point, we’ve only covered the use of medicinal mushrooms in the West. However, their use has been far more widespread in Asia. There are at least three Asian species that would be criminal to leave out of any article on the history of medicinal mushrooms.
First out is Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), sometimes nicknamed the “Mushroom of Immortality” due to its wide range of healing properties. Reishi was mentioned in Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic from around 2,000 years ago. Many ancient Oriental temples and wood-carvings include images of this highly revered “cure-all” fungus.
Another Chinese medicinal mushroom known as Cordyceps was first described in the 200 A.D. book The Classic Herbal of the Divine Plowman. Cordyceps was, and still is, largely used as an aphrodisiac and to improve physical prowess in athletes, although modern research also indicates many other areas of potential usefulness.
Finally there is the Shiitake mushroom, which today is a common household name even in the West. In Asia, however, it is known to have been cultivated as a gourmet mushroom for at least a thousand years. What may surprise is that Shiitake is also one of the most researched medicinal mushrooms in the world. Its potential uses range from energizing tonic to immune-booster and antibiotic with anti-tumor properties.
Medical research on mushrooms appears to have begun in the late 1960’s in Japan. It gained attention in the West through the research by Dr. Ikekawa, who found that families growing mushrooms had lower cancer-rates than other people in their communities. Since those early days, medical research into mushrooms has grown exponentially and is still increasing. Medicinal mushrooms are continuing to make history.
Note: The information in this article is for informational purposes only. Mushrooms have not been aproved for medicinal use by the FDA. Always consult a licensed medical practitioner about the treatment of any medical condition.
Dr. Markho Rafael has worked in the natural health field since 1996 as a researcher and author, now specializing in mycomedicinals. Click medicinal mushroom for mushroom articles and products. Material for this article comes from several different sources. However, a large portion comes from the literature of medicinal fungi expert Paul Stamets, who deserves special credit and thanks.