Eight mushrooms for your health and wellbeing

Although there are dozens of different kinds of mushrooms that have beneficial medical properties, here are eight of the most well-known and best studied. (Note: Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding are generally advised against taking any of the following mushrooms.)

REISHI MUSHROOMS

(Ganoderma lucidum) are a type of wood-degrading fungus. Reishi has been recognized as a medicinal mushroom for over 2,000 years. In traditional Chinese medicine it is used to treat conditions as wide-ranging as chronic bronchitis, hyperlipidemia (an abnormally high level of fats in the blood), high blood pressure, fatigue, headache, irritability, hepatitis, low white blood cell counts and cancer.

Reishi mushrooms contain more than 150 triterpenoids, a class of chemical compounds shown to help lower blood pressure and improve circulation. They are also high in polysaccharides, a type of carbohydrate that has blood pressure-reducing effects¹⁰  and can stimulate the immune system to combat infections and v iruses.

Sterols (steroid-derived molecules) in reishi help reduce inflammation as well as allergic reactions in the body. Reishi mushrooms also have considerable blood sugar-lowering and anti-anemic effects that may be helpful in the