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Cancer?
by Natalie on April 17, 2012
A study from the International Journal of Oncology investigated the links between eating
medicinal mushroom and the risk of cancer. Can extracts of Pleurotus ostreatus
commonly known as the oyster mushroom, which are often found growing on dead logs
affect the growth of breast and colon cancer cells?
Cancer is a major public health issue. Breast cancer in women and colon cancer in men are the
most common fatal cancers. New treatments are being developed all the time, but its currently
difficult to cure malignant tumors, and the side effects of treatments like chemotherapy and
radiation can severely affect quality of life.
Cancer prevention is therefore an important strategy. Changing our lifestyles and diets are the
best things we can do to reduce our risk of developing cancers. And natural productsfoods
such as medicinal mushrooms (like Pleurotus ostreatus)are being investigated because of their
low toxicity.
A Jedinak and D Silva, from the Cancer Research Laboratory, Methodist Research Unit,
Indianapolis, USA, investigated the biologically active compounds in Pleurotus ostreatus.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796484/
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LaDena Stamets holding oyster mushrooms (P. ostreatus) growing from recycled money
(hemp/cotton).
Cultivators of button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus, aka portobello, crimini and meadow
mushrooms) noted long ago that nematodes (tiny worms that feed on living plant and fungal
tissue) -- the bane of their industry -- are not an issue with oyster mushrooms. This fact led
Barron and Thorn (1986) to discover that oyster mushroom (P. ostreatus) mycelium is
carnivorous -- it eats nematodes. It exudes extracellular toxins that stun the worm, whereupon the
mycelium invades its body through its orifices. This may lead gardeners and farmers to one day
control these root-crop damaging worms without resorting to toxic pesticides. One U.S. patent
(#6,048,714), still in effect, has been issued to Bryan Hiromoto (2000) for products with
nematicidal activity based on oyster and other mushrooms.
Following on this discovery of nematode-predating activity, oyster mushroom mycelium was
also found to be one of the most adept, of more than 100 tested, at consuming bacteria
(Pseudomonas and Agrobacterium) in order to get nitrogen and protein (Barron 1988). This
makes sense, considering that in 1950 one of the first antibiotics isolated from mushrooms,
pleuromutilin, was found after observing that Pleurotus ostreatus inhibited a wide range of
Gram-negative bacteria, including Salmonella and Pseudomonas. More recently, using in-contact
antibacterial tests, we verified that exudates from oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)
mycelium strongly inhibited Escherichia coli and staph (Staphylococcus aureus). Viable cell
counts were reduced from more than 100,000,000/ml of water to less than 1,000/ml within 24-72
hours when a 1:1 mixture of exudate and bacterially enriched water were combined (Stamets,
2005).
From dead plant matter to nematodes to bacteria, never underestimate the cleverness of
mushrooms to find new food!
Walls of Pleurotus eryngii, the King Oyster. Photo courtesy of Roel Dreve.
Vidic, I., Berne, S., Drobne, D., Macek, P., Frangez, R., Turk, T., Strus, J., Sepcic, K., 2005.
"Temporal and spatial expression of ostreolysin during development of the oyster mushroom
(Pleurotus ostreatus)." Mycological Research. 109 (Pt 3):377-82.
For more by Paul Stamets, click here.
For more on natural health, click here.