Anyone ever tried Chaga Mushroom Tea?

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LindaK.
LindaK. Member Posts: 506 Member
in Colorectal Cancer #1

While visiting my brother in MA last weekend, my nephew who works on an organic farm in VT gave us a Chaga Mushroom cut from a birch tree.  I have been reading about it and how to make tea from it.  It is an old remedy from Russia and China.  I'm going to try it myself and see if my husband will consider it.  I guess it can't hurt since it's all natural.

Linda

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  • LivinginNH
    LivinginNH Member Posts: 1,456 Member
    #2
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    Description

    In case anyone was wondering about Chaga...this is from Sloan's website:

     

    Clinical Summary


    Chaga mushroom, found on Birch and other trees in cold climates, has been used in folk medicine in Russia and other North European countries for generations. Chaga draws nutrients from the tree on which it grows and extracts are typically derived from the inner layers of the bark. The active constituents are thought to be a combination of triterpenes, such as betulinic acid, sterols, and polysaccharides. Chaga has demonstrated anticancer, antiviral, antiplatelet (2), anti-inflammatory, analgesic (3), immune stimulating properties in vitro, and hypoglycemic effects in mice (4). Chaga extract has inhibitory and proapoptotic effects against colon cancer (5) and hepatoma (1) cells. It also reduced toxicity associated with radiation (6) and inhibited tumor cell growth in animal models (7). In some studies, Chaga demonstrates selective apoptosis in tumor cells with no effects on healthy cells (1).
    No clinical trials have been conducted to assess chaga's safety and efficacy for disease prevention or for the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes.
    Constituents of chaga mushroom extract may interact with anticoagulant and antidiabetic drugs.





    Food Sources


    Although chaga is an edible fungus, it is not commonly ingested due to its bitter nature. Tea can be made from the whole mushroom.

     


    Mechanism of Action


    Chaga demonstrated hypoglycemic effects in mice with diabetes mellitus (4). It's anti-inflammatory and pain relieving properties are thought to be via inhibition of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) (3). An extract of chaga reduced the oxidative stress in lymphocytes from patients with from inflammatory bowel disease (8). Chaga also showed anti-mutagenic properties (9). A hot water extract of chaga exhibited inhibitory and proapoptotic actions against colon cancer cell proliferation via up-regulation of Bax and caspase-3 and down-regulation of Bcl-2 (5). Aqueous extracts of chaga also inhibited growth of human hepatoma cells via arrest of the cell cycle in Go/G1 phase and inducing selective apoptosis (1). The selectivity may also be a result of activation from a change in the pH of the tumor microenvironment (11). Betulinic acid, a constituent of chaga, is cytotoxic and triggers apoptosis through a direct effect on the mitochondria of cancer cells. Other apoptosis-inducing factors result in cleavage of caspases and nuclear fragmentation (7). Like many medicinal mushrooms, chaga is rich in beta glucans which have immunomodulating activities. Beta glucans bind to Complement Receptor 3 (CR3) that allows the immune cells to recognize cancer cells as “non-self” (10).







    Adverse Reactions


    None reported.







    Herb-Drug Interactions


    • Antiplatelet or anticoagulant drugs: Chaga extract can inhibit platelet aggregation (2). It may also have additive anticoagulant effects.
    • Hypoglycemic agents: May have additive effect in lowering blood sugar levels.





  • janderson1964
    janderson1964 Member Posts: 2,215 Member
    #3
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    That's interesting. I have

    That's interesting. I have been drinking mushroom tea for 2 years. The tea I drink is from the Phellinus Linteus mushroom which I believe is also found on birch trees in cold climates.

  • LindaK.
    LindaK. Member Posts: 506 Member
    #4
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    janderson1964 said:

    That's interesting. I have

    That's interesting. I have been drinking mushroom tea for 2 years. The tea I drink is from the Phellinus Linteus mushroom which I believe is also found on birch trees in cold climates.

    No Smell, wonder how it tastes

    This is exactly what the piece I have looks like, the black or dark outer bark needs to be shaved or cut off and then you grate it to powder for tea. 

    Chaga Mushroom Powder (5 lbs)

  • carrieh
    carrieh Member Posts: 146 Member
    #5
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    LindaK. said:

    No Smell, wonder how it tastes

    This is exactly what the piece I have looks like, the black or dark outer bark needs to be shaved or cut off and then you grate it to powder for tea. 

    Chaga Mushroom Powder (5 lbs)

    I love mushrooms

    I haven't tried it but I don't think good healthy foods can hurt anything. Thanks for the info :-)

  • thxmiker
    thxmiker Member Posts: 1,278 Member
    #6
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    PKP Mushrooms   King

    PKP Mushrooms   King Mushrooms and several others are supposed to be beneficial.  We eat King mushrooms quite often!  Mushroom Soups, Musroom risotto, etc...

     

    I figure if it is afforable and can not hurt me, why not add it to the diet.

     

    Best Always,  mike

     

    Patrick Quillin's book Beating Cancer with nutrition has a chapter on Mushrooms.  http://www.patrickquillin.com/beatingcancerbook.html  I found the book on eBay for less then $8 shipped.  (Better then the $40 sticker price.)  There is much good information on diet in this book.

  • Alexandra
    Alexandra Member Posts: 1,308
    #7
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    Chaga Tea

    Hi Linda. I'm from the ovarian board and live in Canada, originally from Russia. Chaga is an all natural ancient cancer remedy. It was first described to westerners in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel "Cancer Ward" published in 1967.

    Chaga has very high anti-oxidant (ORAC) value.

    I have been ordering concentrated Siberian chaga extract from Oriveda.com in 300 mg capsules. They ship them from Netherlands. You could swallow capsules whole or open them up, get the black powder out and make tea. Tea tastes bitter, but not horrible. I took Chaga concurrent with chemo.

    Hope that helps.

  • Helen321
    Helen321 Member Posts: 1,459 Member
    #8
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    Alexandra said:

    Chaga Tea

    Hi Linda. I'm from the ovarian board and live in Canada, originally from Russia. Chaga is an all natural ancient cancer remedy. It was first described to westerners in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel "Cancer Ward" published in 1967.

    Chaga has very high anti-oxidant (ORAC) value.

    I have been ordering concentrated Siberian chaga extract from Oriveda.com in 300 mg capsules. They ship them from Netherlands. You could swallow capsules whole or open them up, get the black powder out and make tea. Tea tastes bitter, but not horrible. I took Chaga concurrent with chemo.

    Hope that helps.

    Thanks for the info both of

    Thanks for the info both of you!  I'm going to try the pills. 

  • LindaK.
    LindaK. Member Posts: 506 Member
    #9
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    Alexandra said:

    Chaga Tea

    Hi Linda. I'm from the ovarian board and live in Canada, originally from Russia. Chaga is an all natural ancient cancer remedy. It was first described to westerners in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel "Cancer Ward" published in 1967.

    Chaga has very high anti-oxidant (ORAC) value.

    I have been ordering concentrated Siberian chaga extract from Oriveda.com in 300 mg capsules. They ship them from Netherlands. You could swallow capsules whole or open them up, get the black powder out and make tea. Tea tastes bitter, but not horrible. I took Chaga concurrent with chemo.

    Hope that helps.

    Thanks

    Thanks for the info.  I have watched a few videos on Youtube on how to make the tea.  Have you had success with it?  I'm going to try it using my grater to break it down into a powder.

    Linda

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