Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)
Major advantages: Fights most cancers and helps heal the intestine.
In Russia’s Kama River basin, chaga has lengthy been used as medication, and the identify “chaga” is derived from one in every of their phrases for “mushroom.” But chaga is technically not a mushroom — it’s a conk, a charcoal-like formation that grows on wounded bushes internet hosting the fungus Inonotus obliquus. And it’s most positively medicinal, containing greater than 200 totally different bioactive molecules.
The primary recorded use of chaga to struggle most cancers was within the twelfth century, and modern analysis could now clarify why it really works. Chaga grows totally on birch bushes, whose bark comprises excessive ranges of betulinic acid, a substance that prompts most cancers cells to self-destruct whereas leaving wholesome cells untouched. Researchers at the moment are investigating betulinic acid as a remedy for a dozen various kinds of most cancers, together with lung, pancreatic, and colon.
Historically, chaga has been used to deal with cussed pores and skin circumstances and heal abdomen ulcerations. “Chaga has an affinity for the intestine,” says Mason Bresett, ND, whose analysis focuses on practical mushrooms, who prescribes chaga for digestive assist and to assist sufferers with gut-related pores and skin circumstances.
The way to use chaga:
Grind chaga to a effective powder (or buy it powdered) and stir it right into a heat beverage. Hobbs recommends pouring 2 cups of boiled water over 1 heaping tablespoon of powdered chaga and steeping the combination for an hour. (Consuming the chaga residue presents extra well being advantages, but when it bothers you, pressure the combination like tea.) Drink one 8-ounce mug of chaga brew a day for preventive functions; improve that to 2 or three cups for a therapeutic dose.
Bresett likes to combine half a teaspoon of finely floor chaga extract with cacao powder and high it off with somewhat maple syrup to make sizzling chocolate. “Chaga and chocolate style actually good collectively, so it’s an effective way to assuage the digestive system in addition to get some immune assist.”
