Showing posts with label MUSHROOMS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MUSHROOMS. Show all posts
13/11/2024
02/05/2021
Five therapeutic properties of medicinal mushrooms
https://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/mushroom-power-five-therapeutic-properties-medicinal-mushrooms1
Mushrooms have recently gained popularity in culinary circles, but their far-reaching therapeutic properties should get your attention for a longer and healthier life
Although mushrooms have been part of the healer's toolbox since ancient times, the medicinal power of mushrooms is gaining momentum in evidence-based journals.
Medicinal mushrooms come in a wide variety and shapes such as white button, reishi, maitake, shiitake, oyster, cordyceps, cauliflower, tiger tail and lion's mane, and most have health benefits that range from fighting cancer and boosting your immunity and memory to preventing diseases like diabetes and arthritis.
Medicinal mushrooms come in a wide variety and shapes such as white button, reishi, maitake, shiitake, oyster, cordyceps, cauliflower, tiger tail and lion's mane, and most have health benefits that range from fighting cancer and boosting your immunity and memory to preventing diseases like diabetes and arthritis.
01/05/2021
Mainstream media coverage of healing potential of Magic Mushrooms is increasing!
BBC: Psilocybin: Magic mushroom compound 'promising' for depression
Psychedelic drug psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms, is as good at reducing symptoms of depression as conventional treatment, a small, early-stage study has suggested.The Guardian: Psychedelics are transforming the way we understand depression and its treatmentSo why does psilocybin appear to be a more successful treatment for depression than a typical antidepressant? Brain imaging data from the trial, alongside the psychological data we collected, appears to show that while SSRIs dampen emotional depth by reducing the responsiveness of the brain’s stress circuitry, helping to take the edge off depressive symptoms, psilocybin seems to liberate thought and feeling. It does this by “dysregulating” the most evolutionarily developed aspect of our brain, the neocortex. When this liberation occurs alongside professional psychological support, the most common outcome is a renewed breadth of perspective. Psychedelic therapy seems to catalyse a type of psychological growth that is conducive to mental health, overlapping in many respects with spiritual growth.
The study also collected functional magnetic resonance imaging and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy data, providing some new insights into the underlying neurobiological mechanisms associated with creative ability.
17/04/2021
Psychedelic experience may not be required for psilocybin's antidepressant-like benefits
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers have shown that psilocybin—the active chemical in 'magic mushrooms'— still works its antidepressant-like actions, at least in mice, even when the psychedelic experience is blocked. The new findings suggest that psychedelic drugs work in multiple ways in the brain and it may be possible to deliver the fast-acting antidepressant therapeutic benefit without requiring daylong guided therapy sessions. A version of the drug without, or with less of, the psychedelic effects could loosen restrictions on who could receive the therapy, and lower costs, making the benefits of psilocybin more available to more people in need.
25/03/2021
Researchers believe the drug might help loosen the brain's fixed pathways, which can then be "reset" with talking therapy afterwards.
A powerful hallucinogenic drug known for its part in shamanic rituals is being trialled as a potential cure for depression for the first time.
Participants will be given the drug DMT, followed by talking therapy.
It is hoped this could offer an alternative for the significant number of people who don't respond to conventional pills for depression.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy might offer longer-term relief from symptoms, some researchers believe.
A growing body of evidence indicates other psychedelic drugs, particularly alongside talking therapy, are safe and can be effective for treating a range of mental illnesses.
This will be the first time DMT is given to people with moderate to severe depression in a clinical trial.
Dr Carol Routledge, the chief scientific officer of Small Pharma, the company running the trial said: "We believe the impact will be almost immediate, and longer lasting than conventional antidepressants."
'Spirit molecule'
The drug is known as the "spirit molecule" because of the way it alters the human consciousness and produces hallucinations that have been likened to a near-death experience.
It is also the active ingredient in ayahuasca, a traditional Amazonian plant medicine used to bring spiritual enlightenment.
Researchers believe the drug might help loosen the brain's fixed pathways, which can then be "reset" with talking therapy afterwards.
Dr Routledge likened the drug to "shaking a snow globe" - throwing entrenched negative thought patterns up in the air which the therapy allows to be resettled into a more functional form.
But this hypothesis still needs to be proven.
The team is consulting Imperial College London, which runs the pioneering Centre for Psychedelic Research.
As part of the study, they hope to investigate whether the drug can be administered as a one-off or as part of a course.
Subjects will be followed up for at least six months to see how long the effects of the treatment last.
‘The ketamine blew my mind’: can psychedelics cure addiction and depression?
Participants will be given the drug DMT, followed by talking therapy.
It is hoped this could offer an alternative for the significant number of people who don't respond to conventional pills for depression.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy might offer longer-term relief from symptoms, some researchers believe.
A growing body of evidence indicates other psychedelic drugs, particularly alongside talking therapy, are safe and can be effective for treating a range of mental illnesses.
This will be the first time DMT is given to people with moderate to severe depression in a clinical trial.
Dr Carol Routledge, the chief scientific officer of Small Pharma, the company running the trial said: "We believe the impact will be almost immediate, and longer lasting than conventional antidepressants."
'Spirit molecule'
The drug is known as the "spirit molecule" because of the way it alters the human consciousness and produces hallucinations that have been likened to a near-death experience.
It is also the active ingredient in ayahuasca, a traditional Amazonian plant medicine used to bring spiritual enlightenment.
Researchers believe the drug might help loosen the brain's fixed pathways, which can then be "reset" with talking therapy afterwards.
Dr Routledge likened the drug to "shaking a snow globe" - throwing entrenched negative thought patterns up in the air which the therapy allows to be resettled into a more functional form.
But this hypothesis still needs to be proven.
The team is consulting Imperial College London, which runs the pioneering Centre for Psychedelic Research.
As part of the study, they hope to investigate whether the drug can be administered as a one-off or as part of a course.
Subjects will be followed up for at least six months to see how long the effects of the treatment last.
Ketamine clinic
Meanwhile, a ketamine-assisted therapy clinic is set to open in Bristol next week.
First ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic opens
While the drug is already used for depression in clinics like the ketamine treatment service in Oxford, it is not accompanied by psychotherapy.
Rather, it is used to provide temporary relief from symptoms for people who have very serious, treatment-resistant depression.
So-far unpublished researched presented at a conference by professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter, Celia Morgan, suggests ketamine accompanied by therapy has much longer-lasting effects.
Prof Morgan said there was mounting evidence that drugs, including psilocybin, LSD, ketamine and MDMA (Ecstasy), were safe and could play a role in the treatment of mental health disorders.
And there was some early evidence they could have longer-term effects than the medicines conventionally prescribed as antidepressants, known as SSRIs, but more research was needed.
They also worked using a completely different mechanism, Prof Morgan explained.
'Long-lasting change'
While conventional drugs may numb negative feelings, "these drugs seem to allow you to approach difficult experiences in your life, sit with that distress and process them," she said.
"It might be getting at something more fundamental" that was the root cause of the problem, Prof Morgan said.
"Through that we think you can get much more long-lasting change."
Prof Michael Bloomfield, a consultant psychiatrist at University College London, said although it was a "really exciting" area of research, caution was needed in overpromising the drugs' potential.
It was also a field of therapy that could be open to abuse and misuse, he said.
Prof Morgan also stressed the importance the drugs being used within the context of therapy as there were concerns that "people might think they can give it a go with some recreational drugs".
"But it's really not how it works" she said.
Meanwhile, a ketamine-assisted therapy clinic is set to open in Bristol next week.
First ketamine-assisted psychotherapy clinic opens
While the drug is already used for depression in clinics like the ketamine treatment service in Oxford, it is not accompanied by psychotherapy.
Rather, it is used to provide temporary relief from symptoms for people who have very serious, treatment-resistant depression.
So-far unpublished researched presented at a conference by professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter, Celia Morgan, suggests ketamine accompanied by therapy has much longer-lasting effects.
Prof Morgan said there was mounting evidence that drugs, including psilocybin, LSD, ketamine and MDMA (Ecstasy), were safe and could play a role in the treatment of mental health disorders.
And there was some early evidence they could have longer-term effects than the medicines conventionally prescribed as antidepressants, known as SSRIs, but more research was needed.
They also worked using a completely different mechanism, Prof Morgan explained.
'Long-lasting change'
While conventional drugs may numb negative feelings, "these drugs seem to allow you to approach difficult experiences in your life, sit with that distress and process them," she said.
"It might be getting at something more fundamental" that was the root cause of the problem, Prof Morgan said.
"Through that we think you can get much more long-lasting change."
Prof Michael Bloomfield, a consultant psychiatrist at University College London, said although it was a "really exciting" area of research, caution was needed in overpromising the drugs' potential.
It was also a field of therapy that could be open to abuse and misuse, he said.
Prof Morgan also stressed the importance the drugs being used within the context of therapy as there were concerns that "people might think they can give it a go with some recreational drugs".
"But it's really not how it works" she said.
Psilocybin might produce rapid and lasting antidepressant effects
Scientists in Denmark believe the psychedelic substance psilocybin might produce rapid and lasting antidepressant effects in part because it enhances neuroplasticity in the brain. Their new research, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, has found evidence that psilocybin increases the number of neuronal connections in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus of pig brains.
Psilocybin — the active component in so-called “magic” mushrooms — has been shown to have profound and long-lasting effects on personality and mood. But the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. Researchers at Copenhagen University were interested in whether changes in neuroplasticity in brain regions associated with emotional processing could help explain psilocybin’s antidepressant effects.
“Both post-mortem human brain and in vivo studies in depressed individuals have shown a loss of synapses through the down-regulation of synaptic proteins and genes,” the authors of the study wrote. “Hence, upregulation of presynaptic proteins and an increase in synaptic density may be associated with the potential antidepressive effects of psychedelics.”
The researchers had previously conducted tests to establish the proper dose of psilocybin needed to produce psychoactive effects in pigs, who were examined because their brains are anatomically similar to the brains of humans.
A group of 12 pigs received a psychoactive dose of psilocybin, while a separate group of 12 pigs received inert saline injections. Half of the pigs were euthanized one day after the administration of psilocybin, while the rest were euthanized one week later.
An examination of brain tissue from the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex revealed increases in the protein SV2A in pigs who had received psilocybin. SV2A, or synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A, is commonly used as a marker of the density of synaptic nerve endings in the brain. SV2A is typically reduced in patients with major depressive disorder.
“We find that a single dose of psilocybin increases the presynaptic marker SV2A already after one day and that it remains higher seven days after,” the researchers said, adding that the “increased levels of SV2A after intervention with a psychedelic drug adds to the scientific evidence that psychedelics enhance neuroplasticity, which may explain the mechanism of action of its antidepressant properties.”
The study, “A Single Dose of Psilocybin Increases Synaptic Density and Decreases 5-HT2A Receptor Density in the Pig Brain“, was authored by by Nakul Ravi Raval, Annette Johansen, Lene Lundgaard Donovan, Nídia Fernandez Ros, Brice Ozenne, Hanne Demant Hansen, and Gitte Moos Knudse.
Psilocybin — the active component in so-called “magic” mushrooms — has been shown to have profound and long-lasting effects on personality and mood. But the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. Researchers at Copenhagen University were interested in whether changes in neuroplasticity in brain regions associated with emotional processing could help explain psilocybin’s antidepressant effects.
“Both post-mortem human brain and in vivo studies in depressed individuals have shown a loss of synapses through the down-regulation of synaptic proteins and genes,” the authors of the study wrote. “Hence, upregulation of presynaptic proteins and an increase in synaptic density may be associated with the potential antidepressive effects of psychedelics.”
The researchers had previously conducted tests to establish the proper dose of psilocybin needed to produce psychoactive effects in pigs, who were examined because their brains are anatomically similar to the brains of humans.
A group of 12 pigs received a psychoactive dose of psilocybin, while a separate group of 12 pigs received inert saline injections. Half of the pigs were euthanized one day after the administration of psilocybin, while the rest were euthanized one week later.
An examination of brain tissue from the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex revealed increases in the protein SV2A in pigs who had received psilocybin. SV2A, or synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A, is commonly used as a marker of the density of synaptic nerve endings in the brain. SV2A is typically reduced in patients with major depressive disorder.
“We find that a single dose of psilocybin increases the presynaptic marker SV2A already after one day and that it remains higher seven days after,” the researchers said, adding that the “increased levels of SV2A after intervention with a psychedelic drug adds to the scientific evidence that psychedelics enhance neuroplasticity, which may explain the mechanism of action of its antidepressant properties.”
The study, “A Single Dose of Psilocybin Increases Synaptic Density and Decreases 5-HT2A Receptor Density in the Pig Brain“, was authored by by Nakul Ravi Raval, Annette Johansen, Lene Lundgaard Donovan, Nídia Fernandez Ros, Brice Ozenne, Hanne Demant Hansen, and Gitte Moos Knudse.
What about the mushrooms we don’t notice? And how many of them are endangered?
For almost a decade, one lone mushroom was classified as an endangered species, and scientists say more could be in trouble.
When Italian botanist Giuseppe Inzenga first tasted the white ferula mushroom in 1863, he described it as one of the tastiest he had ever had.
Found primarily in Sicily’s Madonie mountain range growing in limestone and at elevations of over 1,000 feet, the prized mushroom is sold for around 50 euros for two pounds.
“This mushroom is really delicious. You can eat it raw and also cooked,” says Giuseppe Venturella, a mycologist at the University of Palermo in Sicily. He compares it to a porcini, notes that it’s rich in B vitamins, and says the best way to experience the taste is eating it raw, with a little olive oil and parmesan cheese.
Picking the mushroom is off limits in protected areas inside the Madonie National Park region, but foragers can pluck mature mushrooms, indicated by a cap with sides growing longer than three centimeters, in surrounding regions. Unlike most mushroom species, the white ferula fruits in spring, with its season lasting from April to late May.
The white ferula was the first mushroom to be recognized for the impact humans were having on its survival, and from 2006 to 2015 it was the only one of its kind to be globally recognized as endangered.
“It was so beloved by people in [Sicily] that when the numbers began to decline, it was part of popular conversation,” says Nicholas Money, a mycologist at Miami University in Ohio.
But what about the mushrooms we don’t notice? And how many of them are endangered?
“We think the true biodiversity of fungi is somewhere between one million and six million species,” says Anne Pringle, a University of Wisconsin-Madison mycologist—as fungus experts are called—and a National Geographic explorer. Yet despite their global prevalence, fungi have historically been left out of conservation initiatives.
So how do we conserve organisms we can’t see and don’t understand? And why should we try?
“Life on the planet wouldn’t exist without fungi as we know it,” says Greg Mueller, a mushroom conservation expert and the chief scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Conserving them, Money says, “is an urgent concern because of their relationship with forests and trees. You can’t have the trees without the fungi…. We cannot survive without them. In terms of the health of the planet, they’re incredibly important.”
27/02/2021
Decalcify your pineal gland - The average person by the time they are in their mid-thirties has a pineal gland that is more like a small, hard, fluoride-based pebble
In most populated environments we are bombarded with different toxic stressors -- biologically, chemically, environmentally, nutritionally, physically, physiologically and spiritually. Although fluoride has become the most popular showning the most evidence on damaging the pineal gland, all heavy metals collaborate in blocking the pineal and other internal organs.
THE PINEAL GLAND
The size of only a grain of rice, this tiny gland is an essential player as to how we perceive reality, make decisions, perform and how we sleep. A healthy-functioning pineal is essential for psychological development, peak performance, and spiritual awakening.
“Unlike most of our brain, the blood-brain barrier doesn’t isolate the pineal from the rest of our body. Instead, the pineal gets a tremendous amount of blood flow, second only to the kidneys. Surrounded by and immersed in cerebrospinal fluid, this gland camps out in a tiny cave-like area behind and above the pituitary gland.” - Pub Med
The pineal gland secretes melatonin (through the conversion of serotonin), which activates the pituitary gland to release MSH — the melanocyte stimulating hormone that produces melanin.
In a study done by British scientist Jennifer Luke back in the 1990s, she discovered high concentrations of fluoride in the pineal gland on her subjects.
THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF FLUORIDE, ANTIBIOTICS AND HEAVY METALS
Fluoride, is found in most municipal water around the world, along with many more pesticides and chemicals. In this study here you find how there are a load of pharmaceuticals and toxins within our water supply, deliberately added, as well as due to poor waste water management and lack of proper filtration. To read more about the truth on tap water, and whats added depending amongst regions in the US, here's a good article.
Pesticides and heavy metals within water accumulates in the pineal more than any other part of the body. This accumulation of fluoride forms phosphate crystals, creating a hard shell around the pineal called calcification. See image above.
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ON PINEAL CALCIFICATION
Studies show that pineal gland calcification:
• Lowers productions of melatonin
• Impairs the sleep-wake cycle
• Disrupts the regulation of the circadian rhythm
Fluoridated water is believed to be one of the chief causes of calcification in the pineal gland. Evidence suggests that children reach puberty earlier now as a consequence of fluoridated water. And, fluoride exposure in animal studies has found to decrease melatonin significantly.
According to a scientific study on the effect of fluoride on the pineal, the average person by the time they are in their mid-thirties has a pineal gland that is more like a small, hard, fluoride-based pebble.
Simply put, when our pineal gland is calcified, we’re out of balance with our basic biological functioning. On another note, ancient traditions knew of the pineal gland and enshrouded its mysteries in their lore. They knew that it played a key role with our intuition, and spiritual development. With an increasingly toxic world, we must be aware to keep it active and healthy, to further unlock our potential.
09/12/2020
Psychedelic drug DMT to be trialled in UK to treat depression
UK regulators have given the go-ahead for the first clinical trial of the use of the psychedelic drug dimethyltriptamine (DMT) to treat depression.
The trial will initially give the drug – known as the “spirit molecule” for the powerful hallucinogenic trips it induces – to healthy individuals, but it is expected to be followed by a second trial in patients with depression, where DMT will be given alongside psychotherapy.
Taking the drug before therapy is akin to shaking up a snow globe and letting the flakes settle, said Carol Routledge, chief scientific and medical officer at Small Pharma, the company running the trial in collaboration with Imperial College London.
“The psychedelic drug breaks up all of the ruminative thought processes in your brain – it literally undoes what has been done by either the stress you’ve been through or the depressive thoughts you have – and hugely increases the making of new connections.
“Then the [psychotherapy] session afterwards is the letting-things-settle piece of things – it helps you to make sense of those thoughts and puts you back on the right track. We think this could be a treatment for a number of depressive disorders besides major depression, including PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and possibly some types of substance abuse.”
DMT is found in several plants and is one of the active ingredients in ayahuasca, a bitter drink consumed during shamanistic rituals in South America and elsewhere. DMT is also available as a street drug in the UK, where it classified as a class A substance, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years in jail for possession and life imprisonment for supply.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the trial on Monday, and Small Pharma is currently involved in discussions with the Home Office, which must also give permission because DMT is a controlled substance.
The hope is that the initial trial, which aims to establish the lowest dose of DMT that elicits a psychedelic experience, could begin in January. It will involve 32 healthy volunteers, who have never previously taken a psychedelic drug, including ecstasy or ketamine. This will be followed by trial in 36 patients with clinical depression.
The treatment will be modelled on studies of psilocybin – the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms – in depression. Here patients are brought into a clinic, where they undergo a “setting” session, during which the clinician primes them to open their mind to the drug, and ensures that they are comfortable and relaxed. Next, they are administered the drug, and once the psychedelic experience ends, the patient immediately undergo a session of psychotherapy.
The trial will initially give the drug – known as the “spirit molecule” for the powerful hallucinogenic trips it induces – to healthy individuals, but it is expected to be followed by a second trial in patients with depression, where DMT will be given alongside psychotherapy.
Taking the drug before therapy is akin to shaking up a snow globe and letting the flakes settle, said Carol Routledge, chief scientific and medical officer at Small Pharma, the company running the trial in collaboration with Imperial College London.
“The psychedelic drug breaks up all of the ruminative thought processes in your brain – it literally undoes what has been done by either the stress you’ve been through or the depressive thoughts you have – and hugely increases the making of new connections.
“Then the [psychotherapy] session afterwards is the letting-things-settle piece of things – it helps you to make sense of those thoughts and puts you back on the right track. We think this could be a treatment for a number of depressive disorders besides major depression, including PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and possibly some types of substance abuse.”
DMT is found in several plants and is one of the active ingredients in ayahuasca, a bitter drink consumed during shamanistic rituals in South America and elsewhere. DMT is also available as a street drug in the UK, where it classified as a class A substance, carrying a maximum penalty of seven years in jail for possession and life imprisonment for supply.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved the trial on Monday, and Small Pharma is currently involved in discussions with the Home Office, which must also give permission because DMT is a controlled substance.
The hope is that the initial trial, which aims to establish the lowest dose of DMT that elicits a psychedelic experience, could begin in January. It will involve 32 healthy volunteers, who have never previously taken a psychedelic drug, including ecstasy or ketamine. This will be followed by trial in 36 patients with clinical depression.
The treatment will be modelled on studies of psilocybin – the psychedelic ingredient in magic mushrooms – in depression. Here patients are brought into a clinic, where they undergo a “setting” session, during which the clinician primes them to open their mind to the drug, and ensures that they are comfortable and relaxed. Next, they are administered the drug, and once the psychedelic experience ends, the patient immediately undergo a session of psychotherapy.
30/11/2020
Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy produces large, rapid, and sustained antidepressant effects
Combining the psychedelic drug psilocybin with supportive psychotherapy results in substantial rapid and enduring antidepressant effects among patients with major depressive disorder, according to a new randomized clinical trial. The findings have been published in JAMA Psychiatry.
The new study provides more evidence that psilocybin, a compound found in so-called magic mushrooms, can be a helpful tool in the treatment of psychiatric conditions.
“Prior studies in cancer patients and in an uncontrolled clinical trial in depressed patients using psilocybin-assisted therapy showed promising results. Because there had not been a control group those prior studies were limited,” said study author Alan K Davis, an assistant professor at Ohio State University and adjunct assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University.
“We were interested in testing whether psilocybin-assisted therapy would be helpful for people with depression because depression is one of the most prevalent and debilitating conditions in the world.”
The new study provides more evidence that psilocybin, a compound found in so-called magic mushrooms, can be a helpful tool in the treatment of psychiatric conditions.
“Prior studies in cancer patients and in an uncontrolled clinical trial in depressed patients using psilocybin-assisted therapy showed promising results. Because there had not been a control group those prior studies were limited,” said study author Alan K Davis, an assistant professor at Ohio State University and adjunct assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University.
“We were interested in testing whether psilocybin-assisted therapy would be helpful for people with depression because depression is one of the most prevalent and debilitating conditions in the world.”
16/10/2020
Psychedelic drugs like psilocybin are being tested to treat mental illness. They're also expanding our understanding about human consciousness
The scientific world is in the midst of a decade-long psychedelic renaissance. This revolution is expanding our understanding of one of the most captivating scientific puzzles: human consciousness. Numerous research fields are revealing new insights into how psychedelics affect the brain and which neural processes underly consciousness.
Multiple studies testing psychedelic drugs for treating mental illness provide compelling evidence of their therapeutic benefit. Treated disorders have included depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia, obsessive compulsive disorder and addiction. Dozens of clinical trials are underway, the majority investigating the therapeutic effect of psilocybin, the active component in so-called magic mushrooms. This natural compound belongs to the class of serotonergic psychedelics — those that activate serotonin (type 2A) receptors.
Researchers are examining the distribution of serotonin 2A receptors to help pinpoint the brain areas affected by psychedelics. The greater the density of these receptors, the greater the likelihood that a particular brain region contributes to the psychedelic experience, according to a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology. Knowing this helps us understand how psychedelics exert their positive therapeutic effect, as well as which brain regions are involved in various states of consciousness.
What Psychedelic Mushrooms Are Teaching Us About Human Consciousness
Multiple studies testing psychedelic drugs for treating mental illness provide compelling evidence of their therapeutic benefit. Treated disorders have included depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia, obsessive compulsive disorder and addiction. Dozens of clinical trials are underway, the majority investigating the therapeutic effect of psilocybin, the active component in so-called magic mushrooms. This natural compound belongs to the class of serotonergic psychedelics — those that activate serotonin (type 2A) receptors.
Researchers are examining the distribution of serotonin 2A receptors to help pinpoint the brain areas affected by psychedelics. The greater the density of these receptors, the greater the likelihood that a particular brain region contributes to the psychedelic experience, according to a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology. Knowing this helps us understand how psychedelics exert their positive therapeutic effect, as well as which brain regions are involved in various states of consciousness.
40% of world’s plant species at risk of extinction
Two in five of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction as a result of the destruction of the natural world, according to an international report.
Plants and fungi underpin life on Earth, but the scientists said they were now in a race against time to find and identify species before they were lost.
These unknown species, and many already recorded, were an untapped “treasure chest” of food, medicines and biofuels that could tackle many of humanity’s greatest challenges, they said, potentially including treatments for coronavirus and other pandemic microbes.
More than 4,000 species of plants and fungi were discovered in 2019. These included six species of Allium in Europe and China, the same group as onions and garlic, 10 relatives of spinach in California and two wild relatives of cassava, which could help future-proof the staple crop eaten by 800 million people against the climate crisis.
New medical plants included a sea holly species in Texas, whose relatives can treat inflammation, a species of antimalarial Artemisa in Tibet and three varieties of evening primrose.
Plants and fungi underpin life on Earth, but the scientists said they were now in a race against time to find and identify species before they were lost.
These unknown species, and many already recorded, were an untapped “treasure chest” of food, medicines and biofuels that could tackle many of humanity’s greatest challenges, they said, potentially including treatments for coronavirus and other pandemic microbes.
More than 4,000 species of plants and fungi were discovered in 2019. These included six species of Allium in Europe and China, the same group as onions and garlic, 10 relatives of spinach in California and two wild relatives of cassava, which could help future-proof the staple crop eaten by 800 million people against the climate crisis.
New medical plants included a sea holly species in Texas, whose relatives can treat inflammation, a species of antimalarial Artemisa in Tibet and three varieties of evening primrose.
02/07/2020
Mushrooms are healing the earth, starting with Colorado’s forests
https://theknow.denverpost.com/2020/06/11/fungal-degredation-colorado/240382/
Through it all, one fact remains clear to Ravage, Wilson and other fungi fans: Mushrooms are one of our biggest allies if we hope to have any chance of healing the earth.
“We all know that woody debris can be decomposed by lots of different organisms,” Wilson said, “but there are no organisms on the planet that do it with the level of effectiveness and efficiency of fungi.”
Through it all, one fact remains clear to Ravage, Wilson and other fungi fans: Mushrooms are one of our biggest allies if we hope to have any chance of healing the earth.
“We all know that woody debris can be decomposed by lots of different organisms,” Wilson said, “but there are no organisms on the planet that do it with the level of effectiveness and efficiency of fungi.”
Combining therapy with the psychedelic drug psilocybin results in large reductions in anxiety and depression
Psilocybin is a hallucinogenic compound found in so-called “magic mushrooms”. A recent meta-analysis published in Psychiatry Research provides tentative support for psilocybin in the treatment of depression and anxiety.
10/02/2020
Chaga mushroom: This unusual tree fungus is a medicinal powerhouse
Chaga mushroom: This unusual tree fungus is a medicinal powerhouse
How Chaga Helps Support a Vibrant Immune System
You probably already know that the primary means by which the human body avoids disease is through the immune system, a complex network of organs, cells, and proteins that actively wards off foreign invaders. Without an immune system, our bodies would quickly succumb to harmful pathogens like bacteria, viruses, parasites, and malignant fungi, leading to serious illness and eventually death. This is why it's critically important to support the immune system with immunomodulatory nutrition like the kind found in Chaga.
A natural Biological Response Modifier (BRM), Chaga mushroom is rich in a class of polysaccharides known as Beta-D-Glucans that help to balance the body's immune system response, boosting or slowing it as needed for optimal function.
Chaga also possesses key nutrient compounds that give it the ability to activate an array of immune cells, including lymphocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells. These cells allow the body to suppress the formation of chronic health conditions like autoimmune disease, allergies, and cancer.
How Chaga Helps Support a Vibrant Immune System
You probably already know that the primary means by which the human body avoids disease is through the immune system, a complex network of organs, cells, and proteins that actively wards off foreign invaders. Without an immune system, our bodies would quickly succumb to harmful pathogens like bacteria, viruses, parasites, and malignant fungi, leading to serious illness and eventually death. This is why it's critically important to support the immune system with immunomodulatory nutrition like the kind found in Chaga.
A natural Biological Response Modifier (BRM), Chaga mushroom is rich in a class of polysaccharides known as Beta-D-Glucans that help to balance the body's immune system response, boosting or slowing it as needed for optimal function.
Chaga also possesses key nutrient compounds that give it the ability to activate an array of immune cells, including lymphocytes, macrophages, and natural killer cells. These cells allow the body to suppress the formation of chronic health conditions like autoimmune disease, allergies, and cancer.
05/11/2019
Lion's Mane Mushroom proven to reduce anxiety and depression
Lion's Mane Mushroom proven to reduce anxiety and depression
Lion's mane mushroom is a medicinal food with many benefits that has been used for centuries and has now been shown to be an effective natural depression and anxiety treatment.
A placebo-controlled human clinical study took 30 female patients to investigate the effects of lion's mane on menopause, depression, sleep quality and anxiety.
Of those who finished the study, 14 took a placebo and 12 took lion's mane mushroom extract that was baked into cookies. Two grams of lion's mane mushroom per day were consumed and after four weeks of use, a reduction in depression and anxiety were reported by the lions mane mushroom group.
This study gives rise to the growing belief among scientists that depression and anxiety has less to do with the "serotonin hypothesis" and possibly more to do with the "neurogenic theory of depression and anxiety."
In essence, higher rates of neurogenesis could prove to equal higher rates of happiness.
Lion's mane mushroom is often used as a food and supplement to support brain health, memory, focus, clarity and recall. It does so by helping the brain produce a compound called Nerve Growth Factor, or NGF for short. As a protein, Nerve Growth Factor helps to repair damaged neurons and even create new neurons!
Lion's mane mushroom is a medicinal food with many benefits that has been used for centuries and has now been shown to be an effective natural depression and anxiety treatment.
A placebo-controlled human clinical study took 30 female patients to investigate the effects of lion's mane on menopause, depression, sleep quality and anxiety.
Of those who finished the study, 14 took a placebo and 12 took lion's mane mushroom extract that was baked into cookies. Two grams of lion's mane mushroom per day were consumed and after four weeks of use, a reduction in depression and anxiety were reported by the lions mane mushroom group.
This study gives rise to the growing belief among scientists that depression and anxiety has less to do with the "serotonin hypothesis" and possibly more to do with the "neurogenic theory of depression and anxiety."
In essence, higher rates of neurogenesis could prove to equal higher rates of happiness.
Lion's mane mushroom is often used as a food and supplement to support brain health, memory, focus, clarity and recall. It does so by helping the brain produce a compound called Nerve Growth Factor, or NGF for short. As a protein, Nerve Growth Factor helps to repair damaged neurons and even create new neurons!
08/08/2019
Lion's Mane mushroom: Unparalleled benefits for your brain and nervous system
Lion's Mane mushroom: Unparalleled benefits for your brain:
Lion's Mane is nature's gift to your nervous system! It's the only mushroom possessing not one but TWO potent nerve growth factors, showing potential benefits for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, multiple sclerosis, leg cramps, anxiety and more.
What if there were one natural treatment that could restore brain function, regrow damaged nerves and reverse the progression of multiple sclerosis? There may be! Lion's mane mushroom has been used medicinally in Asia for centuries, but for some reason it's one of the best-kept secrets in the West.
Besides being called "lion's mane," Hericium erinaceus, is known by several other names including bearded tooth mushroom, bearded hedgehog, bearded tooth fungus and others. In Japan, it's known as yamabushitake, which means "mountain priest mushroom." It has a variety of other names, depending on the country.
In Asia, it is said that lion's mane gives you "nerves of steel and the memory of a lion," and from what science is revealing, that's apt prose. Thus far, evidence exists that lion's mane mushroom confers the following health benefits:
Improved cognitive function
Nerve regeneration, remyelination, and increased Nerve Growth Factor (NGF)
Improved digestive function and relief from gastritis
Immunosupportive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant
Anticoagulant; mild ACE inhibitor; improved lipid profile
The science about lion's mane is in its infancy, but evidence already points to unparalleled therapeutic benefits for numerous diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system, summarized in the table below, and the list seems to be growing by the day.
Conditions That May Benefit from Lion's Mane Mushroom
Dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
Parkinson's disease
Peripheral neuropathy
Muscle cramps and spasms
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Stroke recovery
Seizures and seizure-like post-stroke episodes
Anxiety and Depression
Mother Nature's First "Smart Mushroom"
According to world renown fungi expert Paul Stamets, lion's mane may be the first "smart mushroom," providing support specifically for cognitive function, including memory, attention and creativity. It is reported that Buddhist monks have consumed Lion's mane tea for centuries before meditation in order to enhance their powers of concentration.
Lion's Mane is nature's gift to your nervous system! It's the only mushroom possessing not one but TWO potent nerve growth factors, showing potential benefits for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, multiple sclerosis, leg cramps, anxiety and more.
What if there were one natural treatment that could restore brain function, regrow damaged nerves and reverse the progression of multiple sclerosis? There may be! Lion's mane mushroom has been used medicinally in Asia for centuries, but for some reason it's one of the best-kept secrets in the West.
Besides being called "lion's mane," Hericium erinaceus, is known by several other names including bearded tooth mushroom, bearded hedgehog, bearded tooth fungus and others. In Japan, it's known as yamabushitake, which means "mountain priest mushroom." It has a variety of other names, depending on the country.
In Asia, it is said that lion's mane gives you "nerves of steel and the memory of a lion," and from what science is revealing, that's apt prose. Thus far, evidence exists that lion's mane mushroom confers the following health benefits:
Improved cognitive function
Nerve regeneration, remyelination, and increased Nerve Growth Factor (NGF)
Improved digestive function and relief from gastritis
Immunosupportive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant
Anticoagulant; mild ACE inhibitor; improved lipid profile
The science about lion's mane is in its infancy, but evidence already points to unparalleled therapeutic benefits for numerous diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system, summarized in the table below, and the list seems to be growing by the day.
Conditions That May Benefit from Lion's Mane Mushroom
Dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
Parkinson's disease
Peripheral neuropathy
Muscle cramps and spasms
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Stroke recovery
Seizures and seizure-like post-stroke episodes
Anxiety and Depression
Mother Nature's First "Smart Mushroom"
According to world renown fungi expert Paul Stamets, lion's mane may be the first "smart mushroom," providing support specifically for cognitive function, including memory, attention and creativity. It is reported that Buddhist monks have consumed Lion's mane tea for centuries before meditation in order to enhance their powers of concentration.
11/12/2018
Paul Stamets' epiphany that mushrooms could help save the world's bees
Paul Stamets' epiphany that mushrooms could help save the world's bees -- Science:
Years ago, in 1984, Stamets had noticed a "continuous convoy of bees" traveling from a patch of mushrooms he was growing and his beehives. The bees actually moved wood chips to access his mushroom's mycelium, the branching fibers of fungus that look like cobwebs.
"I could see them sipping on the droplets oozing from the mycelium," he said. They were after its sugar, he thought.
Decades later, he and a friend began a conversation about bee colony collapse that left Stamets, the owner of a mushroom mercantile, puzzling over a problem. Bees across the world have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Parasites like mites, fast-spreading viruses, agricultural chemicals and lack of forage area have stressed and threatened wild and commercial bees alike.
Waking up one morning, "I connected the dots," he said. "Mycelium have sugars and antiviral properties," he said. What if it wasn't just sugar that was useful to those mushroom-suckling bees so long ago?
Years ago, in 1984, Stamets had noticed a "continuous convoy of bees" traveling from a patch of mushrooms he was growing and his beehives. The bees actually moved wood chips to access his mushroom's mycelium, the branching fibers of fungus that look like cobwebs.
"I could see them sipping on the droplets oozing from the mycelium," he said. They were after its sugar, he thought.
Decades later, he and a friend began a conversation about bee colony collapse that left Stamets, the owner of a mushroom mercantile, puzzling over a problem. Bees across the world have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Parasites like mites, fast-spreading viruses, agricultural chemicals and lack of forage area have stressed and threatened wild and commercial bees alike.
Waking up one morning, "I connected the dots," he said. "Mycelium have sugars and antiviral properties," he said. What if it wasn't just sugar that was useful to those mushroom-suckling bees so long ago?
29/11/2017
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)