Researches over the years have brought to the fore numerous properties of shiitake that are of immense medicinal value. While the mushroom is effective in averting high blood pressure and heart ailments, restricting blood cholesterol intensity, enhancing the body's resistance against viruses as well as combating deadly diseases like cancer, lentinan obtained from shiitake is highly beneficial for healing hepatitis. Studies by Japanese researchers as well as case studies have shown that lentinan may also prove to be useful in treating HIV/AIDS patients. As mentioned earlier, lentinan is conventionally used as an injection and is administered to people suffering from cancer with a view to prolong their lifespan. Cancer: Shiitake mushrooms have numerous medicinal benefits, especially in cases of cancer. For several years physicians in Japan have used lentinan, a refined extract from the mushroom, to treat cancer. Especially lentinan's resistant exciting properties have proved to be effective in healing this deadly disease. It may be noted here that lentinan itself does not strike the cancer cells right away, but the herbal extract triggers the body's protective system's lymphokine-induced killer (LAK) and the natural killer (NK) cells to fight against different kinds of cancers like hepatoma, sarcoma and carcinoma. In addition, lentinan also thwarts the creation of prostaglandins lead to swellings and also prevents the immune system's T cells from growing. Researches by Japanese scientists and case studies by physicians have revealed the lentinan excites the ability of particular blood cells to generate resistant system compounds like interleukin and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) that stops the cancerous cells from growing. When surgery is not practicable, lentinan is very useful. When people are affected by stomach cancer, it becomes difficult to cure as the initial indications of this disease are usually unclear and the disease is identified mostly in advanced stages, when it is virtually quite late to begin effective treatment. When Japanese physicians find that treatment of advanced stage stomach cancer is possible through surgery, they also use a permutation of chemotherapy and lentinan to treat the disease as well as to add value to the patient's life. There is an instance when physicians detected that the stomach cancer in a patient has spread to his liver as well as lymph lumps, Japanese physicians conducted surgery and used the combination of lentinan and chemotherapy to increase his lifespan. Interestingly, the patient survived for five years after the surgery! Moreover, the cancerous growths in his liver fade away following a treatment with a combination of lentinan and chemotherapy that led to the formation of uracil plus ftorafur (UFT). Lentinan is also found to be useful in treating breast cancer in women. Japanese physicians use this refined extract from shiitake mushrooms to treat breast cancer in women who have been affected by mastectomies as they did not undertake subsequent ray emission treatment. It has been proved that if the patients are administered lentinan before the commencement of chemotherapy, it helps the immune system from being damaged. In addition, researches conducted by Japanese scientists have proved that lentinan is beneficial in enhancing the success rate of cancer therapy with a particular kind of interleukin-2 (IL-2). It has been found that when chemotherapy as well as lentinan is used collectively, they help to avoid the breast cancer from disseminating to the lungs. And in the worst cases, when the breast cancer has spread its tentacles to the lungs, lentinan can still be effectively used to increase the patient's lifespan and give him more time to survive. In the course of a study, Japanese medical scientists had precisely administered lentinan injections into the areas affected by malignant tumors and the results were striking. Although most of the patients ultimately died, their survival was increased by 129 days. And this is compared to the 49 days' existence of the patients who did not take the prescription. Chronic fatigue syndrome and Lyme disease: In addition to being an effective remedy for cancer, physicians in Japan have found lentinan to be beneficial to cure low natural killer cell syndrome - a malady that results to feebleness and immobilization. According to the doctors, the symptoms of LNKS are analogous to unceasing fatigue syndrome that has been diagnosed by physicians in the West. The Japanese physicians claim that using lentinan has helped to converse several warning signs like unrelenting weariness or exhaustion, remittent fever as well as stumpy natural killer (NK) cell actions. Lentinan is also beneficial in healing Lyme disorders as it has the ability to excite natural killer cells in the body. Common cold & Macular degeneration: Shiitake mushrooms include several composite sugars known as polysaccharides which help to incite the protective system in the body and combat common colds. Polysaccharides present in shiitake also help increase the manufacture of interferon that is very useful in restraining the unnatural development of blood vessels in macular deterioration or degeneration. High cholesterol: Scientific studies involving animals have proved that eritadenine found in shiitake mushrooms is beneficial in reducing the cholesterol levels in the blood vessels as well as low density lipoproteins or LDL cholesterols that are harmful for the body. These researches have confirmed that eritadenine in shiitake has the ability to reduce the cholesterol levels in the blood vessels by 25% in just one week. And surprisingly, the results after the usage of eritadenine was found to be better in subjects that consumed high protein food compared to those who took low protein food stuff. According researches by Japanese medical scientists, chemicals present in shitake help in building up the harmful low density lipoproteins in the liver, where they are modified into high density lipoproteins or HDL cholesterols that are useful for the human system.
Shiitake mushrooms can be taken in different forms. While it is a common food in many oriental countries, the mushroom's contents can also be procured in tablet, syrup and colored mixture forms. It is also available as a powder. However, here is a word of caution and that is people suffering from bladder cancer should never consume shiitake in its crude form. This is extremely harmful as an ingredient of the shiitake mushroom is known to cause this disorder. Although, it is known to be safe and without any adverse effects, high doses of shiitake mushrooms may cause momentary swelling of the abdomen and diarrhea. Shiitake is also not known to be allergic, but sometimes when it is applied on the skin in broad daylight it may show symptoms of vortex. It may be noted here that the healing action of lentinan primarily depends on the level of its intake and if it is administered as an injection, one mg of lentinan taken two times a week is sufficient to produce the desired results. This is adequate to smother the resistant organism of the body. However, it is important that the physician or person looking after the health should be cautious about the patient's state and situation.