(NaturalHealth365) Medicinal mushrooms are considered an important part of traditional diets around the world, adding a subtle flavor to a variety of dishes. However, more recently, scientists have uncovered the many healing aspects such as, an excellent source of antioxidants, prebiotics plus a wide variety of antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating agents.

Why does this matter?  Well, with cancer being one of the leading causes of death on a global scale, current anti-cancer drugs do a poor job (at best) in helping the body to avoid dis-ease.  This is exactly why more and more research is being done to discover potential benefits of mushrooms, especially in terms of reducing the risk of cancer cell growth.

In fact, a new study shows that mushrooms can help to reduce the risk of cancer – when they’re consumed regularly.

Medicinal mushrooms offer more than a “complementary” benefit

Previously, clinical trials have found that mushroom extracts help “complement” both conventional radiation treatments and chemotherapy by countering the common (negative) effects of cancer, such as lowered immune function, nausea, anemia, and bone marrow suppression.

However, a recent study that looked at over 36,000 men between the ages of 40 and 79 discovered that eating mushrooms three times weekly significantly reduced the risk of prostate cancer.  Just eating mushrooms once or twice a week resulted in a small reduction in risk while eating them three times a week lowered the risk by 17%.

And, this isn’t the first study that’s discovered the cancer-fighting properties of medicinal mushrooms.

Researchers have found that reishi mushrooms in particular help target and kill cancer cells. These mushrooms help improve immune function – reducing the chance of secondary attacks on vulnerable cancer patients.

Scientists discovered that Reishi mushrooms also help fight inflammatory breast cancer by disrupting cell spheroids and inhibiting cell invasion in cancer cells. These medicinal mushrooms also help regulate programmed cell death, ensuring cancer cells that are dividing endlessly finally die.

Which mushrooms offer the best health benefits?

If you’re interested in cancer prevention, both Reishi mushrooms and cordyceps have been studied for their ability to improve immune function and fight cancer.

Cordyceps naturally stimulate the immune system, help increase the body’s level of cancer-killing cells, and play a part in cancer prevention. However, other types of mushrooms offer healing benefits as well.

Shitake mushrooms help lower cholesterol and boost immune function. Portobello, crimini, maitake, and enoki mushrooms have all been linked to cancer prevention and boosting immune function.

With the ability to prevent cancer and many additional health benefits, it’s worth it to begin adding more medicinal mushrooms to your diet.  Let’s not forget: they’re delicious in many different dishes, and they’re an enjoyable way to eat a healthy diet.

By the way, for people who don’t enjoy eating mushrooms, medicinal mushrooms extracts and blends are available – offering another way to get the immune-boosting benefits of mushrooms.

Sources for this article include:

LifeExtension.com
NIH.gov
NaturalHealth365.com
NaturalHealth365.com