Chaga

Scientific Name: Inonotus obliquus or Poria obliqua or Polyporus obliquus

Common Name: Chaga, Pilat, Clinker Polypore, Birch mushroom, Black Birch touchwood

This is tree fungus

It is gaining an impressive dossier as an immune system enhancer

A fighter of cancers of the breast and lungs

Siberian chaga grows as a black cankerous mass on birch, dead or living.  It may rarely be found on beech, elm, ash or hornbeam as well.

Eurasians have used it for centuries to treat tuberculosis, digestion, and cancers of the heart and liver. 121

The black "skin" was removed and the lighter inside boiled as tea.  Being such a compact natural medicine made it a valuable, portable remedy for

healers of old.

Today's scientific focus on Siberian Chaga extract is primarily as an anti-tumor remedy.  In fact, it was approved in Russia as a cancer drug already in 1955, successfully used to treat cancers of the stomach, lungs, breasts and

cervix. 122

A modern study conducted in 1998 showed that Chaga extract does indeed inhibit the growth of cervical cancer cells under laboratory conditions. 123  Another study from the mid-90's found the active compound betulin to cause growth inhibition and death of melanoma Additional research has shown cancer cell division to be decreased by some of the active compounds of the Siberian chaga mushroom. 125, 126

Betulin is a medically active compound from the birch tree that gets concentrated in the black outer skin of the chaga mushroom, which has been found to contain 30% betulin. 127  Whereas the inside of the Chaga mushroom contains fungal lanostenes.  It would therefore be suggested that Chaga tea is better made from the whole mushroom, including the black skin.

The best Siberian chaga extracts, including ours, are made not only from the whole mushroom fruit body but also the mycelia, which contains more medically active protein compounds than the fruit body.

Other researchers have found chaga extract to be potently anti-viral.  Two studies in 1996 found it to have an inhibitory effect on both influenza 127 and HIV. 128  Perhaps it does so by helping to stimulate the body's natural immune functions, something that was first confirmed in 2002 and then again in 2005, 25, 129 and which may also help explain the historical use of Siberian chaga mushroom as an anti-inflammatory. 130

Furthermore, alcohol extract of chaga mushroom has been found to lower blood sugar levels. 131  Chaga also demonstrates significant antioxidant properties that help protect the genetic integrity of the cells. 132, 133

As an interesting anecdote that does not relate to human health but demonstrates the curative power of the chaga mushroom, Paul Stamets mentions a Quebec arborist who uses a Chaga poultice to cure chestnut blight.  It not only cures the infection but the tree even becomes blight resistant after treatment. 134

In his book "Mycelium Running," Stamets also lists the following areas where research has shown Siberian chaga extract to have a beneficial effect: Bacteria; Liver Conditions; Uterine Cancer . 1

Since the 16th century, there are records of chaga mushroom being used in folk medicine and the botanical medicine of the Eastern European countries as a remedy for cancer, gastritis, ulcers, and tuberculosis of the bones. In 1958, scientific studies in Finland and Russia found Chaga provided an epochal effect in breast cancer, liver cancer, uterine cancer, and gastric cancer, as well as in hypertension and diabetes. Herbalist David Winston maintains that it is the strongest anti-cancer medicinal mushroom.[1] The antimutagenic action of the molecules found in the white part of birch bark where chaga feeds inhibits free-radical oxidation and also induces the production of interferons, which helps induce DNA repair. The substances, contained in white part of birch bark contribute to the decrease of hypoxia and to increase of the stability of organism to the oxygen deficiency, being antihypoxant correcting the metabolism of cells.[citation needed] The anti-cancer properties of betulin or betulinic acid, a chemical isolated from birch trees, is now being studied for use as a chemotherapeutic agent. Chaga contains large amounts of betulinic acid in a form that can be ingested orally, and it also contains the full spectrum of immune-stimulating phytochemicals found in other medicinal mushrooms such as maitake mushroom and shiitake mushroom.

  Chaga or Clinker Polypore (Inonotus obliquus)Habitat: Medicinal use: Anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor (cervical, uterine Ca), anti-viral, blood-

sugar moderator, immuno-boosting, liver tonic