In Asia, mushrooms have been used therapeutically for several millennia and they are also used as remedies in TCM. The folk medicine of our culture was influenced and changed in the Middle Ages by the prohibitions of the church and by Chernobyl. In contrast, the use of mushrooms in medicine has remained alive throughout Asia to this day.
We have made it our mission to anchor mushrooms more firmly in culture. Ötzi - the Iceman - carried medicinal mushrooms with him when he crossed the Alps and Hildegard von Bingen also mentions the power of mushrooms in her writings.
So it's basically nothing new: mushrooms were once an integral part of our culture and were used for medicinal purposes. Unfortunately something has come off.
Our mushroom products have just been launched and are therefore brand new on the market. Certain ingredients, such as beta-glucans or triterpenes, are dissolved through different extraction processes. Some ingredients are water-soluble, others only dissolve with alcohol. Our products are extracts, so they contain high concentrations of the polysaccharides and glucans relevant to the body. Mushrooms often taste bitter, so we decided to sell them in capsule form.
Mushrooms have a chitin shell that must be cracked so that the mushroom's ingredients become bioavailable. This happens through the so-called Shell-broke process with us: The polysaccharides/beta-glucans cannot be used in powder form because in the mushroom powder they are protected by cell walls made of chitin and the human body does not have a chitinase to break down the chitin. During the extraction the above are G Cell connections dissolved by hot water or broken down, whereby the polysaccharides typical of mushrooms are released and concentrated. The indigestible fiber portion (e.g.b Parts of the chitin) are strained and discarded.
This means we ensure the best possible bioavailability of the products.
Vital mushrooms
We always talk about a “natural balance”; One can also speak of this with mushrooms, because on the one hand there are the lower fungi (molds or yeast fungi) and on the other hand there are the higher fungi.
The fungi were the first species on land. Plants didn't come to land until millions of years later. From this perspective, mushrooms are the foundation of earth formation. Every other species depends on them.
The fungal kingdom is often associated with bad things - poisonous mushrooms, athlete's foot, mold and so on... all of which have negative connotations. There are from 14.000 mushrooms that are now known, about 2.000 edible and approx. 700 of them contain pharmacological active ingredients. Therefore, the mushrooms can certainly do more than harm us. It's worth going deeper here. In mushrooms we find all the active substances that we find in a plant, an animal or an insect.
Roots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers belong to the mushroom mycelium - the mushroom body is the fruit of the mushroom. Fungi know viruses, bacteria and mold or yeast. The higher fungi have developed substances over endless years to protect themselves from all this. So we can expect something good here, because we as “mammals” have the same enemies as the fungi.
Among the “higher mushrooms” there is
- Saprobionts – The “Garbage disposal” ensure a closed material cycle in an ecosystem. They break down the resulting organic material and use the resulting organic molecules for their own energy and building material metabolism. Since they themselves are part of the food web of an ecosystem, these organic substances are fed into the biogenic material cycle. These include mushroom, oyster mushroom or reishi.
- Parasites – The “Health Police”, which mainly attacks previously damaged organisms and thus fulfills a similar function here as the pike in the carp pond. This ensures a healthy population of its prey animals by specifically eating sick and weak ones. For example, the honey mushroom (largest living creature in the world – larger than the blue whale).
- Symbionts/mycorrhizal fungi – The “Partner fungus” thrives on give and take. The fungus spins its mycelium as a weave around the root tips of the partner tree. These fine branches of the mycelium can absorb the minerals from the soil better than the roots of the tree. Symbionts can therefore be used very usefully in agriculture. The mushrooms then pass on the minerals to the tree, which needs them for growth. In return, the tree provides the fungus with carbohydrates that it cannot produce itself. Approx. 90-95% of all plants on the planet enter into symbioses with fungi underground. The chanterelle, for example, is one of these mushrooms.
1g forest soil contains approx. 1000m mushroom mycelium
No fungi no future!
A lot can be achieved with the kingdom of fungi: from food to means to support health - but also “waste disposal” for plant protection that detoxifies the soil.
- The Cordyceps, for example, also called caterpillar fungus, - discovered by yak herders - grows exclusively on caterpillars of the genus Thitarodes in the plateaus of Tibet between 3.000 and 5.000 m. Effects of interest to humans are documented in Chinese herbal books, which contain up to 2.000 years old. Cordyceps species are said to strengthen the life energy “Qi”. In addition to vitamins and trace elements, it contains essential amino acids and high-quality polysaccharides. Athletes in Asia have been using Cordyceps to increase energy and endurance for a long time. It is contained in QIDOSHA Anti-Ox.
- Almond mushroom AGARICUS BLAZEI MURRILL (ABM) comes from the Brazilian rainforest. Japanese scientists took a closer look at this mushroom about 40 years ago and discovered during research that in the areas where the mushroom is consumed, the population had a high life expectancy and cancer was almost unknown. You can also find interesting information about almond fungus here: https://www.vitalpilzratgeber.de/agaricus-blazei/
- Hedgehogbeard/Hericium occasionally attacks trees as a wound parasite, and can also be found in the crown of trees. In traditional Chinese medicine, Hericium is known for the five organs kidney, liver, spleen, heart and stomach. It is said to provide long-term support for digestion and general strengthening (give vitality and prevent cancer). More about this at: https://www.vitalpilzratgeber.de/hericium/
- Reishi/Shiny Lackporlinge are parasites - their host trees are predominantly deciduous trees, mostly oaks. Hildegard von Bingen said: “The mushrooms that grow on living trees are quite suitable for consumption and sometimes also for medicine.“With their valuable ingredients, they are suitable for a variety of indications and act as adaptogens, which are bioactive ingredients. In order to protect themselves from viruses, bacteria and predators, these sophisticated creatures produce a variety of substances that ensure their survival.
- Shiitake is one of the saprobionts that break down indigestible, toxic biogenic material into its components and render these substances harmless. Shiitake mushrooms are not only highly valued as excellent edible mushrooms, but are also very important in natural medicine due to their countless wonderful, positive properties. Shiitake is traditionally used for colds, flu-like infections and immune deficiency. Other areas of application of alternative medicine include blood pressure regulation, gout, rheumatism, arthritis and various liver diseases, as well as tumors, chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes, migraines and allergies.
- Maitake – Rattlesnake is half weakness parasite, half saprobiont and lives on old, sick or dead trees or tree stumps. Different cell types of white blood cells (leukocytes) are activated by Maitake and trigger a chain of immune reactions. Maitake beta-glucans are intended to strengthen the immune response of macrophages, killer cells and T-lymphocytes in the blood. There is more here: https://www.biothemen.de/Heilpflanzen/vitalpilze/maitake.html
What can the mushroom do for us? It can help us to set up the body's own defenses, because as I said: it has the same enemies as humans!
How can we take high-quality substances from nature so that your remedies are your foods and your foods are your remedies? This is the approach that QIDOSHA takes - regardless of mushrooms, but in general. It is important to accept the cycles of nature and live in harmony with them.