Functional mushrooms

What are functional mushrooms?

Functional mushrooms are a group of mushrooms used in traditional and official medicine due to their properties beneficial to the human body. Forming a separate kingdom of the living world, they contain a number of unique components, the use of which affects the systems of human organs, allowing to effectively support during various diseases. The use of mushrooms in medicine began thousands of years ago.

What are functional mushrooms used for?

Mushrooms have been used in tradional folk medicine since ancient times; for example, Hippocrates, around 400 BC, noted the hemostatic properties of the mushroom Fomes fomentarius ("true tinder fungus"). As a rule, the physiological effects of this biological raw material were noticed by chance - by the resistance to diseases of people who often used this or that mushroom. But later, doctors (shamans, healers) switched to special experiments, as a result of which they were able to isolate individual potentially useful species and learned how to prepare powders and extracts of functional mushrooms and use them in the treatment of many diseases.

In evidence-based science, the first antibiotic, penicillin, was isolated from fungi of the genus Penicillium. When searching for new drugs, scientists often rely on traditional medicine data, studying potentially useful components of fungi that have already proven themselves.

Fungotherapy is a practice that does not involve the isolation of individual substances, but the use of natural mushroom raw materials. It can be used in its natural original form (usually in powder form) or after minimal processing to increase the bioavailability of beneficial substances. Products of such processing include decoctions, extracts, infusions.

During fungotherapy, the use of mushrooms is complex, since the body is affected not by one specific component, but by a group of substances with diverse effects. For example, the immunomodulatory effect of beta-glucans is due to several options for activating protective mechanisms at the cellular, local and general levels. According to reviews, fungotherapy becomes even more effective if several drugs are used in combination, for example, the combination of cordyceps and reishi gives a total general strengthening effect compared to the separate use of the corresponding mushrooms.

Assortment of functional mushrooms in the Papa Nature store

You can buy mushrooms in our online store:

• Lion's mane
• Reishi;
• Cordyceps;
• Shiitake;
• Maitake;
• Trametes versicolor (Turkey tail);
• Agaricus blazei (Royal sun agaricus);
• Chaga;
• Sanghwan (Mesima)
• Chanterelle
• Common stinkhorn
• Auricularia
• Red fly agaric (Amanita muscaria)

These mushrooms contain a common set of useful components: carbohydrates, dietary fiber, proteins. The main effectiveness of "mushroom" preparations is provided by polysaccharides (in particular beta-glucans), vitamins and minerals, but in each of the mushrooms they are represented by different components, and there is also its own special set of biologically active substances, for example, cordycepin and cordycepic acid in cordyceps, melano-glucan complexes and pterins in chaga, blazeisperols in Brazilian agaric. Therefore, in many cases, a combination of several mushrooms is more effective due to the cumulative effect of the substances present in these dietary supplements.

Release form

In our catalog you can buy functional mushrooms in the following forms:

• mushroom powder - a basic product obtained by drying and grinding fruiting bodies. In this form, dietary supplements are more convenient to take and provide higher digestibility of components. To further increase the bioavailability of active substances, it is recommended to prepare an infusion based on the powder by pouring boiling water over it and leaving it for 5 minutes;
• dry mushroom extracts are preparations with a high concentration of nutrients (for example, 20% beta-glucans), which is achieved by double extraction of the raw material and its subsequent drying. In this form, the mushrooms do not need to be brewed, but can be washed down with water during administration;
• Fermented mycelium is not made from the fruiting body, like previous products, but from hyphae - the "root system" that provides absorption of nutrients. In some cases, for example, in the European Hedgehog, the mycelium contains an increased amount of a certain component, which provides an effect different from alternative preparations from the fruiting body.

Buy functional mushrooms

In our online store you can order functional mushrooms in Ukraine with delivery worldwide. Select the product you need in the catalog in a form suitable for you and place an order through the cart, and we will quickly process the application and send the goods in a way convenient for you.