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| Himalayan plateau, Tibet. (Source: theancientweb.com) |
Cordyceps fungus is a rare and highly valued herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), its medicinal uses taking root around 2000 years ago. There are over 600 species in the genus, with Cordyceps sinensis (Cs or "DongChongXiaCao”) bearing a special significance. Wild Cs is only found high in the Himalayan Plateau and develops in a remarkable manner (Halpern, 2007). It is a parasite, infecting an underground-dwelling caterpillar in late fall and completely consuming it by early summer. Feeding on the caterpillar’s nutrients, the mushroom grows and is harvested as soon as it protrudes from the ground (Halpern, 2007).
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| C.sinensis in natural habitat, Tibet. (Holliday & Cleaver, 2008) |
The first scientific record of Cordyceps sinensis as a medicinal herb dates back to 1757 AD China in an encyclopedia titled: New Compilation of Materia Medica (Ben-Cao-Cong-Xin) (Zhu, Halpern, Jones 1998). These records prescribe Cordyceps sinensis for treatment, protection, and enhanced function of lung and kidneys as well as “Yin Yang double invigoration” (Zhu et al, 1998). In addition to these early uses, Cs was administered as a prophylactic agent to prolong life, treat impotence, liver diseases, and arrhythmias as well as to improve memory (Halpern, 2007). Being such a rare herb it was only used by cultures of Tibet, Mongolia, and the Chinese elite (Zhu et al, 1998).
The array of traditional methods to administer Cordyceps corresponds to the enormous collection of it purposes. The simplest and earliest way of consumption was eating whole, raw mushroom, equivalent to approximately 8 or 9 grams (Halpern, 2007; Holliday & Cleaver, 2008). Another common approach is preparing a tonic by cooking Cs mushrooms in water or consuming a dried powder (Zhu et al., 1998). There are, specific ways to prepare the mushroom depending on the type of illness targeted (Table 1). The Mykot tribe, originating from Tibet, traditionally prepares a yogurt from skim yak milk and harvested Cs mushrooms (Halpern, 2007). While cancer patients in China were prescribed to cook the whole mushroom (with the caterpillar body attached) inside the stomach of a duck. The mushroom was then removed and the duck would be eaten for 8 to 10 days or until healthy (Halpern, 2007).
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| Table 1: Traditional combinations of C.sinensis with foods to target specific conditions. (Adapted from Zhu et al., 1998) |
Intersting. Do you know how much of active compounds are found in cooked meat? Would heating and cooking process disturb the molecular structure of active compounds? What do you think? HMB434
ReplyDeleteIt has yet to be researched that thoroughly. It is known that the tonic prepared by heating the mushrooms in water (an aqueous extract essentially) has been used for centuries, and is generally chosen over raw mushrooms. I think the reason for doing this is so that what ever you are consuming is more concentrated than simply eating the mushroom alone. I also believe that much of the active components are absorbed more easily when they are dissolved in water vs. active digestion. A standardized extraction method should definitely be developed as for most natural herbs.
ReplyDeleteHowever it is an interesting topic to research, comparing the effectiveness of hot water extraction vs. dried, ground product.