Do they influence cancer loving pathways or boost immunity? I set out to answer these questions.
As a scientist, I have to know how these can work as an anticancer food. If I am going to keep spending money on buying this type of mushroom, I want to know if it’s worth it. Are they worth the extra cost?
Shiitake (Lentinus edodes)
well yes, according to what I found out,
The strengths of shiitaki
- Acts on common cancer pathway
- Immune booster
One of the best understood polysaccharides in shiitake is a water-soluble compound known as lentinan. A review summarized evidence for potential use of lentinan in the treatment of many cancer types including lung cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (See reference 1). The major anticancer and pro-apoptotic activities of Shiitake come from its polysaccharide β-glucans (Polysaccharide is the form in which most natural carbohydrates occur).
Another major bioactive protein present in Shiitake is Latcripin. Latcripin suppresses the cancer loving pathway of Akt/mTOR and PI3K expression, which are critically involved in cancer progression. This suggests that Latcripins may have the capacity to reduce cancer cell survival, cancer cell invasion and cancer cell migration (ref 2).
Immunity is a component of cancer growth. Given promising results from preclinical studies, the immunomodulatory potential of Shiitake has been investigated in many clinical trials. In healthy individuals, consumption of either 5 g or 10 g shiitake per day for 14 days resulted in improved immune functions (ref 3) .
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This was measured by increased activation in ɣδ-T cells, NK cells and Natural Killer T lymphocytes (NK-T cells) (ref 3) . The amount of secretory immunoglobulin A in saliva was higher and C-reactive protein (CRP) was lower after consuming shiitake.
Growing Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes) over beds of Astragalus root (Huang Qi) (Qi means vital force) is found to have a synergistic effect and increase the bioactivity (ref 4). Consuming both Astragalus and shiitake at the same time may increase the anticancer properties.
NB consumption may assist as an anticancer agent only. It is NOT a stand-alone treatment. Ensure you maintain your cancer treatments as directed by your oncologist and other medical professionals.
To incorporate Shiitakes into your diet as an anticancer food, replace your usual choice of mushroom with Shiitakes Mushrooms whenever use mushrooms in a dish. I like to eat them raw, just as they are. When my stomach needs a mild fill up, I reach into the frig and take a few fresh shiitake mushrooms to eat raw. My pantry contains dried shiitake mushrooms which I pop into my cup of soups and stir frys.
The nutrients in 4 dried shiitake (15 grams) are: (according to US Dept Agriculture)
- Calories: 44
- Carbs: 11 grams
- Fiber: 2 grams
- Protein: 1 gram
- Riboflavin: 11% of the Daily Value (DV)
- Niacin: 11% of the DV
- Copper: 39% of the DV
- Vitamin B5: 33% of the DV
- Selenium: 10% of the DV
- Manganese: 9% of the DV
- Zinc: 8% of the DV
- Vitamin B6: 7% of the DV
- Folate: 6% of the DV
- Vitamin D: 6% of the DV
If
To read more about targeting cancer with food CLICK HERE
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Supporting Shiitaki References
1. Zhang M, Zhang Y, Zhang L, Tian Q. Mushroom polysaccharide lentinan for treating different types of cancers: A review of 12 years clinical studies in China. Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2019;163:297-328.
2. Batool S, Joseph TP, Hussain M, et al. LP1 from Lentinula edodes C(91-3) Induces Autophagy, Apoptosis and Reduces Metastasis in Human Gastric Cancer Cell Line SGC-7901. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19(10).
3. Dai X, Stanilka JM, Rowe CA, et al. Consuming Lentinula edodes (Shiitake) Mushrooms Daily Improves Human Immunity: A Randomized Dietary Intervention in Healthy Young Adults. J Am Coll Nutr. 2015;34(6):478-487.
4. Balakrishnan B, Liang Q, Fenix K, et al. Combining the Anticancer and Immunomodulatory Effects of Astragalus and Shiitake as an Integrated Therapeutic Approach. Nutrients. 2021;13(8).