mushroom-medicine
Mushroom medicine explores the bioactive compounds found in fungi — including polysaccharides, triterpenes, and beta-glucans — and their therapeutic applications. Though fungi occupy their own biological kingdom, their intimate ecological relationships with plants through mycorrhizal networks and their shared biosynthetic pathways make them a compelling area of study for plant scientists. Understanding how fungi produce and deploy these compounds offers insights into plant defense chemistry, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, and the broader pharmacological potential of organism-derived natural products.
open_in_new WikipediaPubMed · 2026-04-30
Reishi mushroom extracts have long been used medicinally, but less than 10% of their active compounds survive digestion to reach the bloodstream. This study reveals that gut bacteria pick up where digestion leaves off, converting unabsorbed mushroom compounds into anti-inflammatory molecules — and that the extraction method used to prepare supplements significantly shapes this entire process.
Oral bioavailability of Reishi bioactives is less than 10%, with the majority degraded during gastrointestinal transit before reaching systemic circulation
Gut microbiota modulation by unabsorbed mushroom compounds increased colonic butyrate production and shifted the microbial community toward anti-inflammatory profiles
RNA sequencing identified specific immune-regulatory genes suppressed by Reishi extracts in macrophages, with aqueous vs. ethanol extraction methods producing distinct immunological response profiles
