Chaga (Inonotus obliquus)
What is it: It’s a parasitic fungus that grows on hardwood trees in cold environments, particularly birch. It looks like a burned marshmallow growing out of the tree.
Health Claims: Antioxidant, Anticancer, Immunomodulator, Skin Protection.
How to Prepare?: You can buy chaga extract, or make it yourself. To do that, buy some ground chaga (I buy through https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/). You get different properties from making either a decoction (with water) or a tincture (with alcohol). For a decoction, put a tablespoon or so in water and boil for up to 24 hours. For a tincture, put a tablespoon or so in some alcohol and let it sit in a cool dark place for a couple of weeks. You can also buy chaga tea.
Dosage: The “japanese dose” for chaga is 6mg/kg/day, of powdered chaga extract. I weigh about 70kg, which means my “dose” is 460mg/day. I’m not that anal. I take a couple syringes of the tincture and a few swigs out of my decoction jar every day, unless my body is telling me no.
Cautions: One study I read found that (methyl hydroxide) tinctures of chaga sclerotium (the charcoal-ish part) were toxic to normal cells as well as cancer cells, so listen to your body. Extracts from the fruiting body preferred to kill cancer cells but fruiting bodies are hard to find.
More Detail: Chaga extract inhibits cancer proliferation through induction of apoptosis, which it achieves through downregulation of B-catenin; several triterpenoids (e.g. betulin and chagabusone) are involved as well. These triterpenoids are also anti-infection agents. Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of chaga extracts for slowing the progression of lung and colon cancers (in rodents). Chaga extract is also a potent antioxidant (60 times stronger than blueberries by weight), and can protect against live and skin damage.
Sources:
Healing Mushrooms, by Tero Isokauppila (have a look at https://us.foursigmatic.com)
Hong et al. 2015. Int J Med Mushroom 17(11): 1069-76
Kang et al. 2015. J Ethnopharmacology 173: 303-12
Baek et al. 2018. J of Ethnopharmacology 224: 63-75
Nakajima et al. 2009. J Med Food 12(3): 501-7
Arata et al. 2016