Red mushroom, the ancient Chinese secret of health and longevity, is emerging as an elixir of life for many in India suffering from various ailments, including cancer, claim doctors in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
“It is not disease-specific or organ-specific. It is a dietary supplement which corrects the disorders of the body mainly by enhancing immunity and rebuilding lost or damaged cells”, says Dr S Ranjan, a leading cardiologist here.
Dr N K Venugopal, a medical practitioner at Muvattupuzha in Kerala’s Ernakulam district, says he has been prescribing products made out of ganoderma for over six years and claimed to have found total cure in about 1,000 patients suffering from various ailments.
“The regular intake of ganoderma along with medication has proven that cancer can be cured in early stages,” he says, adding, the polysaccharide fractions in ganoderma are mainly responsible in developing immunity against tumours.
Prof K K Janardhanan of the Department of Microbiology, Amala Cancer Research Institute, Thrissur, says he was impressed by anti-cancer properties of ganoderma during various studies.
“Our investigations have shown that methanolic extract of ganoderma lucidium, the variety commonly found in South India, possesses significant anti-tumour and anti-oxidant activities,” he says. “When mice were administered a dose of 500mg of ganoderma per kg of body weight after implanting a tumour, it was found that the tumour load was reduced by 97.7 per cent within 10 days,” he says.
Venugopal says he has noticed that even in patients in their final stages of cancer, ganodema increases life-expectancy, reduces pain substantially, improved quality of life and reduces the side-effects of chemotherapy and radiation.
Dr Ranjan also says it was the anti-cancer effect of ganoderma on a person with myelomonocytic leukemia that exposed him to the virtues of the mushroom.
The effect of mushroom was found to be cent percent in diabetics, psoriasis, liver and cardiovascular disorders, Dr Venugopal say.