The unassuming yet popular white button mushroom has cancer-fighting abilities, according to the results of a human clinical trial on the use of food as medicine. Not only does it slow tumor growth, but it also allows cancer-fighting immune cells to do their job effectively.
Coined in 1989, the term nutraceutical, a portmanteau of ‘nutrition’ and ‘pharmaceutical,’ has become somewhat of a buzzword. Used to denote food, or parts of food, with medicinal properties, the term is typically attached to something whose health benefits were recognized thousands of years ago by traditional medicine practitioners.
While the widely consumed white button mushroom has been promoted as a nutraceutical with anticancer properties, its mechanism of action has not been understood. Now, a new study by researchers at City of Hope, one of the US’s largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations, has uncovered how the popular fungus exerts its health effects.
“City of Hope researchers are investigating foods like white button mushroom, grape seed extract, pomegranate, blueberries and ripe purple berries called Jamun for their potential medicine […]
Wonderful news for those interested in using naturally occurring foods to treat disease. Also an opportunity for Big Pharma to seek out and isolate the substance responsible for the benefit, patent it, and resell it to us at inflated prices while lobbying congress to legislate “natural medicine practitioners” out of business.