Mycotherapy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mycotherapy is the use of mushrooms , preferably large mushrooms , and extracts obtained from them , for which an effectiveness in the context of prevention and supportive or sole therapy is claimed. There is currently no adequate scientific basis for this application. The preparations are not approved as medicinal products in Germany.

About the term "mycotherapy"

The term mycotherapy probably goes back to the mycologist Jan Ivan Lelley . Lelley claims to have derived his new word from the term phytotherapy . In the book "The healing power of mushrooms - healthy through mycotherapy", first published in 1997, he also describes mycotherapy as the "science of using large mushrooms with medicinal properties" and calls for their recognition as an "independent field of naturopathy ". This claim is justified not only because of the large number of mushroom species that are now used and their wide range of applications, but also because of the ancient, Far Eastern tradition.

"Medicinal mushrooms"

Honey fungus ( Armillaria mellea )
Stinkhorn ( Phallus impudicus ) with a honeycomb cap that has already been freed from spore pulp by probably hundreds of flies

The types of mushrooms advertised for medicinal use are called medicinal mushrooms , medicinal mushrooms or medicinal mushrooms . In China , many of these types of mushrooms have been used as ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for centuries . In Europe they were partly mentioned in the herbal books of Hieronymus Bock , Peter Melius and Adam Lonitzer .

According to these old pharmacopoeias, for example, the stinkhorn ( Phallus impudicus ) was used against gout . The real tinder sponge ( Fomes fomentarius ) was used to stop bleeding and the honey fungus ( Armillaria mellea ) as a laxative .

A passage from Adam Lonitzer's herbal book from 1679 about the Judas ear ( Auricularia auricula-judae ), which is also popularly called "elderberry sponge":

" Elder sponges extinguish and truck down all sorts of heat and swelling, previously weighted in rose water or wine and thought over. "

In traditional Chinese medicine, however, the Judas ear is not believed to have these healing properties. Here it is only supposed to strengthen your health and promote blood circulation .

The edible mushrooms are administered in dry form, usually as a concentrated extract. The effects of mushrooms are said to be based on their content of vitamins and minerals and on hypothetical healing effects of certain ingredients of some types of mushrooms. An immunological effect of the Maitake mushroom has been proven in test animals, which causes activation of T helper cells and increased production of gamma interferon , interleukin 12 and interleukin 18 .

Legal classification

The preparations are not approved as medicinal products in Germany. Offered as dietary supplements , they are subject to the provisions of the Food and Feed Code (LFGB) and the Health Claims Regulation . The specification of medical indications and therapeutic promises is then not permitted. Health-related statements as well as prevention promises require approval. In response to an action brought by the Central Office for Combating Unfair Competition eV in Frankfurt am Main, the Tübingen Regional Court (ruling of November 8, 2005, Az. 21 O 184/05) prohibited a provider from advertising (alleged) "medicinal mushrooms" with claims that this one excessive cholesterol lowering, and serious and chronic diseases - such as cancer , as well as migraine and tinnitus - healing effects unfold.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Society for Medicinal Mushroom and Mycomolecular Therapy eV: What do we mean by mycotherapy?
  2. ↑ Borchers AT, Krishnamurthy A, Keen CL, Meyers FJ, Gershwin ME: The immunobiology of mushrooms Archived from the original on June 18, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Exp. Biol. Med. (Maywood) . 233, No. 3, March 2008, pp. 259-76. doi : 10.3181 / 0708-MR-227 . PMID 18296732 . Retrieved August 20, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ebm.rsmjournals.com
  3. ↑ a b Medicinal mushrooms: No means against cancer , cancer information service of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg. August 1, 2012. Last accessed September 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ Jan Lelley: The healing power of mushrooms - healthy through mycotherapy . , Munich 1997, ISBN 3548710239 . Full text (PDF; 1.2 MB)
  5. ^ Water SP: Medicinal mushrooms as a source of antitumor and immunomodulating polysaccharides . In: Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. . 60, No. 3, November 2002, pp. 258-74. doi : 10.1007 / s00253-002-1076-7 . PMID 12436306 .
  6. ↑ A. Inoue, N. Kodama, H. Nanba: Effect of maitake (Grifola frondosa) D-fraction on the control of the T lymph node Th-1 / Th-2 proportion. In: Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin . Volume 25, Number 4, April 2002, pp. 536-540, ISSN  0918-6158 . PMID 11995941 .
  7. ↑ Reiner Münker: 2. Procedure of the competition center In: Statement on the Green Paper "Promotion of healthy nutrition and physical activity: A European dimension to prevent overweight, obesity and chronic diseases" , p. 2; Central Office for Combating Unfair Competition, Frankfurt am Main, February 22, 2006. PDF
  8. ^ Central Office for Combating Unfair Competition eV, Frankfurt am Main: Review of the work 2005 , p. 68. PDF

literature