True Left

Merlin is a biologist and author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures. He has a background in plant sciences, microbiology, ecology, and the history and philosophy of science. Fungi are a powerful force, why are we ignoring nature's hidden solution?

Life on Earth, as you know it, would be impossible without the humble fungi. In the beginning, fungi played an essential role in the development of our oxygen-rich atmosphere by mining phosphorous from the rocks and transferring it to plants to power photosynthesis. So, without fungi, your life as a human wouldn’t be possible.

Also, fungi decompose practically everything that dies or decays. Without fungi, death would engulf the Earth, and make it virtually uninhabitable for you and every other living organism.

And Fungi impact your life significantly in ways you’re likely unaware of, and you probably barely notice.

Fungi and Your Health

Mushrooms fight cancer

A study in the Journal of Experimental Biology and Medicine found that all the common mushroom varieties reduced breast cancer cells by a whopping 33 percent. But breast cancer isn’t the only type of cancer mushrooms help. Studies on prostate and stomach cancer show similar results.
They’re immune-boosting and high in vitamins

Beta-glucan and lentinan are two properties found in mushrooms that give your immune system a much-needed boost. Plus, they’re high in crucial vitamins — many mushroom varieties contain high levels of vitamin D, and crimini mushrooms carry lots of B12, which makes them an excellent choice for vegetarians since B12 is most common in animal products.

Fungi as Medicine

Red yeast rice is the earliest medicinal use of fungi on record. China developed it around 800 AD. Cultivating Monascus purpura (yeast) in rice produces a pharmaceutically active mixture of compounds.

Now, millions of patients with life-threatening diseases are treated each year with medicines made from fungi. The medicinal value of fungal metabolites is a knowledge that’s centuries old.

Perhaps the most potent yet controversial fungal medicine is psilocybin mushrooms, medicinal properties have also been used for centuries.

In his book, “How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence,” Michael Pollan delves deep into the history of these drugs.

Pollan explains that psychedelics were once legal and used successfully in the US to treat mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, and addiction. According to Pollan, “For most of the 1950s and early 1960s, many in the psychiatric establishment regarded LSD and psilocybin as miracle drugs.”