Mushrooms could prevent cancer, says research

Research in the Far East on the healing properties of some mushrooms could lead to new methods of treatment and prevention of cancer in the West, a report by a leading health charity said today.

Cancer Research UK has produced what it describes as the world’s most comprehensive review of information about the way medicinal mushrooms are used in Japan, China and South Korea.

In these countries it has been reported that mushrooms have anti-tumour properties and can stimulate the immune system to fight disease.

Evidence is also revealed from research in the Far East suggesting that medicinal mushrooms can help reduce side effects from radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and improve the quality of life for patients in the advanced stages of cancer.

Dr Richard Sullivan, head of clinical programmes for Cancer Research UK, said the information suggested that compounds derived from mushrooms could have a "hugely beneficial influence" on the way cancer is treated.

Some trials in Japan, China and, more recently in the US, have indicated that chemical compounds derived from medicinal mushrooms can prolong survival of cancer patients.

However, there is concern that standards of trials in the East may not meet Western regulatory requirements.

"We hope that with the publication of this report more Western cancer doctors will be encouraged to set up trials to assess the potential of these compounds in treating cancer," Dr Sullivan said.

Professor John Smith from the University of Strathclyde, who led the review, said there was increasing evidence that medicinal mushrooms offered medicinally important compounds that had yet to be evaluated by Western medical scientists.

"Evidence suggests that exotic mushrooms - such as the shiitake, enoke and oyster varieties which are used in many modern recipes - have major dietary benefits.

"But while the large flat mushroom and the button variety found in most shops are highly nutritious, there is no documented evidence that they have the exotic mushroom’s special medicinal properties," he said.

A 14-year survey of Japanese mushroom workers in the Nagano Prefecture suggested that a regular diet of edible medicinal mushrooms was linked with a lower death rate from cancer.

The average cancer death rate in the prefecture was one in 600, but the rate dropped to one in 1,000 among farmers who produced edible mushrooms.

More than 100 types of mushroom are documented by Chinese medicine practitioners as treatments for a wide range of illnesses, and many mushroom-derived medicinal products are manufactured by Oriental pharmaceutical companies.

Paul Nurse, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said the information about the apparent benefits of mushrooms was "very interesting".

"More work needs to be done on how mushrooms can be used in Western medicine.

"This report gives weight to the argument for clinical trials to be set up to try to validate research done in other parts of the world, which may not have met all the criteria laid down in western medicine," he said.