Agaricus blazei Murill, the Powerful Immuno Agent

Agaricus blazei Murrill  contains a powerful immuno-stimulant called beta glucans, a polysaccharide (a chain of sugar molecules formed together to make larger sugars) known to enhance the body’s immune system. It not only bolsters immunity but reduces excessive immuno reactions to maintain a balance. Researchers have found that of all fungi, the concentrations of polysaccharides, namely Beta 1,3-D Glucan and Beta 1,6-D Glucan are higher in Agaricus blazei Murril   than in any other mushroom types including Reishi, Maitake and Shitake, which has shown particularly strong results in treating and preventing cancer. 

Clinical results obtained in collaboration with university researchers and hospitals, since the report on the anti-cancer effect of Agaricus Blazei Murill was released at the general convention of the Japan Cancer Association in 1980, proved that many fungi polysaccharide only effect solid cancer. The polysaccharide of Agaricus Blazei Murill is effective against colon cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, and liver cancer as well as against solid cancer.

Exhaustive joint research by Mie University Medical School and Kobe University School of Agriculture and one of Japan’s leading Fungology Institute, has indicated that through the high concentrations of beta glucan polysaccharides found in Agaricus blazei Murill, it can inhibit, destroy and stop proliferation, or metastasis, of carcinoma cells, it but also mitigate the destruction of healthy cells caused by radiology, enhance radiotherapy, alleviate allergic diseases without side effects, and may have positive effects on the hypoglycemia associated with diabetes. Researchers noted that the human immune system can be reinforced by consumption of Agaricus blazei Murill in its constant fight against the 80% of cancers caused by man-made chemical substances in our environment.

Other research has also shown that Agaricus blazei Murril  is high in ergosterols, linoleic acid and palmitorenic acid as well as Vitamin B6 and B12.

Agaricus blazei Murril (ABM) and Cancer

 Research performed at universities in Japan, Hong Kong and the United States have suggested that the polysaccharides derived from either medicinal plants and mushrooms, such as Agaricus blazei Murill do indeed have a positive effect in stimulating lymphocyte T-cell and helper T-cell production in laboratory mice and guinea pig experiments.

In 1995, Dr. Mamdooh Ghoneum Ph.D., from King Drew Medical Center of UCLA, found that the Agaricus mushroom increases the total number of all immune cells within the body. In addition, he discovered that the Agaricus not only increased the number of NK cells, but also made each individual NK cell more powerful. He presented his findings to the Ninth World Immunology Congress held in San Francisco:

"In the present study, we evaluate the ability of Agaricus to stimulate in vivo Natural Killer (NK) cell activity in mice. The results demonstrated that the induction of NK activity was very significant (38-49 fold increase over control)."

Beta glucans have indeed been found in other mushroooms, such as Maitake, Shitake and Reishi, which can now be found in many health food stores. However, Agaricus Blazei Murill is known to contain the highest levels of beta glucans of any mushroom known in the world.

 The table below shows that Agaricus blazei Murill produced high results for both a complete recovery and for its anti cancer effect. The experiment used guinea pigs of between five and six weeks old, which is equivalent to 15 and 16 years old in human terms.

Table 1 - Results of tests on anti cancer properties of Agaricus blazei Murril conducted on guinea pigs at the Medical Department of Tokyo University, the National Cancer Center Laboratory and Tokyo College of Pharmacy.

Vaccinating sarcoma 180 (a type of cancer cell) into the femur of these guinea pigs normally causes cancer to spread to the entire body over four to five weeks, resulting in the death of almost all these animals. The fungus extract was first administered 24 hour later when the cancer cells were firmly embedded in the animals tissues, and the process continued for 10 consecutive days. The results were then recorded four to five weeks later. The experiment was repeated on groups of between five and ten Guinea pigs, which were each given a different fungus extract. The mean values taken from these experiments were expressed as percentages.

 The anti cancer effect rate represents the percentage of guinea pigs which fully recovered from the cancer induced by an initial vaccination of sarcoma 180 and in whom a second vaccination of sarcoma 180 failed because the cancer cells could not be successfully embedded.

 From these results, it was deduced that the fungus extract (component primarily comprising a high-molecular polysaccharide) activates the immunity of normal biological tissue, so that even when a virus or other external factors enter the tissue, macrophage and interferon production within the tissue is vitalized to prevent the multiplication, metastasis and reoccurrence of cancer cells