Ganoderma lucidum and Allergies

Ganoderma lucidum and Allergies

Allergies May Be Helped By The Compounds That Make Up Ganoderma lucidum


According to the NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases):

- more than 50 million Americans suffer from this health issue

- 6th leading cause of chronic disease in the United States

- allergic rhinitis (inflammation of the mucous membrane of the nose; runny nose) has increased substantially over the past 15 years.

- allergic drug reactions account for 5-10 percent of all adverse drug reactions

- penicillin allergy is a more common cause of death than food allergy

As you can see from the above statistics, allergies are a very common problem that costs the American Health system 18 billion annually.

So let's discover what an allergy is, how allergic reactions happen, what are the common symptoms, and how Ganoderma lucidum may be able to help.

What Are Allergies?

An allergy is a precise over reaction of the immune system to a normally harmless allergen (almost any substance that most people find harmless like grass, pollen, dust mites, dog and cat hair but cause a reaction in those with an allergy to that particular allergen). These allergens cause the immune system to treat a normally harmless allergen as if it was harmful to the body and causes an allergic reaction. Ganoderma lucidum may be able to help with this unnatural attack on the body by the immune system.

How Does An Allergic Reaction Happen?

In people who do not experience allergies the immune system is the body's defense against foreign organisms like bacteria and viruses and does not react to harmless substances like grass, pollen, hair, foods etc.

However, when a person who is allergic comes into contact with a particular allergen it causes the immune system to over react and:

1. Produce a disease fighting protein or antibody called immunoglobulin E (IgE) that is specific to the allergen that caused its production.

2. The IgE then attaches to mast cells (tissue cells) and basophiles (type of blood cell). The mast cells are very plentiful in the airways and stomach where most allergens tend to enter the body.

3. When an antibody that is attached to a mast cell encounters its specific allergen it signals the mast cell to release chemicals such as histamine, cytokines and leukotrienes. These chemicals cause some cells to constrict and others to swell with inflammation causing the symptoms of allergies.

Now that we have looked at how an allergic reaction happens, let us now look at some common signs and symptoms and then later how Ganoderma lucidum may be able to help.

Signs And Symptoms Of Allergies

There are three categories of allergy symptoms:

Mild

Mild reactions are limited to a specific area of the body and do not spread to another part. These mild reactions produce such symptoms as watery itchy eyes, congestion, rash, sneezing, postnasal drip.

Moderate

In moderate reactions, symptoms spread to other parts of the body and include hives, rash, itchiness and difficulty breathing.

Severe

A severe reaction is called anaphylaxis and is very rare but life threatening. The body's response to the allergen is very fast and it affects the whole body.

It usually starts out with itchy eyes or face then very quickly progresses to more life threatening symptoms like swelling of the airways, breathing difficulties, stomach pain and cramps, mental confusion or dizziness.

In a severe reaction the person must have medical attention immediately to receive antihistamines, steroids or epinephrine to reverse the symptoms or the person may perish.

Now let us look at how Ganoderma lucidum may help.

Ganoderma lucidum

There are four compounds present in Ganoderma lucidum that have been shown to have promise in helping with allergies by inhibiting histamine release or by limiting antibody production and controlling inflammation. These active compounds are:

Cyclooctasulfur

Researchers at the Okayama University in Japan on their study on the Anti-allergenic constituents in the culture medium of Ganoderma lucidum (II). The inhibitory effect of cyclooctasulfer on histamine release found that cyclooctasulfer a component of Ganoderma lucidum "effectively inhibited histamine release" from mast cells.

Oleic Acid

Oleic Acid is a colorless, unsaturated fatty acid found in the mycelium of Ganoderma lucidum and has been shown in the study Anti-allergic constituents in the culture medium of Ganoderma lucidum.(I) Inhibitory effect of oleic acid on histamine release at Okayama University Japan that oleic acid "inhibited the histamine release from rat peritoneal mast cells".

Ling Zhi-8

This protein compound also occurs in the mycelium and was isolated in 1988. In the book Reishi Mushroom, Herb of Spiritual Potency and Medical Wonder, the author Terry Willard Ph D. talks about a study involving Ling Zhi-8. In that study there were two groups of mice. One treated with Ling Zhi-8 and the other not. Both groups were injected with a powerful allergen. The group treated with Ling Zhi-8 showed no symptoms where as the other group died of anaphylactic shock. The researchers concluded that Ling Zhi-8 reduces antibody production to an allergen and is thus active in preventing severe Type 1 hypersensitivity reactions.

Ganoderic Acids

A paper written by Martin Powell at the Natural Health Center in the United Kingdom titled: The Use of Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi) in the Management of Histamine Mediated Allergic Responses talks about Ganoderic acids, specifically Ganoderic acid C. In this paper the author states that Ganoderic acid C " was found to account for most of the anti-inflammatory activity from the herb as determined by in vitro tests such as histamine release from mast cells".

If you or a loved one has an allergy, you may want to give it a try.