There is something that evokes a rather primal feeling in a person on a quest that has been repeated by others for more than 4000 years. The day after Thanksgiving I found myself in the middle of the northern Minnesota wilderness on the hunt for a little-known fungus even winter won’t kill. Inonotus obliquus is the technical tongue twister - but Chaga is its more popular namesake.
Chaga is a parasitic fungus most often associated with mature birch trees. The outer “shell” looks very much like burnt wood, deeply grooved and coal black. It most often protrudes like a tumor on the trunk of the tree and can grow to several pounds over a typical 5 -10 year life span.
The Chaga Mystique
After several hours in the knee-deep snow I found what I was after and removed the growth with a hammer and chisel. The inner core is made up of a cork-like fungus, deep gold to orange in color with little flavor or odor. Now here’s the more interesting answer to the question “why in the world would people be looking for a fungus in the middle of winter for 4000 years?”
Chaga has a rather legendary reputation as a cure all with a rich European and Russian folk history of its medicinal use, typically brewed as a tea. In an paper published by the USDA Forest Service and authored by Roger Monthey and Rani Cross, “modern research has shown some proven benefits such as regulating metabolism, fighting tumors, providing protection from radiation, preventing or reducing inflammation, synthesizing proteins, enhancing the synthesis of nucleic acids, lowering the concentration of glucose (blood sugar) in the blood, reducing blood pressure, having a tonic effect on the heart, and altering the body’s immune system (Jong and Birmingham 1992)".
It peaked my interest when I first heard of it and so I naturally researched this medicinal angle. I was surprised and frustrated to find it was very difficult to locate firsthand credible information regarding its properties and use. I found plenty of information outlining the same general theme with the same general characters.
It usually involves the semi-autobiographical (the term “semi” bothered me) novel by Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsy. A rather mild reference in the novel to the use of Chaga in fighting cancer in the form of a letter from one of the novels characters Dr. Maslennikov. And lastly, the ever popular “scientific studies in Finland and Russia prove…..”. Try and Google that one and see if you don’t get the feeling there is some sort of cult-like network of Chaga hucksters involved in a concerted conspiracy to have all of us consuming tree bark.
Fungal fact or artist fiction?
Just when I had started to lose faith in my ability to truly verify any of the myriad of cancer fighting claims, I came across a genuine bona fide study, in fact, a study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology. The WJG is legitimized by the National Institutes of Health and our own United States Government as a trusted source. In a peer reviewed study the journal announced, in January 2008, “Chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) induces G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis in human hepatoma HepG2 cells”. The study concluded “Chaga mushroom may provide a new therapeutic option, as a potential anticancer agent, in the treatment of hepatoma.” , more commonly known as liver cancer.
In another study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in January 2009 the headline was “Potential anticancer properties of the water extract of Inonotus [corrected] obliquus by induction of apoptosis in melanoma B16-F10 cells. To cut through the medical terminology lesson, “This study showed that the water extract of Inonotus obliquus mushroom (Chaga) exhibited a potential anticancer activity against B16-F10 melanoma cells in vitro and in vivo through the inhibition of proliferation and induction of differentiation and apoptosis of cancer cells.”
I could go on at some length with a series of studies taking place in South Korea concluding several promising uses for Chaga and its extracts in the fight against Cancer - very exciting.
I have to say I was elated to lend new meaning to my commune with nature at 10 degrees below zero. In an era where “organic” and “natural” have become quite alluring, it seems Chaga can offer a homeopathic remedy for all that ails you in the form of a palatable beverage. As I toss a fist sized chunk of my Chaga in to the tea pot, I can’t help but think it might be a good bet, in this case, to heed the advice of the good Russian peasant folk.
The following sources provided information quoted in this article;
U.S. National Library of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19041933?ordinalpos=1&itool=PPMCLayout.PPMCAppController.PPMCArticlePage.PPMCPubmedRA&linkpos=1#
World J Gastroenterol. 2008 January 28; 14(4): 511–517. Published online 2008 January 28. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.511
The National Center for Biotechnology Information
USDA Forest Service
State and Private Forestry Northeastern Area
Durham, NH
www.na.fs.fed.us/stewardship/pubs/ediblefungi/ediblefungi.htm
The information contained in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used for diagnosis or to guide treatment without the opinion of a health professional. Any reader who is concerned about his or her health should contact a doctor for advice.
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