Chaga Mushroom
Chaga mushroom – the brilliant Inonotus obliquus
Inonotus (meaning fibrous and ear like)
obliquus (meaning slanted or oblique)
Chaga mushroom belongs to the family Hymenochaetaceae, it’s a hardened black-brown plant parasitic fungus. It is commonly called by its Russian name čága or "chaga" which is thought to be derived from ‘čaga’ or ‘čaka’ used by indigenous people to refer to fungus growing on trees.
Chaga is widespread in North America, Asia, and Europe
It is a parasite that infects 25-40 yr old trees, mostly birch but has been found on a number of other trees like Alder. This recent research compares bioactive compounds in chaga grown on birch compared to alder. https://www.mdpi.com/2218-273X/12/9/1178/htm
The chaga mushroom will co-exist with the host tree for a further 30-80 years developing a whole raft of therapeutic molecules.
As with all mushrooms and plants they are an expression of the land in which they live, so the soil and environment will impact the compounds in the mushroom – particularly with Chaga as it may accumulate heavy metals (we independently check all of our extracts for heavy metals).
Chaga infects trees through wounds in the trunk, then after a few years it produces an irregular, hard, brown, black fruiting body (mushroom) that we all know of as ‘chaga’.
Used for hundreds of years in folk and traditional medicine in Siberia and Asia for a number of different ailments including its antiparasitic, anti-tuberculosis, anti-inflammatory, and gastrointestinal supporting actions
Hippocrates 460-370BC wrote of using infusions of chaga to clean wounds.
In Asia (China, Japan, Korea), Russia, and the Baltic countries extracts of Chaga mushroom are used for its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and cardio-protective actions.
Our extract – extracted from wild harvested mature conks grown on birch is full of therapeutic compounds such as polysaccharide beta d-glucans, triterpenes, and polyphenols.
Our Chaga mushroom extract also contains
Betulinic acids studied for its antioxidant use – in diabetes, vascular inflammation – heart disease and liver disease
Inotodiol – studied for liver disease – diabetes
Melanin – researched for skin disease and skin protection
Ergosterol peroxide – heart disease – gastrointestinal inflammation
To note although there is plenty of research on Chaga there are very few human clinical trials.
Chaga is included in I am Resilient for its potential anti-inflammatory, ant-viral – anti-bacterial - immuno-stimulating and powerful antioxidant actions to support your defences
As always, some interesting research below and via our science page if you want to keep up to date.
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/chem-2022-0168/html
https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/708ae68d64b17c52,3f8126ab22b0f590,6c8c152f520e011b.html
