Alternative supplements

[john]

http://www.cancer-survivor.org/alternat ... ents.shtml

There is a fair amount of research on mushrooms boosting the immune function. The research is mostly from valid institutes and can be found on pubmed.

There may be interactions with other medications and conditions so it is important to talk to the doctor. One person I think is good is Dr Weil.

questions can be asked directly at his web site www.drweil.com

He is a CAM practitioner and I am 90% sure he also has a MD

[Tiny]

Andrew Weil is an M.D. according to the jacket of my cookbook The Healthy Kitchen by Andrew Weil, M.D. and Rosie Daley, Knopf, 2002. This book is fun to read even if you don't make any of the yummy recipes. Interspersed throughout the book are short discussions of interest such as "Are Eggs Good for You?", "Sugar and Other Sweeteners", "Cooking Mushrooms", etc., etc.

To piggyback on John's information, under "Cooking Mushrooms" Dr. Weil mentions several varieties of mushrooms that have been studied for their immune-enhancing effects, including maitake (the best-studied species) shiitakes, oyster, morels, chanterelles and porcinis.

The following advice from the book was news to me:

I always stress the importance of cooking mushrooms thoroughly....Mushrooms often contain chemical compounds that either interfere with digestive enymes or block absorption of nutrients. In addition, even many edible species contain natural toxins. These problems all have a common solution: heat. Sufficient cooking breaks down the tough cell walls, inactivates the antidigestive elements, and destroys many toxins....I strongly advise against eating any mushrooms raw, whether wild or cultivated.

I've stopped putting raw mushrooms in my salads.

[john]

thanks for the additional info!!!! Didn't know that cooking was better. In most other cases, like vegetables - raw is better. Guess the exception always gets ya. I actually take reshi/maitake supplements. Worried a little about the radon in the house where I grew up.

Thanks again.