Like all mushrooms, Coriolus versicolor is a fungus, one of more than a half million varieties worldwide. Many of them have been known for thousands of years to have medicinal properties. And as you may know, gourmets the world over prize both wild and commercially grown mushrooms. Some European cookbooks even call them “flowers of the fall.” Whatever you call them, certain mushrooms are a perfect food for staying trim and healthy. They have little or no fat and some species, like Coriolusversicolor, boast valuable therapeutic and nutritional benefits. But a few fungi are poisonous and we do not recommend that nonexperts attempt to harvest their own. Coriolus versicolor goes by a number of botanical names, including Trametes versicolor and Boletus versicolor.“Versicolor” refers to the mushroom’s various colors. In North America, the common name is “turkey tail,” while in Japan it is called by a name meaning “mushroom by the river bank” and in China its name indicates it’s a cloud fungus that grows best in the rain.
Over 400 clinical studies have shown that a purified extract derived from the mushroom Coriolus versicolor offers strong benefits for the immune system. Clinical studies indicate the extract’s ingredients are especially effective against stomach, uterine, colon and lung cancer.
Anecdotal evidence and clinical experience suggest it also works well against prostate, breast, liver and colorectal cancer. Studies of rats and mice show that this mushroom is effective against many experimental animal cancers such as sarcoma and hepatoma.
A well known Doctor, Dr. Brock, who measures NATURAL KILLER cell (NK) counts and considers them a valuable cancer marker. Kenneth Bock, M.D., is the medical director of two holistic medical clinics, one in Rhinebeck, New York and the other in Albany. “Because it increases natural killer (NK) cell activity, I think of using Coriolus versicolor mainly when I’m confronted with a patient suffering from cancer or a viral infection,” he says. “This mushroom is one of the main medicinal compounds I use to boost a diminished blood reading which records NK activity. The mushroom’s active biological response modifier produces a marked improvement in NK cell function and number, something I monitor by blood testing. If the blood reading is low, my patient takes greater amounts of PSK capsules. And, although it’s an expensive and sophisticated assay, I repeat my NK cell testing inside of a month or two. In a number of patients, I’ve seen some nice blood test improvement.”
