Chaga mushroom

Chaga mushroom

　　Chaga mushroom (also known as birch mushroom) is a rare medicinal fungus. In foreign countries such as Russia, Poland, and Finland, chaga mushroom has been widely used as a medicine. Since the 16th–17th centuries, in Eastern Europe, Russia, and other regions, this fungus has been extensively utilized to treat various difficult and complicated diseases, such as cancers of the digestive organs (stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, intestinal cancer, liver cancer), heart disease, leukemia, diabetes, all showing excellent therapeutic effects.

Recent experimental results have shown that chaga mushroom can inhibit the HIV virus and has anti-radiation properties. It has been reported that the refined powder of chaga mushroom produced by Russian pharmaceutical companies has a 93% cure rate for diabetes. The miraculous efficacy of chaga mushroom has attracted the attention of many scholars both domestically and internationally, leading to extensive research. This article provides an overview of the research on chaga mushroom. It is a wood-decay fungus that grows in cold climates and causes white rot in birch, silver birch, elm, and alder trees. The mycelium of chaga mushroom in wood does not freeze even at minus 40°C, making it an extremely cold-resistant species. Currently, the price of wild chaga mushroom is 7–8 times that of sanghuang. Researchers in the United States, the Soviet Union, Japan, and South Korea have intensified their studies on chaga mushroom.