The Brazil Mushroom (Agaricus Blazei Murill) was originally discovered in the mountains near Sao Paulo in Brazil. Natives for many years consumed it as part of their regular diet. In the mid 1960’s, a researcher Penn State noted that the rate of the occurrence of adult diseases in that region was extremely low, and found that it was because the Agaricus mushroom was part of their diet. A group of researchers from the USA then spent months there researching and at last confirmed that a regular diet of the type of mushroom contributes to their relative longevity.

About that time, Japan also noticed that natives who regularly ate this type of mushroom seemed to possess a strong immune system. Soon, Agaricus was introduced to Japan. Scientists from the Tokyo University and the National Cancer Center jointly researched the pharmacological effects of Agaricus. The results verified that ß-Glucans in Agaricus significantly activated the immune system.

Later research reports show that the ß-Glucans in Brazil Mushroom activates the immune system and have very powerful anti-mutagenic and anti-tumour effects. The highly concentrated ß-Glucans in Brazil Mushroom directly stimulate our immune system to be more alert in monitoring any cell mutation and activate the ‘Cancer killer’ cells to effectively eliminate cancer cells.

Since then, Agaricus gained worldwide popularity. Many studies were carried out to study the cancer prevention and the anti-tumour properties of the Agaricus. Many of them were published in scientific journals.

• Increases production of cytokines
• Stimulates production of Interferon and other immune system enhancers
• Increases phagocytosis activity
• Activates natural killer cells
• Stimulates the production of inflammatory signal proteins such as interleukin-1
• Activates T cells and other immune system cells
• Triggers tumour necrosis factor (TNF) release.

ß-Glucans have been studied for more than 30 years as a supplement to improve immune function. The most important property of ß-Glucans is that it is an important immune activator. It increases non-specific immunity and fosters resistance to infection.

ß-Glucans can stimulate the secretion of proteins such as interleukins and interferon that deliver anti-tumour messages and activate our defence system against cancer. They enhance the activities of our ‘Cancer killers’ such as Helper T cells, Natural Killer cells and Macrophages for elimination of cancer cells. ß-Glucans trigger an immune response in the body creating a system of defence against viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic or potentially cancerous invaders. It is also a potent anti-oxidant free radical scavenger.

ß-Glucans are a group of polysaccharides. According to their different molecular structures, ß-Glucans can further be classified into different types, such as ß-1,3-Glucan, ß-1,4-Glucan, ß-1,6-Glucan, etc. Scientists have found that ß-1,3-Glucan and ß-1,6-Glucan the most effective anti-tumour constituents.

ß-Glucans can stimulate the secretion of proteins such as interleukins and interferon that deliver anti-tumor messages and activate our defence system against cancer. They enhance the activities of our ‘Cancer killers such as Helper T cells, Natural Killer cells and Macrophages for the elimination of cancer cells.

Brazil Mushroom or scientifically known as Agaricus Blazei Murill, is known to contain very high concentration of ß-Glucans, especially ß-16-Glucans, which is not present in most other mushrooms. Research shows that the content of ß-Glucans in 100g of Diamond Agaricus Blazei Murill is as high as 10.6g! (Japan Food Research Laboratories)

Scientists have confirmed that Brazil Mushroom’s effect in preventing and treating cancer is significantly better than that of any other medicinal mushroom. In the early stage of researching into Brazil Mushroom, Japanese scientists from the Pharmacological Department of Tokyo University, National Cancer Centre and Tokyo Pharmacology Institute already did a thorough test on the anti-tumour effects of different medicinal mushrooms.

They implanted cancer cells on guinea pigs and fed them with different medicinal mushrooms to observe the recovery and then implanted the cancer cells again to see the prevention effect. The guinea pigs treated with Brazil Mushroom showed a complete-recovery rate of 90.0% and the prevention rate was as high as 99.4%, significantly higher than those treated with other medicinal mushroom tested. Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), the mushroom often regarded as effective against cancer in fact showed the least satisfactory result. (See table below.)

Researchers believed that the significant difference was due to the much higher concentration of ß-Glucans in Brazil Mushroom, especially the ß-1,6-Glucan, which is not present in most mushrooms.

Clinical results also showed that many fungi polysaccharides only affect solid cancer, but the polysaccharides in Brazil Mushroom are effective against Ehrlich’s ascites carcinoma, sigmoid colonic cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer and liver cancer as well as solid cancer.