How Medicinal Mushrooms Could Give You A Long Life And Boost Your Brain: Jeff Chilton

On this episode of Anti-Aging Hacks show, we discuss:

1. The different types of mushrooms and their benefits (including a longer life)

2. How you can start adding mushrooms to your diet?

3. Which mushroom(s) should people get started with?

My guest is Jeff Chilton. Jeff studied Ethno-mycology at the University of Washington in the late sixties and in 1973 began a 10 year career as a large scale commercial mushroom grower.

Jeff is the co- author of The Mushroom Cultivator, published in 1983. In 1989 Jeff established Nammex, the first company to supply medicinal mushroom extracts to the Nutritional Supplement industry.

1:01 - How did Jeff begin with mushrooms?

- He lived in a climate that is perfect for growing mushrooms (rainy weather) Jeff went mushroom hunting. He wanted to study them.

- College professor told him about the closest mushroom farm, and everything began there.

- Each crop produces 20,000 pounds! He saw two thousand individual crops of mushrooms

- Jeff was literally living with tons of mushrooms for those 10 years.

- Fun fact: Every single mushroom that we see at the supermarket has been picked by hand.

6:09 - What led you to start your own company?

- He was reading about mushrooms used as medicine. In Asia, they have been using them in special traditional Chinese medicine for maybe more than three thousand years.

- When he left the mushroom farm, he decided to start his own company.

8:03 - Use of mushrooms in Chinese ancient medicine? Are people using mushrooms as food or as medicine?

- Mushrooms are fantastic forgotten food.

Jeff looks at mushrooms as food as medicine. He is always telling people to put mushrooms in their diet.

Nowadays, mushrooms are available more than ever.

10:47 - What percentage of mushrooms out there in the wild are poisonous, and which ones are actually helpful?

- There are a lot of poisonous plants out there. The key thing when you are out there if you don't know anything about mushrooms, do not pick mushrooms.

- How do mushrooms grow? Mushrooms don't grow from the seeds.

- They have spores, which land everywhere. When conditions are right, those spores germinate into very fine filament. When multiple spores germinate, and these filaments come together and fuse, they create a network of these filaments.

- That network is called mycelium (body of the fungus). Mushroom begins to form on mycelium network. When are you buying a mushroom product, you gotta be sure that you are actually buying a mushroom, not a mycelium or spores.

21:56 Active compounds in mushrooms - Why they are beneficial?

Beta-glucans are a polysaccharide. They makes almost 50% of the cell wall of a mushroom. They will potentiate in our immune system.

- Beta-glucans trigger receptors that will stimulate the production of immune cells. Mushrooms help you when you need it.

26:05 - What about triterpenoids? Benefits of these compounds? Not all mushrooms have these types of triterpenoids. Triterpenoids make mushrooms distinctive.

- Chaga and Reishi mushrooms have triterpenoids. In the Chaga case, triterpenoids are antiviral. In the Reishi case, triterpenoids are used for the liver.

28:28 What is the Reishi mushroom? Reishi grows on wood. Chinese medical practitioners used it in tea. Has the highest ratio of beta-glucans.

- It also has triterpenoids. Part of the population who eats mushrooms regularly seems to live longer than people that don't.

30:19 How much dose should you take of the Reishi mushroom? The recommendation is to take 2 to 2.5 dried grams of the mushroom. One dried gram is equivalent to ten grams of fresh mushrooms.

33:46 Lion's mane and their benefits for the brain? It isn't the only mushroom that benefits the brain. Lion's mane helps our neurons to function better.

35:52 - Benefits of cordyceps mushroom? Cordyceps are great for people that are tired or low on energy. It is also used for lung diseases.

44:55 Choga mushroom - What is it and why it is beneficial? Grows on birch trees. It is used in Russia, Eastern Europe for primarily stomach issues.

47:01 If you have to recommend only one mushroom to the audience, which one of them be? "Absolutely it would be Reishi." (It has highest ratio of beta-glucains) Jeff recommends Shiitake too. You can buy it in your store.

48:50 How much time should someone take mushrooms to see the benefits? Three to four weeks on daily bases. It is going to be different on everyone.

51:45 How to find right mushroom supplement? Many mushroom products are made from mycelium. That products have less beta-glucans than real mushrooms. Look really carefully at the labels.

55:21 - Do you sell direct-to-consumer as well? If you wanna try Jeffs products, you can check them right here: https://www.realmushrooms.com/ 56:33

- Are there any mushrooms that have been proven to give you younger-looking skin? *Tremella mushrooom

58:48 - Where can people find you online? https://www.nammex.com/