Dried  Cordyceps sinensis medicinal mushroom

Cordyceps raw

Cordyceps sinensis is seen as a very precious medicinal mushroom in China and other Asian countries. For over 2000 years, Cordyceps sinensis has been used as a tonic, to increase health and vitality, combat aging and prevent various (age-related) diseases. Cordyceps sinensis is used in traditional Chinese medicine to benefit the working of the kidney and lung meridians. The strengthening of these meridians is said to strengthen the body, making it resilliant against fatigue, night sweats, lower back-pain, decreased libido, impotence, hyperglycemia, severe exhaustion, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and even liver diseases. Cordyceps sinensis has been used medicinally in China for over 2000 years, but has only officially been classified as a medicine in Chinese medicine since 1964.

Varieties of Cordyceps sinensis

The Winter Worm and Summer Grass Varieties
Certain varieties of Cordyceps grow parasitically on the caterpillars of particular moths. Some species of Cordyceps are called “winter worm” (these mushrooms grow on a caterpillar, after killing it and filling it with mycelium) and “summer grass”. These endangered mushrooms only occurs in the high mountains (the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau) in southwestern China and Tibet. Fortunately, the mycelia of Cordyceps sinensis can also be grown domestically, using a substrate such as rice. Researchers have found that the mycelia of domestic Cordyceps sinensis varieties contain the same pharmacological components and medicinal properties as the original, wild Cordyceps. This also applies to (domestic) mycelia of Cordyceps militaris.

Cordyceps Sinensis and cardiovascular health:

Cordyceps sinensis has several components that help explain why the medicinal mushroom is so good for the heart and blood vessels. Cordyceps supports a regular heart rhythm, lowers cholesterol, inhibits the clotting of platelets, has an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect and improves blood flow to the heart muscles. In an animal study, Cordyceps sinensis proved to have a healing effect on hypertension.

Laboratory animals on a cholesterol-rich diet which received a hot water extract of Cordyceps sinensis, had lower total cholesterol levels than the controls. The animal study suggests that Cordyceps sinensis counteracts atherosclerosis by improving blood lipids. Various human studies have shown that the use of Cordyceps (about 3 grams per day) leads to significant reduction in cholesterol and triglyceride levels, increase and improve the ratio between HDL and LDL cholesterol levels.