Modern society offers a plethora of health and wellness trends.

From alternative diets such as keto, exercise guidelines, to high-tech procedures, you name it.

We are all obsessed with the prospect of living longer, healthier lives.

But what if I tell you that a long-forgotten primitive food source can help you achieve this and more? Yes, you’ve read it right.

By simply adding a few (very delicious) servings of fungus to your every diet you can fight a host of deadly diseases and even increase your longevity.

Recently, there has been a ton of science-backed research about the amazing benefits of medicinal mushrooms.

But it wasn’t until I met Mason Taylor, tonic herbalist and founder of Australia’s leading tonic herb company, SuperFeast, that I realized just how powerful medicinal mushrooms could be.

Mason is someone who is passionate about embracing the healing powers of nature. With SuperFeast, he aims to educate people of all walks of life to live with a unique health and wellness philosophy. Particularly, he urges people to include medicinal mushrooms in their diet.

This newfound interest in fungi has made me want to know more. And what I found is astonishing.

Here are some amazing things medicinal mushrooms can do for our bodies, all backed by scientific research.

1. Mushrooms can literally save the world.

Mycologist Paul Stamets grabbed the world’s attention with his riveting TED talk about the 6 Ways Mushrooms Can Save The World.

He is particularly passionate about a native fungal genome, mycelium, which he believes is the world’s “natural internet.”  Mycelium is the unseen part of mushrooms that go deep into the earth. They are like neural thread-like networks that connect organic materials to each other. And this is perhaps the key to answering our most crucial environmental problems

So how exactly can it save the world, you might ask? Among the many things Stamets believes mushrooms can do, one thing stood out.

He learned that mushrooms can clean polluted soil.

Stamets performed an experiment where he put mycelium in burlap sacks and positioned them downstream from a factory that produces E-Coli bacteria. In a short 48 hours, the mushrooms reduced the number of bacteria in the soil by 10,000 times.

This has led Stamets to create more than 22 patents for mushroom-related technologies. And these technologies aim to clean oil, make fuel, absorb pollutionand even turn cardboard boxes into forests.

But Stamets isn’t the only person drawn to the power of mushrooms and its potential to save the world. Even product designer Eben Bayer believes that mushrooms are the answer to a plastic-free world.

There’s also Jae Rhim Lee, who created a mushroom burial suit, which can help absorb environmentally-harmful toxins in decaying human bodies and speed up decomposition.

If these claims weren’t backed by science, you can almost say that mushrooms hold magical superpowers. And we are only beginning to tap the surface into this amazing discovery.

2. Mushrooms can fight diseases.

One of the most controversial issues surrounding medicinal mushrooms is their proclaimed ability to help cure cancer.

While there are many detractors to this claim, no one can deny the fungi kingdom’s ability to enhance our body’s first line of defense against cancer – our immune system.

The truth is, when our immune system is weak, the mechanism for cancer has a stronger opportunity to manifest itself.

In this regard, one particular mushroom, Reishi, stands out from its other counterparts. Used by Chinese medicine for thousands of years (which they also name the “herb for immortals,”) Reishi is now the center of many cancer-related research. Famous for its immune system boosting capabilities, Reishi contains compounds that affect white cell genetics. White cells are crucial parts of your immune system.

Research suggests that this ability can help activate Natural Killer Cells (NK). These cells have the power to reduce cancer metastasis. And scientists even claim that these “immuno-alerters” have the same capabilities as chemotherapy – minus all the negative effects.

However, cancer isn’t the only thing mushrooms can prevent or cure. Studies also prove that medicinal mushrooms act as a natural antibiotic, able to cure infections.

One further study showed some mushrooms can only kill pathogenic (disease-causing) microbes, leaving other useful bacteria untouched. Something prescription antibiotics cannot do, as they kill both good and bad bacteria.

Another type of mushroom, Lion’s Mane, shows promise of fighting Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other neurological diseases.

3. Mushrooms can increase your longevity.

Aside from its potency in making our body and environment healthy, mushrooms can help us live longer lives. Especially with modern science backing up the claim, mushrooms can definitely increase our longevity.

We’ve found out that mushrooms are effective in fighting off diseases and boosting our immune system. But it goes way beyond just that.

Medicinal mushrooms lower blood pressure. They contain substances that act as anti-inflammatories, lessening the risks of heart attacks and Type-2 Diabetes. Their abundance in antioxidants allows them to protect blood vessels. All of these things can lower bad cholesterol, which afflicts 95 million U.S. adults age 20 or older.

These very same antioxidants also contribute to reversing skin cell damage, literally reversing signs of aging while making your skin glow.

Medicinal mushrooms can also boost brain power as they contain exceptional neuroprotective powers. They particularly stimulate our brain’s Nerve Growth Factor (NGF). NGF is the protein significantly responsible for brain maintenance as well as the regeneration and survival of neurons.

I can go on and on about the many health benefits medicinal mushrooms can give our bodies. But all of these add up to one thing: priming our bodies to adapt and exist in its ultimate capacity.

Do you want to perform your best, physically? Or be your smartest? Perhaps even lessen depression and anxiety? Medicinal mushrooms can help with all of that and more.

Takeaway

You might have heard differently. Like me before I met Mason Taylor, you may be sceptical when it comes to mushrooms and their health-boosting powers.

But hopefully, after reading this article, you’ve changed your mind.

With such scientific proof, no one can deny the amazing things medicinal mushrooms can do to our health and our environment.

And we are only touching base with this development.

For now, medicinal mushrooms may not be your cure-all to everything.

But it can be your “side-kick” in your journey to a healthier and longer life.

To get started on your journey of exploring medicinal mushrooms, I highly recommend checking out Mason Taylor’s website, SuperFeast. He’s offering Ideapod readers a 10% discount if they use the coupon code “IDEAPOD” at the check-out.

Please note that we may receive a small commission on anything you purchase. However, also please note that we only recommend products we love. For the last week I’ve been having JING, Mason’s Mushrooms and Neural Nectar every day and I feel absolutely incredible.