Product Overview - Medicinal Mushrooms

Introduction
Medicinal Mushrooms
Product Group Whole Mushrooms, Mycelium, Extracts...
Selected Basidiomycetes
Polysaccharide Kureha & Lentinan
Fungal Mycelia & Extracts
Maitake Mushrooms and Beta-D Glucans
Cordyceps - Potent Chinese Medicinal
Specifications

INTRODUCTION
Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum) and Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinula edodes) have long been revered in the Orient for their miraculous immune stimulation and health promoting properties. Now through the advances of modern biotechnology, Garuda, in cooperation with North American Reishi, offers various types of powdered ingredients made from these and other medicinal mushrooms, including standardized potent extracts. These unique powders are suitable for use in tablets, capsules, health drinks, and cosmetics. All mushroom, mycelium and Reishi mushrooms are certified organically grown, without the use of any artificial additives.

MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS
Mushrooms are a flavorful and nutritious food group. Low in calories, good sources of B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin and niacin, they contain all the essential amino acids. Mushrooms have also been used for thousands of years as some of the most effective, yet benign, of many plants that formed the Oriental herbal tradition. Garuda International offers the highest quality mushroom extracts available in the world today.

Reishi : Called the "marvelous herb" in China, this widely recognized and legendary mushroom characterizes the category, with centuries-old usage and scientific validation of its benefits. Reishi contains polysaccharides and triterpenes.

Shiitake : The second most popular edible mushroom worldwide, shiitake extracts define nutraceuticals - foods with positive health benefits. Polysaccharides and a compound called eritadenine are responsible for its effects.

Maitake: Another choice edible mushroom, maitake is a relative newcomer that is the subject of promising research in Japan. Protein-bound polysaccharides are the active compounds.

Cordyceps: A small club-shaped fungus that grows naturally on caterpillars, cordyceps is a highly revered tonic herb that is considered a national treasure by the Chinese government. It contains active polysaccharides and sterols. Because of Cordyceps' ability to build energy, stamina and endurance it has been recommended for use by those who suffer from Lyme disease and fibromyalgia.

OUR PRODUCT GROUPS:
Whole Mushrooms: Our cultivated mushrooms come from select genetic stock and are grown on standardized substrates. Our Reishi cultivars are genetically selected for maximum triterpene levels. Shiitake and maitake are primarily grown on natural log substrates thereby producing the highest nutritional and medicinal qualities. Whether for use in tea for extraction or nutraceutical production, our whole mushrooms are the finest raw materials available.

Mycelium: Mushrooms are the "fruiting body" of a fine root-like network called mycelium. This mycelium is the actual fungal organism. Mycelium is capable of, and efficient at, producing medicinal compounds by itself, especially polysaccharides. Because of this, mycelia products are on the cutting edge of new product development and are revolutionizing the medicinal mushroom field.

Extracts: Mushroom extracts could historically be considered some of the first nutraceuticals - food concentrated into medicinal form. Garuda's extracts are carefully produced according to GMP standards from select raw materials.

ACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN SELECTED BASIDIOMYCETES
Mushrooms belong to the group of fungi called basidiomycetes. These basidiomycetes grow on various types of organic matter, breaking down the complex fiber structures of the organic matter into usable and digestible polysaccharides. Polysaccharides, sugar molecules linked together to form long chains, are also found in some of the world’s most famous medicinal plants (Ginseng, Aloe Vera, and Echinacea among them). These natural health-promoting plants owe a great portion of their reputation to these medicinally active polysaccharides.

Not all of these long-chain sugars (polysaccharides) act in the same way. An indigestible polysaccharide called Chitin provides the structural cement for the cell walls of mushrooms. In processing medicinal mushrooms to extract the active polysaccharides, chitin is broken down to release the active polysaccharides, making them more readily available to the human body.

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Garuda International, Inc.

P.O. Box 44380 Lemon Cove, CA 93244 U.S.A. Phone: (559) 594-4380 Fax: (559) 594-4689
NEW WEBSITE: www.garudaint.com

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Reishi Photo courtesy of Jeff Chilton @North American Reishi

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