MEDICINAL MUSHROOMS ARE A MUST-HAVE TO HELP PREVENT AND FIGHT CANCER!
Today, 1 in 2 dogs are diagnosed with cancer at some point in their life. If you want to be proactive about preventing cancer naturally and increasing your pet’s life span, you need to have a look at Turkey Tail Mushrooms!
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2018 (1), nearly half of all dogs over the age of 10 will develop some form of cancer. Another study (2) shows that 90% of cancer is preventable but requires major lifestyle changes. This means that as pet parents, we've got a lot of power! Implementing a healthier lifestyle for our pets can help prevent cancer!
Researchers have been looking very closely at the medicinal mushroom Turkey Tail for the past years, and the long list of health benefits it has to offer including research showing that turkey tail mushrooms contain anti-cancer properties and can help improve cancer survival rates.
Turkey Tail Mushrooms are medicinal-grade mushrooms that are grown in forests all over the world. The latin name for Turkey Tail is Trametes versicolor or Coriolus versicolor. Versicolor means many colors. Turkey Tail mushrooms have colored rings that resemble the tail of a turkey.
In this blog post, we will share our top 4 reasons why every pet parent should be including Turkey Tail Mushrooms into their pet’s diet!
ARTICLE AT A GLANCE
| 1. Four Reasons Why Every Pet Should Eat Turkey Tail Mushroom Supplements |
| 2. Tincture Versus Powdered Medicinal Mushroom Supplements |
| 3. Mycelium Versus Fruiting Body |
| 4. How to Choose the Best & Most Effective Medicinal Mushroom Pet Supplement |
4 REASONS WHY EVERY PET SHOULD EAT TURKEY TAIL MUSHROOM SUPPLEMENTS!
1. HELP IMPROVE CANCER SURVIVAL RATES
A 2012 study (3) published in Evidence-Based Complementary Medicine looked at the effectiveness of turkey tail mushrooms in treating dogs with Hemangiosarcoma.
Hemangiosarcoma are malignant tumors which are a common cancer in dogs that can aggressively spread to other parts of the body.
The study showed higher survival rates for dogs with Hemangiosarcoma who received the active compound PSP found in turkey tail mushrooms with no additional treatment compared to dogs with Hemangiosarcoma who received no treatment at all.
The active compound polysaccharopeptide or polysaccharide peptide (PSP) found in Turkey Tail mushrooms was found to be responsible for longer survival rates.
Researchers found that PSP delivers “antitumor and survival effects in a magnitude similar to that which is seen in standard chemotherapy.”
Turkey Tail Mushrooms also contain polysaccharide-K (PSK). PSK also stimulates the immune system to help inhibit a number of cancer triggering mechanisms in the body. Another study (4) showed that PSK inhibited the growth and spread of human colon cancer cells.
Research has also demonstrated incredible health benefits of turkey tail mushrooms for patients with breast cancer (5), lung cancer (6), gastric cancer (7), and colorectal cancer (8).
2. AMAZING SOURCE OF ANTIOXIDANTS
Turkey Tail contains a wide range of antioxidants, including phenols and flavonoids. Phenol and flavonoid antioxidants help to promote immune system health by reducing inflammation and stimulating the release of protective compounds (9).
Antioxidants are compounds that help to inhibit or reduce damage caused by oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can be a result of an imbalance between antioxidants and uncontrolled molecules known as free radicals. Free radicals can cause cellular damage and chronic inflammation. This imbalance has been shown (10) to accelerate the aging process and have an increased risk of having certain cancers and other health conditions.
Research shows eating foods that are rich in antioxidants or supplements with the amazing and impactful compounds can reduce and in some cases neutralize oxidative stress.
Turkey Tail Triple Liquid Extract is and amazing addition to your pet's diet if you are looking to support longevity and immunity.
3. REGULATES THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Turkey Tail Mushrooms are immune system modulators. That means if your pet's immune system is weak, Turkey Tail Mushroom Extract will help increase immunity, and if your pet's immune system is overreacting (e.g., autoimmune disease), Turkey Tail Mushrooms will help bring the immune system back into balance.
For example, if your pet has an infection, boosting the immune system can help the body fight off the bacteria that caused the weakened immune system. But if your pet has an autoimmune disease, then Turkey Tail Mushrooms would help to regulate the immune system and help achieve homeostasis. Consider adding Turkey Tail Triple Liquid Extracts to your pet's diet. This natural supplement can be a valuable tool in maintaining a balanced immune system for your furry friend.
4. MAY ENHANCE GUT HEALTH
If you have been following us for a while, then you know how much we speak about the importance of gut health. Over 80% of the immune system lies in the gut. When we improve gut health we can improve many health concerns that are linked to a poor immune system.
Turkey tail mushrooms contain natural prebiotics which helps to nourish probiotics in the gut. Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that thrive in the presence of prebiotics. Pre & Probiotics work together to enhance gut health and help our pets become more resilient and healthy.
Tincture versus Powdered Mushroom Supplements
One of the biggest advantages of tinctures versus powder is the purity and potency of tinctures.
Medicinal mushrooms are typically hard-bodied (not soft like our regular brown mushrooms) that we have in our omlette. These hard-bodied medicinal mushrooms have a large array of different medicinal compounds and a lot of these medicinal compounds are locked within the tough cell walls inside these mushrooms.
These tough cell walls cannot be digested by humans or pets. This means that a lot of these beneficial compounds and their incredible health benefits would be unavailable in powdered mushrooms.
In order to get the most potent variety of medicinal compounds from the mushroom, an extraction process is required. The extraction process with alcohol, glycerin, or hot water, carefully breaks down the indigestible compounds, allowing the bioactive medicinal compounds to be transferred into a liquid form.
Only through this extraction process we can fully access the therapeutic properties of medicinal mushrooms and create the most effective product. Due to the extraction, the tinctures contain elevated levels of the active compounds naturally found in mushrooms. This translates to a more concentrated dose of beneficial compounds like beta-glucans and polysaccharides, packaged in a smaller serving size.
The second reason why tinctures are considered to be more effective than powdered mushrooms is the fact that liquid extractions are easier to absorb by the body compared to powder. This is because the body doesn’t need to digest anything and therefore, the medicinal properties of the mushroom can be absorbed right into the system.
Mycelium versus Fruiting Body
The only way to get mycelium is if companies grow the mushrooms in a bag, inside rice, oats, etc.
When mushrooms grow in a bag, taking the stuff the mushrooms grow in (like rice or oats) out of the bag is almost impossible. Most mycelium products on the market come from mushrooms grown in industrial bags, not from logs (wooden material).
When mushrooms are grown in nature, you cannot just dig out a log and pull out the mycelium. The roots weave all into the log, and you just couldn’t do that.
When mycelium is taken out of mushrooms grown in bags, the polyphenols (beneficial compounds) don't come from the mushrooms themselves but from the stuff they grow in (oats or rice).
We believe in the old, traditional wisdom of using mushrooms, which is supported by elders who use medicinal mushrooms therapeutically. This means using the fruiting bodies.
Mycelium is a newer science, and until we're sure pet parents are only getting mushrooms and no substrates, we stick to the traditional way of only offering mushrooms from fruiting bodies.
HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST & MOST EFFECTIVE MEDICINAL MUSHROOM PET SUPPLEMENT:
No matter if you’re purchasing a mushroom tincture or a powder, make sure you consider the quality and sourcing of the ingredients.
If you’re looking for the absolute highest quality mushrooms then you’ll want to get supplements that are wild harvested, and grown in their natural environment, a forest.
The truth is that today, most mushrooms are grown indoors on bags of grains. Nutritionally, these mushrooms can’t really compare to mushrooms grown on trees and logs of wood in their natural environment. Mushrooms grown indoors on grain have a lower nutritional profile and have far less of the beneficial medicinal compounds compared to mushrooms that are wild harvested. For example, mushrooms grown on grains will have less beta-glucan and terpenoids.
This is especially important if you are looking to feed these medicinal mushrooms to help address a specific health concern.
If you want the most effective, highest quality medicinal mushrooms, we recommend choosing a liquid extract where the mushrooms are grown on trees!
Our absolute favorite mushroom brands that we use for our dog and offer at PAWDEGA are MYCO-BIOME by Adored Beast and MYCO DOG by CBD Dog Health.
Both of these companies use a three-step extraction process (triple-extraction) for their liquid medicinal mushrooms. The first with hot water, the second with organic alcohol (which is the only way of extracting triterpenes), and the third with glycerin.
Once the extraction process is complete, 0% alcohol is left in the product, and each batch is tested to ensure this level. MYCO-BIOME & MYCO DOG only use wild harvested mushrooms grown in their natural environment and provide our pets with the maximum bioavailability and full-spectrum compounds of the mushrooms for our pets.
Of course, as always, you get what you pay for. So triple extracted, sustainably grown and wild harvested mushroom supplements are going to be more pricey than powders mushrooms grown in labs. However, if you want to see real results and the maximum benefits, then MYCO-BIOME & MYCO DOG are exactly the right fit for you pet.
CONCLUSION
Turkey Tail Mushrooms provide a wide range of health benefits for preventive and proactive care, as well as helping to support pets with preexisting health conditions, enhancing longevity, and improving cancer survival rates.
Adding wild-harvested, triple-extracted turkey tail mushroom to your pet's diet can help to significantly improve overall health now, and in the future.
Know where and how the mushrooms in your products are sourced and processed. The processing practices, including the growing and picking practices of the company, can have an effect on the quality and effectiveness of the end product.
Choose products that are organic and sustainably grown OUTDOORS, in real forests (not indoors inside a lab). We recommend choosing liquid extracts which are more bioavailable compared to powdered mushrooms. Triple extraction liquids provide the complete full-spectrum compounds of the mushrooms that would be extremely beneficial for the overall health of the body.
