Description
What is Chaga (Innonotus obliquus) for?
Very few westerners had heard of Chaga before Solzhenitsyn introduced it in his 1968 novel ‘The Cancer Ward’.
The protagonist, Oleg Kostoglotov, is a political prisoner. When released from a prison camp he finds that he has developed cancer. He is sent to a clinic for the only treatment available at the time, high-dose radiation. He knows that his prognosis is next to hopeless. In the chapter entitled “The Cancer of the Birch Tree” Oleg tells his fellow cancer sufferers on Ward 13 a tale about “the birch fungus. ”He has their rapt attention since “all longed to find some miracle doctor or some medicine that the doctors here didn’t know about . . . or a herbalist or some old witch of a woman somewhere, whom you only had to find and get that medicine from to be saved“.
- Do not exceed the suggested dose
- Take it with your favourite drink or directly under the tongue
- Take orally
- Do not use for infants or children
- Do not use for animals
- Keep out of reach of young children
- Do not use during pregnancy
- Use as advised by your practitioner
Suggested Benefits
Anti-Inflammatory effects of Innonotus obliquus in colitis
A South-Korean study in 2010 suggests the therapeutic use of Innonotus obliquus extract ameliorates Irritable bowel syndrome.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2840610/
Immunomodulation
A polysaccharide, IP3a of Innotus obliquus is associated with improving immune response in vivo and could be used as a potential therapeutic agent against lymphoma cancer with immunomodulatory activity
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26026982/
Antioxidant properties
A Japanese study showed cognitive enhancement and improved learning and memory in mice after the oral administration of Chaga for 7 days.
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/FO/c1fo10037h#!divAbstract
Anti-diabetic effects of Inonotus obliquus polysaccharides
The results of a Chinese study in 2017 suggests that Chaga is a promising functional food or drug candidate for diabetes treatment..
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28954386/
Lewis lung carcinoma
In a Japanese study that was published in 2016, the extract of Innnotus obliquus caused significant tumour suppressive effects in tumour-bearing and metastatic mice.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4946216/
Diabetes, hypoglycemic and renal protection
This Chinese study, published in 2017, provides evidence that Innnotus obliquus possesses both, potential hypoglycemic and renal protection activities by improving the carbohydrate metabolism.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0180476
A bit of background
Russia’s pharmacopeia contains 83 plants and fungi, among them Chaga. Interestingly, much of Russian studies were never translated into English. The country’s research was therefore never available for the international community to review. Russian clinical data suggests that when Chaga is administered for extended periods, it has beneficial effects on the treatment of patients with stage 3 – 4 of cancer, regardless of where the tumour is located. To that end a commercial extract from Chaga was created called Befungin. In Russia, it is officially approved medicine. Since the 12th century, Chaga has traditionally been used in Russia for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders and cardiovascular diseases. According to Russian pharmacopeia, Chaga increases general stamina, relieves pain and is used to treat heart, stomach, and liver diseases.
