Anticancer and antitumour action

The body is made up of many types of cells. These cells grow and divide in a controlled way to produce more cells as they are needed to keep the body healthy. When cells become old or damaged, they die and are replaced with new cells.

However, sometimes this orderly process goes wrong. The genetic material of a cell can become damaged or changed, producing mutations that affect normal cell growth and division. When this happens, cells do not die when they should and new cells form when the body does not need them. The extra cells may form a mass of tissue called a tumour.

It was scientifically proven that Cordyceps contain anti-tumour properties. Several clinical studies have been conducted in China and Japan with cancer patients. In a study with 50 lung cancer patients, a therapeutic dose of 6 grams of Cordyceps extract was administrated per day in conjunction with chemotherapy. The tumours reduced in size in 46% of patients.

In another study, patients with various types of tumours found that a dose of 6g of Cordyceps extract over 2 months improved subjective symptoms in the majority of patients. White blood cell counts were maintained, and tumour size was significantly reduced in 50% of the patients.

In a Other studies show that Cordyceps can reduce the growth of tumour cells of sarcoma S180, Lewis’s cancer of the lungs, MA737 cancer of the breast and Erlich’s ascites carcinoma.