Mushrooms for Liver Health

The Company grows and sells medicinal mushroom blends composed of proprietary hybrid
strains of medicinal mushroom species. The strains used are not commercially available from
other growers for national and international distribution. The products are produced as foods
for integrative health care as evidence-based, complementary support for human chemistry. The
mushrooms are grown in sterile, clean room facilities with no soil and are grown on certified
organic substrates. Once grown, the medicinal mushrooms are dried and processed into a
powdered form in a sterile environment. The blending and packaged is also done in a sterile
environment.

Packaging is done in sterile clean rooms for each product and products come in three weights:
1.3 pounds/20.8 ounces (590 grams) container, .65 pound/10.4 ounces (295 grams) container,
and a .43 pound/6.9 ounces (196 grams) container.

Currently, few manufacturers or distributors sell quality fungi extensively to health care
professionals, hospitals and medical food services and: (1) none have our hybrid strains (2) none have our quality and safety standards (3) few use our organic substrates to grow mushroom
strains on (4) none use sterile clean rooms for the growing, processing and the packaging (5)
none have a shelf life of four years or more. The company’s formulas and products therefore
have no direct competition because of the proprietary strains, proprietary formulas, beneficial
chemistry, substrates used, and the quality standards for the growing and harvesting of the
hybrid mushroom strains. Most medicinal mushroom products are extracts made from
mushrooms of unknown origins and grown on unknown soil or other substrates. Soil and
nonsterile substrates used in some competitor’s production increase the risk of contamination,
the incorporation of heavy metals and toxins, and higher product variability.

Mushrooms are the fruiting body of heterotrophic macro fungi which have long been used for both
food and medicine. Mushrooms have been studied extensively for improving and maintaining human
health and show promise as a source of prebiotics. Mushrooms are rich in prebiotic compounds as
they contain carbohydrates like chitin, hemicelluloses, beta and alpha glucans, mannans, xylans,
lignocellulose, and galactans. Polysaccharides such as ß-(1 → 3)-d-glucans are well-known prebiotics
and the most potent mushroom derived substance. Such polysaccharides and their complexes with
protein/peptides are known to be modifiers of biological responses. They contribute significantly to the
body’s defense systems by exhibiting immunomodulatory and antitumor activities through the action
of immune effector cells such as dendritic cells (DCs), hematopoietic stem cells, lymphocytes,
macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells and T cells. Additionally, other medicinal properties of
mushrooms include antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular, antimicrobial, and
antidiabetic characteristics.
Vasconcelos IM, Oliveira JT. Antinutritional properties of plant lectins. Toxicon. 2004 Sep 15;44(4):385-403.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15302522
Dr. Solomon P. Wasser, “Medicinal Mushroom Science: Current Perspectives, Advances, Evidences, and
Challenges”
Institute of Evolution and Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Natural
Sciences,
University of Haifa, Israel. Jul. 17, 2014: 346-356.

Yes, there are but of different structures that are not harmful with the synergistic chemistry. The
word “lectin” is often misused within the Paleo community. You’ll hear phrases like “grains are
bad because they’re full of lectins”. While this is basically true, not all lectins are bad. Lectins are
a large class of carbohydrate-binding proteins found in all forms of life, including the human
body. Many types of receptors embedded in the cells in our bodies are lectins. A group of proteins essential to our innate immune systems, called complement proteins (because they
“complement” the activities of inflammatory cells by providing a rudimentary targeting
mechanism for this otherwise nonspecific part of the immune system), are lectins. This is why
labeling a food as “full of lectins” is inaccurate and the type of phrase that opens up the Paleo
diet to (valid) criticism.
Lectins are proteins that possess at least one noncatalytic domain that allows them to selectively
recognize and reversibly bind specifically free sugars (monosaccharides) or oligosaccharides,
present in the cell without altering the structure of carbohydrate which make possible their use
as decoders of cellular carbohydrates. They have a largest distribution in nature in all kingdoms
of life with a higher distribution in plants and also in animals and microorganisms. The plant
lectins represent a unique group of proteins with potent biological activity, where legumes
lectins represent the largest thoroughly studied family. Based on their mechanism of action, the
plant lectins can exert action in diverse biological processes as plant protection and in medicine
as lectin-based delivery systems, biomedical research, as diagnostic and in disease treatment. In
animal cells lectins can have action in various biological processes including the cellular
adhesion, invasion, metastasis inhibition, action on angiogenesis and in cellular death by
autophagy, necrose, and/or apoptosis. The best-known legume lectins are phytohemagglutinin
from red kidney beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), soybean agglutinin from Glycine max,
concanavalin A from jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis), peanut lectin from Arachis hypogaea, and
pea lectin from Pisum sativum.
Others important plant lectins with recognized antitumor activity (where ConA is included) are
Ulex europaeus agglutinin, Viscum album coloratum agglutinin, mistletoe lectin, and Viscum
album agglutinin from Viscum album L. and Galanthus nivalis agglutinin, among others. This
review aims to give the state of art of lectins as potential candidates for the development of
more efficient anticancer or cancer preventive drugs. In plants, the roles of lectins are still being
identified, although they appear to be part of the plants’ natural defense mechanisms and to be
important for seed survival (why lectins tend to be concentrated in the seeds of plants).
Not all lectins are bad, but some are (or at least, can be). A subset of lectins that can be found in
large concentrations in the seeds of grasses (i.e. grains) and the legume family do have some
properties that can make them very problematic for human health, namely that:
• They are hard to digest (this has the effect that they can overfeed certain species of gut bacteria
and lead to gut dysbiosis, which now linked to a variety of health conditions)• They can interact with the gut barrier and actually damage the cells that form the gut barrier or
open up the junctions between those cells (genetic susceptibility plays a role in what extent this
happens in your body), contributing to development of a leaky gut (now linked to a variety of
health conditions), and
• They can stimulate the immune system (proportional to how much enter the body and type of
lectin).
There are really just two classes of lectins that are known to be problematic for human health
and have the above properties. The first are called prolamins (gluten is an example of a
prolamin), so called because of their rich proline (an amino acid) content. The second are called
agglutinins (wheat germs agglutinin, kidney bean lectin, and soy lectin are examples of
agglutinins), so called because of their strong ability to agglutinate (or make clump together) red
blood cells (they also happen to be rich in proline). Phytohemagglutinin, also known as kidney
bean lectin, both prolamins and agglutinins (there are many proteins within each class) affect the
type of bacteria that like to grow in your gut (in a negative way, typically preferentially
overfeeding certain strains like E. coli).
They are also very good at crossing the gut barrier and there are actually four known
mechanisms through which prolamins can enter the body (one of which is dependent on genetic
susceptibility and it remains unknown if the other three occur in everyone or vary from person
to person) and three known mechanisms through which agglutinins can enter the body (which
appear to be independent of genetics, although more studies are required).
Not all of these entry pathways damage the gut barrier, but some can (again, genetic
susceptibility may play a role, but more research is needed). By the way, I should mention that
the exact mechanisms of how these proteins enter the body and potentially damage the gut
barrier are discussed in detail in The Paleo Approach (in a way that anyone can understand with
illustrations, so don’t let that intimidate you either!). Once these proteins enter the body, they
interact strongly with the immune system (typically stimulating inflammation, but the adaptive
immune system can also be affected).
The distinction between prolamins, agglutinins and lectins in general is why you’ll see more and
more people within the Paleo community using the term “toxic lectin” or being even more
specific and using the terms prolamin and agglutinin. However, even within these two classes,
some prolamins and agglutinins are more damaging than others.
For example, the agglutinins in many types of legumes can be reduced by soaking, sprouting and
fermenting and largely deactivated by heat, especially during prolonged cooking. And theconcentration of agglutinins in different types of legumes varies dramatically. In fact, legumes
with edible pods like green beans, sugar snap peas and snow peas are generally endorsed on a
Paleo diet because the concentration of agglutinins is low and the instability of the agglutinins in
these legumes means they are typically rendered inactive by cooking. In other types of legumes
(soy and peanuts being the biggest culprits, but also some types of dried beans like kidney
beans), the agglutinins are very resistant to deactivation and degradation. Wheat germ agglutinin
is so resistant to deactivation through even traditional food preparation methods that even
consumed as part of your food, it qualifies as a biologically active compound in our digestive
tracts (that would not be a normal classification for a protein in food!).
There are no comprehensive studies that measure the amount or the different types of
prolamins and agglutinins in different grains and legumes or their stability with different food
preparation methods. Until these details are better understood, the Paleo diet omits all grains
and all legumes (with the exception of those with edible pods as already mentioned) due to the
potentially detrimental effects of prolamins and agglutinins on human health. It also doesn’t help
that these are high glycemic load foods, with incomplete protein that is harder to digest than
animal protein, and with lower vitamin, mineral and antioxidant density than fruit and
vegetables (which is what a Paleo diet endorses consuming instead of grains and legumes).
Vasconcelos IM, Oliveira JT. Antinutritional properties of plant lectins. Toxicon. 2004 Sep 15;44(4):385-403.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15302522
Ana Cristina Ribeiro*† Ricardo Ferreira† Regina Freitas† “Plant Lectins: Bioactivities and Bioapplications”
Faculty of Pharmacy, DCTB, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Higher Institute of Agronomy, DRAT, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

Cultivating medicinal mushroom strains at large scales requires methods to provide consistent,
safe, effective and reliable products. The current production methods and standards in the
market need upgrading before they can achieve these results. We have the systems, controls
and processes to assure the products are safe and are of the best quality and standards in the
world. Product quality can also be impacted by the fact that many manufacturers and resellers
rely on several sources of mushrooms, and some are of dubious origins. These different sources
often show considerable variation with respect to substrates used and manufacturing practices.
Unfortunately, the perceived future growth of this sector has also resulted in an ever-increasing
number of less reputable companies, and their questionable manufacturing industries to develop and adopt acceptable and reproducible protocols for
growing the raw product and for the processing of the final products.
Enforcing these standards will ensure high-quality, standardized, and safe products. Such
practices are essential for earning and maintaining the public trust, which is vital for securing
expanding markets in the future.
practices will inevitably lead to
more intensive scrutiny of the sector as a whole. There is urgency for the medicinal mushroom

Yes. You may have to pay an import tax or tariff, depending on the country.

In most cases we can ship the same day if the order is received by 2 pm Pacific Time. If we do run
out, you may have a 2 to 3-week delay because of the growing cycles of the various strains of
mushrooms.

Go to the web sites www.quanthealth.org, www.mycoldiscovery.com, documents provided and
www.foodabout.org

Go to www.quanthealth.org and www.mycoldiscovery.com

Yes, they are totally safe for pets. We have had dogs, cats and horses use it with positive
outcomes.

Each mushroom strain takes a different period of time to grow, the longest being 63 days.