Chaga, as known as "cinder conk," is a parasitic fungi which grows primarily on birch trees. It differs from the typical medicinal mushroom because it grows on a living tree like a parasite until it eventually kills its host. Also, most other medicinal mushrooms only show their fruiting body, which is what is traditionally used as the medicine, while chaga hide its fruiting body and the mushroom itself is used as the medicine. It has a burnt wood-like appearance. The fungi will enter the tree through a wounded stripped section. It will then grow for years underneath the bark until it breaks through to the outside of the tree. Then it will take an additional 5-7 years to fully mature. Chaga prefers cold climate and can be found in the northern parts of the U.S. as well as other parts of the world. It's not considered to be a plant or animal, but it's DNA chromosomal makeup is 30% closer to humans than plants.
Chaga's History and Uses
Evidence of the use of chaga is dated back thousands of years. Its history goes back thousands of years. Since, it has been used throughout the world to treat the most malicious of diseases. It has been used in folk remedies for centuries in countries such as Poland, Russia, and China. In Russia, it has been sold under the name "befungin" since the 1960's as a treatment for cancer.
A Summary of Chaga's History:
- Legends of a powerful healing fungus coming out of birch trees go back at least 5,000 years in the folklore of the indigenous people of Siberia.
- Around 100 B.C. in the book The Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, where it was mentioned as "a precious gift of nature" and "the king of herbs."
- In 1955, chaga was approved to fight cancer by the Russian Medical Academy of Science.
- In 1968, Russian author Alexandr Solzhenitsyn wrote the book Cancer Ward which taught about the amazing anti-cancer properties of chaga and brought attention to the West.
Chaga is a miraculous medicinal mushroom and is one of the most abundant sources of antioxidants known. Some reports claim it has a higher ORAC rating than anything ever tested! Herbalist David Winston believes it is the most anti-cancer medicinal mushroom.
Chaga's Medicinal Value
Though we're not completely clear about what makes chaga so miraculous, scientists believe the betulin in it may play a major role. Betulin and betulinic acid are natural compounds in birch trees. The betulin in a birch tree is indigestible by humans but chaga converts it into a form that is digestible. This is one of the main things that makes chaga so unique. Chaga is able to extract the medicine out of trees for us. It's known to contain 215 phytonutrients, including 29 polysaccharide or beta-glucan derivatives, and a high amount of triterpenes.
Along with betulinic acid and polysaccharides, chaga also contains a very high amount of superoxide dismutase (SOD). It has one of the highest amounts of SOD of anything ever tested. This is what makes chaga even more unique and puts it on top of the list of the medicinal mushrooms. SOD is one of the most powerful antioxidants in our body and it decreases as we age.
Chaga contains the highest amount of melanin of anything known. It's very rich in polyphenols, sterols, and amino acids. It is also a good source of trace minerals such as germanium.
#1 Herb Against Cancer
Chaga is the #1 herb against cancer! It's particularly useful when dealing with skin cancers. Plus other cancers such as:
Brain cancer
Skin cancer/melanoma
Breast cancer chaga
Cervical cancer
Leukemia
Liver cancer
Ovarian cancer
Lung cancer
Uterine cancer
Stomach cancer
Medulloblastoma
Squamous cell cancer of the head and neck
Neuroblastoma
Chaga's Healing Properties
antibacterial
ant-tumor
anti-cancer
anti-viral
anti-mutagenic
anti-inflammatory
anti-allergenic
Scientific Studies On Chaga
There is actually a good amount of research validating the health benefits of chaga. Here's a short list of some of the studies:
- This study reported an antitumor effect
- This study in Poland showed chaga's ability to inhibit tumor growth
- This study showed antimutagenic and antioxidative activities
- This study displayed chaga's ability to fight cancer without affecting healthy cells
How To Prepare Chaga
Chaga has traditionally been consumed as tea. All you have to do is put it in hot water to extract the healing properties. Some people believe it is unnecessary to use boiling water while others believe chaga needs to be boiled in order to get the maximum nutrition out of it. If you're going to boil it, boil it for an extended period of time, like a couple hours or even days. A very small chunk can make a reasonable amount of tea. A large chunk can be used several times over and over again. You will notice the water will stop becoming as dark when the chaga is nearly finished. Chaga tea has a great flavor and tastes good mixed in a hot-drink elixir with cacao and other superfoods and herbs.
Tip: After making tea with chaga, put the chaga in the freezer. Freezing it will break open the cell walls and allow more nutrition to be released next time you make tea with it.
Make a Chaga Tincture
Another great way to take chaga is as a tincture by extraction. It takes a little effort but it's well worth it. To make a tincture with an herb you basically just soak the herb in alcohol and the alcohol extracts certain medicinals from the herb that don't easily come out in water extractions.
Tip: Use a mix of both a water extraction and alcohol extraction in your tincture to make what's known as a dual-extraction.
Where To Get Chaga
The best place to get chaga is in the forest. You can find it wild if you want. But since not everyone lives where birch trees grow, you may need to buy your own. Even if you can harvest your own wild chaga in your area, companies do a great job of extracting the medicine out of it and even encapsulate it or put into a tincture, which is convenient.
Here are a few different types of chaga products: