Medicinal Mushrooms: Cultivation, Properties and Role in Health and Disease

This book presents an overview of the traditional usage of these medicinal mushrooms and the scientific evidence for their role in alleviating lung diseases. The majority of the findings to date link the medicinal benefits of the mushrooms with their anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating properties. The authors go on to examine the physiochemical and health effects of dietary fiber in edible mushrooms, along with their possible mechanisms. This provides sufficient knowledge about the dietary fiber in edible mushrooms, which might lead to a better utilization of medicinal mushrooms in human diet. Lastly, the authors discuss polysaccharides and other components from mushrooms, which demonstrate an anti-inflammatory effect on inflamed immunocompetent cells such as monocyte, macrophage, and microglia and so on.