Serving Mushroom Growers Around the World Since 1992

Book Review

Reishi Mushroom: Herb of Spiritual Potency and Medical Wonder
by Terry Willard

The Mushroom Growers' Newsletter - September 1992

Is the Reishi mushroom really wondrous? Reishi Mushroom - Herb of Spiritual Potency and Medical Wonder by Terry Willard Ph.D. (Sylvan Press, 1990) could certainly lead one to think so! This 167 page book is primarily written as a discussion between the author and his researcher Kenneth Jones.

For those who would prefer to skip the scientific details, the author provides little summary boxes. For example:

• "RNA from Reishi disrupts viral diseases by inducing interferon production."
• "Reishi inhibits bacteria: Staphylococci, Streptococci and Bacillus pneumoniae."
• "Reishi is officially listed as a substance for treating cancer by the Japanese government."
• "Long-term treatment of cancer with Reishi has success."
• "50% of the cancerous tumors in mice completely regressed 10 days after injection of Reishi."
• "Even in small doses, a polysaccharide from Reishi inhibited 100% of tumors in mice."
• "Reishi improves 81.77% of heart disease patients in 9 Chinese hospitals."
• "Reishi lowers high blood pressure."
• "Reishi contributes to pain relief."
• "Reishi helps alleviate allergies."
• "Evidence suggests Reishi's ability to alleviate food sensitivities."

Support for these claims is generally in the form of summaries from Japanese and Chinese studies. We came away wondering whether or not these really were legitimate studies. Clearly the author had to walk the narrow line between too much and too little detail. Even with relatively few details about the studies, we found the narrative quite dry. Perhaps if we were more knowledgeable about the reputations of the researchers and the research publications we would be less skeptical about these claims.

The author quotes Dr. Andrew Weil, MD as saying: "I feel that research will have to be undertaken in the U.S.A. before the use of Reishi will increase substantially in North America." Just seeing this type of research published in the North American medical journals would certainly lend it more credibility with us.