Published in “Chandigarh Dainik Tribune” on 24th March, 2003

Panchkula : Mushrooms have been used as food since centuries. Many varieties of mushroom preparations can be seen in restaurants across the globe. It is an expensive vegetable that is cultivated artificially. But rural folk collect it from the forests where it grows naturally. It has a lot of vitamins and proteins because of which it is used as a complete food. For the past few years, mushroom is being used as a medicine. In Japan and China, it is used for the treatment of many diseases. There are about 38000 varieties of mushrooms in the world, out of which only about 2000 can be used for eating. The rest are poisonous. Out of these 2000, about 200 have some medicinal value. Out of these, 6 varieties of mushrooms have excellent medicinal properties. Government of India’s department of Agricultural Research and Education at Solan(Himachal) have developed Reishi mushroom which is globally known as an excellent medicinal mushroom.

Reishi is known as “King of Herbs”. In Orissa, Assam and North Eastern states, many tribal people have been using mushrooms as medicines since ages. In China it has since long been used for youthfulness and longevity. Now this mushroom is used for treatment of cancer.

According to scientists, this mushroom is composed of a long chain of Polysaccharides which is beneficial in Cancer. To discuss the use and benefits of this mushroom a conference was held at the residence of Dr. B. L. Tandon. In this conference, Dr. J. S. Parwana, an MBBS doctor from Patiala, who has been using and promoting this mushroom for treatment of diseases, claimed that he has got good results in treatment of Diabetes, Asthma, Hypertension, Migraine, Cancer and Arthritis in about 1000 patients. This medicinal mushroom is available in the form of capsules. It is also available in the form of toothpaste, soap, coffee, juice. Many people participated in this meeting and asked Dr. Parwana to tell them about some patients who have been treated by him.