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Mushroom Learning Center: Turkey Tail
6 minute read
Turkey Tail (Coriolus Versicolor) is a mushroom that is loaded with health benefits and can be found in the wild on decomposing tree wood and stumps. To ensure you receive all the medicinal components from our mushrooms, Stay Wyld Organics Turkey Tail powders and capsules combine both fruiting bodies and mycelium. Unique to Turkey Tail are Polysaccharide Krestin (PSK) and Polysaccharide Peptide (PSP), which are used as medicine. The PSK and PSP in Coriolus Versicolor, also known as Trametes Versicolor, may help boost your immune system and slow down cancer growth.
Turkey Tail mushrooms have been used to improve response to radiation and cancer medicines. In addition, these medicinal mushrooms are necessary for treating UTIs, fatigue, muscle strength, and other conditions. However, due to the high cost of clinical studies, there’s limited scientific evidence to support the various uses and it is advised you consult your doctor before taking the mushrooms or supplements.
Continue reading to learn more about the medicinal benefits of Turkey Tail mushrooms:
What is Turkey Tail?
Trametes Versicolor is a variety of mushrooms used for their medicinal properties originally in Asia and now around the globe by Naturopaths and Doctors of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Also known as Coriolus Versicolor or Trametes Versicolor, the mushrooms get the name due to their pattern that resembles a turkey tail.
The Turkey Tail mushroom grows in woodland environments on dead logs, and it’s a bracket fungi type, meaning it forms circular and thin leaf-like structures.
Turkey Tail Mushroom Flavor
Some people describe the taste of Trametes Versicolor or turkey tail medicinal mushrooms as slightly bitter, but not your usual mushroom taste. It’s rather unimpressive and mild when compared to shiitake or reishi.
How to Prepare Turkey Tail Mushroom
There’s caution from consuming turkey tail mushroom or Trametes Versicolor extracts in the wild. Instead, it would be best to get your turkey tail mushrooms from a reputable vendor. Once you’ve verified your mushroom source, you may chop the mushrooms and use them to make tea or cook.
Thus, the turkey tail mushroom extracts are available in tea or powder form. Accordingly, you need to follow the dosage instructions strictly. Also, ensure you get purified turkey tail mushrooms or turkey tail supplements from a reliable source.
Turkey Tail Mushroom Dosage
Turkey tail mushrooms have Polysaccharide Krestin (PSK) and Polysaccharide Peptide (PSP). Thus, some of the supplements contain only these two components, but other times you can use whole mushrooms. Adults primarily use PSK in doses of 3 grams through ingestion every day to a maximum of 36 months.
Alternatively, you can take whole mushrooms in doses of 2.4 grams every day for 12 weeks. Therefore, talk to your healthcare provider to get advice on the best product and dose specifications for your specific condition. For turkey tail mushroom cancer dosage, speak to a specialist.
Health Benefits of Turkey Tail Mushroom
Here are some of the health benefits of the turkey tail mushroom:
- Packed with antioxidants: Antioxidants help inhibit and reduce damage courtesy of oxidative stress.
- Has Polysaccharopeptides that boost your immunity: PSP and PSK have great immune-boosting attributes.
- May improve your immunity in certain cancer cases: These mushrooms may possess some antitumor properties that help boost your immunity.
- Improves efficacy on some cancer treatments: The mushrooms are used with other traditional cancer treatments due to their beneficial compounds.
- May enhance your gut health: Turkey tail mushrooms contain probiotics that provide your gut with good bacteria.
- Turkey tail mushrooms weight loss: Beta-glucan (PBG), a protein-bound turkey tail component, helps prevent obesity. A mice study, for instance, discovered that beta-glucan helps in weight loss for the mice that consumed a diet with high levels of fat. The study found that beta-glucan helps balance gut bacteria. Additionally, further research on beta-glucan effects in humans is necessary.
Turkey Tail Mushroom Identification Checklist
Here’s a six-step process to help you identify the authentic turkey tail mushrooms:
- Because turkey tail mushrooms are polypore, they have pores on the underside like tinder polypore and reishi.
- Fresh mushrooms should be flexible and thin.
- The mushrooms appear slightly fuzzy and barely visible.
- Its pores are tiny, and roughly 3-8 pores in every millimeter.
What are the Side Effects of Turkey Tail Mushroom?
In most healthy adults, turkey tail mushrooms don’t exhibit any side effects. In other cases, some individuals receiving turkey tail extracts (Polysaccharide Krestin) and chemotherapy report liver problems, lower white blood cells, vomiting, and nausea.
Where to Find Turkey Tail Mushrooms
You can find turkey tail mushrooms from reputable vendors online in tea, capsules, or powder form. In addition, you’ll need to perform adequate research on the product and the selling company before making your purchase.
FAQs
What is Turkey Tail Mushroom Good For?
Turkey tail mushroom provides you with an array of excellent health benefits. Thus, it contains various powerful antioxidants and other crucial compounds that could help improve the immune system even fight certain types of cancers. In addition, these medicinal mushrooms may help improve the balance in your gut bacteria, which impacts your immunity positively.
Does Turkey Tail Mushroom Make You High?
It’s important to note that these medicinal mushrooms aren’t psychedelics compared to psilocybin mushrooms. Also, their supplements present great potential in immune-boosting benefits with low risk in side effects in dogs as in human beings.
Is the Turkey Tail Mushroom Edible?
These mushrooms are edible and generally safe as a food additive or in supplement form, and they have a few side effects. Therefore, take the turkey tail mushrooms in minimal doses to avoid adverse side effects.
Can You Take Too Much Turkey Tail?
Turkey tail mushrooms are safe and have very few side effects. Therefore, consuming these mushrooms in moderate portions doesn’t cause any harm. However, some individuals experience digestive upsets such as dark stool, bloating, and gas.
What Cancers Does Turkey Tail Mushroom Help?
Turkey tail mushrooms may help you fight cancers such as breast cancer. Therefore, ladies undergoing breast cancer treatment may benefit from turkey tail mushroom extracts. Other cancers that may benefit from turkey tail mushrooms include:
- Leukemia
- Lung cancer
- Colon cancer
- Other types of cancers
What are the Benefits of Turkey Tail Mushroom?
Here are five immune-boosting benefits of turkey tail mushrooms:
- May enhance your gut health
- There are chances it could increase efficacy in some cancer treatment options.
- Could improve immune functions for people with certain types of cancers
- Turkey tail mushrooms contain immune-boosting compounds. They include Polysaccharide Krestin (PSK) and Polysaccharide Peptide (PSP).
- They have valuable antioxidants.
Can You Eat Turkey Tail Mushroom?
Turkey tail mushrooms come with various benefits and are generally safe to take in supplement form or eat, and they have minimal side effects. Therefore, begin by taking the mushrooms in small quantities so that you don’t experience any adverse effects.
How Long Does It Take for Turkey Tail Mushroom to Work?
If this is the first time you’re taking turkey tail mushrooms, it may take your body up to 3 weeks before you can experience the health benefits. Furthermore, as a new user, you should double the recommended dose to 2 grams every day in the first three weeks because most supplements take time before the body assimilates as they are bioactive.
Wrap Up
Turkey tail mushrooms may help support cancer treatment due to their immune-boosting properties. Additionally, they help in maintaining gut health. Nonetheless, the turkey tail mushrooms can’t treat cancer on their own. Instead, they could be an excellent addition to a treatment regimen under the doctor’s approval and supervision.
Therefore, always consult the doctor before using any supplements. The chances are that some of those supplements have adverse side effects and don’t interact well with other medicines.
Accordingly, the turkey tail mushrooms could be a promising natural supplement as an addition to other medical therapies.
