An extract of the medicinal mushroom Agaricus blazei murill can protect against allergy

Abstract

Agaricus blazei Murill (AbM) of the family Basidiomycetes is a popular edible medicinal mushroom, originally native to a small village, Piedade, in the highland areas of Atlantic forest near São Paulo, Brazil. It has traditionally been used for the prevention of a range of diseases, including cancer, hepatitis, atherosclerosis, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and dermatitis [1,2]. Because of its alleged health effects, the mushroom was brought to Japan in the mid-1960s and subjected to biomedical research. AbM was found to be rich in immuno-modulating substances such as β-glucans [3,4] and proteoglycans [5], and it had anti-infection [6,7] and anti-tumor [4,5] effects in mice.