In the folk, Ganoderma lucidum has been endowed with the beautiful meaning of "longevity and good luck". Written records about the medicinal value of Ganoderma lucidum were first found in Shennong Herbal Classic in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
According to China Pharmacopoeia (2020 edition), Ganoderma lucidum has the effects of "benefiting qi and calming the nerves, relieving cough and asthma", and can be used for "restlessness, insomnia, palpitation, cough and asthma due to lung deficiency, mental fatigue, shortness of breath, and no appetite". Ganoderma lucidum has also been included in the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and Treatment Outline.
Ganoderma lucidum is rich in various active substances. Modern pharmacological studies have confirmed that Ganoderma lucidum has many functions such as immunomodulation, blood pressure reduction, anti-tumor, anti-virus, liver protection, anti-oxidation and so on.
Up to now, more than 600 active substances have been isolated and identified from more than 20 kinds of Ganoderma lucidum, which can be roughly divided into triterpenoids, terpenoids, polysaccharides, steroids, alkaloids and so on.
With the role of Ganoderma lucidum in health care and treatment of diseases being gradually confirmed, Ganoderma lucidum has been widely used in various health foods and medical products, such as adjuvant for cancer treatment. There are more and more products related to Ganoderma lucidum in the market, and the demand for Ganoderma lucidum medicinal materials is increasing.
But what kinds of ganoderma lucidum are there? What ganoderma lucidum is medicinal ganoderma lucidum? How to identify the quality of Ganoderma lucidum? What's the difference between wild ganoderma lucidum and cultivated products?
I. Classification of Ganoderma lucidum
Medicinal Ganoderma lucidum has a long history and is widely distributed in China. However, the classification of Ganoderma lucidum is more complicated due to the difference of producing environment and long-term mutual introduction and hybridization. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 200 kinds of Ganoderma lucidum in the world.
There are so many kinds of ganoderma lucidum, how to classify them? Let's see how the ancients classified it. According to the theory of Yin-Yang and Five Elements in Chinese medical classics, Ganoderma lucidum can be divided into six kinds according to its color, namely, Ganoderma lucidum, Zizhi, Huang Zhi, Baizhi, Heizhi and Qingzhi.
Ge Hong of Jin Dynasty described the image of "Six Branches" in Bao Puzi: "The red one is like coral, the white one is like cutting fat, the black one is like paint, the young one is like jade, and the yellow one is like purple and gold, all of which are transparent and like hard ice."
"Compendium of Materia Medica" has a detailed description of the sexual and taste functions of "Six Branches", and each of them has different functions and curative effects. For example, Ganoderma lucidum is mainly responsible for the knot in the chest, which is good for the heart; White matter is mainly used for relieving cough and ascending qi, benefiting lung qi, dredging mouth and nose, strengthening mind and calming nerves.
At present, there are 98 species of Ganoderma recorded in Fungi Records of China, and there are 103 species of Ganoderma recorded in Ganoderma Picture Book of China. So many ganoderma lucidum, do they all have medicinal value?
2. What kind of ganoderma lucidum is medicinal ganoderma lucidum?
Although there are many kinds of Ganoderma lucidum in China, only 14 kinds have been used by people so far. Among them, Ganoderma lucidum only contains Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma lucidum in China Pharmacopoeia (2020 edition), which is a legal Chinese herbal medicine in China. In addition, Ganoderma tsugae was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as the raw material of health food.
Due to the limited resources of wild Ganoderma lucidum, the cultivation techniques of Ganoderma lucidum in China have developed rapidly. At present, Ganoderma lucidum is the most cultivated variety. The main producing areas of Ganoderma lucidum in China are Fujian and Zhejiang, Changbai Mountain in Northeast China, Dabie Mountain and Shandong Luxi. The four major producing areas have their own characteristics and advantages.
3. How to identify the quality of Ganoderma lucidum?
(1) Look at the appearance
Ganoderma lucidum is umbrella-shaped, kidney-shaped, with a semicircular or nearly circular cap, with a diameter of10 ~18cm and a thickness of1~ 2cm. The shell is hard, yellowish brown to reddish brown, shiny, with annular ribs and radial wrinkles, and the edge is thin and flat, often slightly rolled in.
The flesh of Ganoderma lucidum is white to light brown. Petiole is cylindrical, lateral, slightly eccentric, 7~ 15 cm long, 1~3.5 cm in diameter, reddish brown to purple brown, shiny. Spores are small and yellowish brown.
The shell of Zizhi is purple-black, with a lacquer-like luster. Mushroom meat is rusty brown. Handle length 17-23 cm.
The fruiting body of artificial cultivated products is thick, with a diameter of 12-22 cm and a thickness of 1.5-4 cm. There are often many dusty yellow-brown hugs outside the leather shell.
(2) Look at the ingredients
Polysaccharides and triterpenoids are considered as the main active components of Ganoderma lucidum, and their contents can be used as a standard to measure the quality of Ganoderma lucidum. China Pharmacopoeia (2020 edition) takes the content of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides, triterpenoids and sterols as the standard to evaluate the quality of ganoderma lucidum. Japan and other countries control the quality of Ganoderma lucidum through its acid content.
In 2020, Journal of Hubei University for Nationalities published a quality study on four different varieties of Ganoderma lucidum. In this study, Ganoderma tsugae and Ganoderma lucidum from genuine Ganoderma lucidum producing areas were compared with cultivated Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma lucidum.
In this study, Ganoderma tsugae has the highest polysaccharide content, and other varieties have the highest polysaccharide content, followed by Ganoderma lucidum, Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma lucidum.
Moreover, the fingerprints of ganoderic acid components of the four varieties of Ganoderma lucidum are obviously different, which can be used as an effective method to identify Ganoderma lucidum.
202 1 Guangzhou medical university scholars determined the contents of polysaccharides, total triterpenoids and ergosterol in ganoderma lucidum from different habitats. The results showed that the contents of the three active substances in Ganoderma lucidum from different habitats were quite different, which may be closely related to the climate and culture medium of the cultivation area.
Do you know anything about Ganoderma lucidum?
References:
[1] How much does the Ganoderma family know? Life World, 2022. [2] Study on the quality of four different varieties of Ganoderma lucidum, Journal of Hubei University for Nationalities (Medical Edition), 2020. [3] China Pharmacopoeia, the first part in 2020. [4] Determination of three active substances in Ganoderma lucidum fruiting bodies from different habitats, Shandong Chemical Industry, 20265438+.