Cordyceps — the Mushroom of the Breath, from the Tibetan Monk to the Athlete

Le règne tranquille — racines, polypores, mycélium. La résilience du vivant prête au quotidien.

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Le règne tranquille — racines, polypores, mycélium. La résilience du vivant prête au quotidien.

— Le règne tranquille — racines, polypores, mycélium. La résilience du vivant prête au quotidien.

A fungus that parasitises a caterpillar, consumes its chrysalis from within through the winter, then sends its fruiting body up in spring from the head of the dead host. Ophiocordyceps sinensis — Yartsa Gunbu in Tibetan, "winter-grass summer-mushroom." One of the most expensive natural substances in the world by weight for several decades, gathered by hand on the high Himalayan plateaus above 3,500 metres.

1,000 Years of Tibetan Use — Yartsa Gunbu

The first documented mention dates from the fifteenth century in the Tibetan medical texts — but the nomadic use is probably older. The yak herders of Tibet watch their animals eat a strange caterpillar-mushroom with appetite in spring, after winter. They notice that these animals seem more vigorous, more resistant to the altitude and the cold.

Human use takes hold: Yartsa Gunbu, long turned to for altitude, for lasting fatigue, for masculine vitality, for the cough tied to the dry cold of the high plateaus. In TCM (traditional Chinese medicine): it tonifies the Qi of the Lung and the Kidney, the two energetic organs the tradition holds fundamental to endurance.

In the twentieth century: in 1993, the Chinese women's athletics team broke three world records. The coach credited the performances to a preparation based on Cordyceps and turtle blood. The Western world discovered the mushroom.

Cordyceps sinensis vs Cordyceps militaris — the Sourcing Problem

Wild O. sinensis cannot be found at a reasonable price, and its harvest is ecologically problematic (overexploitation of the high plateaus). Prices reach 20,000 to 50,000 euros a kilo. Most of the "Cordyceps" sold on the market are either mycelial culture products of sinensis grown on a substrate (an impoverished chemical profile), or Cordyceps militaris, a different species but a pharmacologically close one.

C. militaris can be cultivated and contains cordycepin in greater quantity than cultivated sinensis. INFUSE works with C. militaris grown on an organic brown-rice substrate — whole fruiting bodies, not mycelium — with a double extraction (water + alcohol).

Pharmacology — Cordycepin and Adenosine

Cordycepin (3'-deoxyadenosine): an analogue of adenosine, the signature compound of C. militaris. An anti-inflammatory action, a possible action on mitochondrial ATP. Preclinical studies point to anti-tumour effects (not to be extrapolated to any direct human therapeutic use).

Adenosine: a universal cell-signalling molecule. A precursor of ATP. A support to cellular energy production.

Beta-glucans (1-3 and 1-6): immunomodulators, shared with the other medicinal mushrooms.

Specific polysaccharides: CPS-1, CPS-2 — a documented immunomodulating profile.

Mechanisms: an improvement in VO2max documented in studies on athletes (+7% in a study by Zhu et al., 2004), an improvement in cellular oxygen use, a modulation of the HPA axis.

Preparation and Double Extraction

Cordyceps calls for a double extraction to capture the two families of compounds: — Beta-glucans: water-soluble, extracted by decoction at 70–80 degrees, 2–4 hours — Cordycepin and adenosine: moderately water-soluble BUT sensitive to prolonged heat — a short alcoholic maceration (no heat) is the complement

INFUSE protocol: water decoction at 70–80 degrees, 3 hours + 40% alcohol maceration, 3 weeks. Cohobation. A dry product is possible (ground fruiting-body powder) for a long cure.

Red Lines

Documented drug interactions: anticoagulants (a possible effect on coagulation via adenosine), immunosuppressants (the immune modulation may interfere). Pregnancy and breastfeeding: insufficiently documented. Not to be used in the case of an active autoimmune condition without medical advice.