Over the last decade, Agaricus blazei has been studied and developed as a novel functional food in Japan, Korea, China, and Taiwan. Traditionally known as "God's Mushroom," agaricus contains polysaccharide-protein complexes that have been researched for their immune activity. See Immune for top ten ways to maintain a healthy immune system.

Doctor's Best Agaricus blazei mushroom extract
90 Veggie Caps - Doctor's Best

Agaricus blazei is a medicinal mushroom that contains a special class of polysaccharides known as beta glucans. Studies show Beta-Glucan stimulates activity of natural killer (NK) cells, which are an important part of the immune system. The Agaricus blazei in this product is extracted with the preferred hot water/alcohol method to increase its digestibility and enhance bioavailability of the polysaccharides. Originally discovered in Brazil, Agaricus blazei is widely consumed in many countries, where it is regarded as a health food due to its medicinal properties. Agaricus mushroom helps maintain the immune system. We suggest not taking an agaricus supplement more than 3 days a week.

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Subscribe to a FREE Supplement Research Update newsletter. Twice a month you will receive information on several new studies on various supplements and natural medicine topics and their practical interpretation by Ray Sahelian, M.D. We will mention research updates on agaricus mushroom side effects and benefit as they become available. See also Cordyceps supplement, along with Reishi extract and another mushroom extract to consider is Maitake supplement.

Agaricus Blazei Supplement Facts:
Agaricus blazei extract - 400 mg * (fruiting body)
Supplies polysaccharides - 160 mg *
Black pepper extract - 5 mg* (fruit)

Suggested Use: Take 1 agaricus capsule no more than 3 times a week or as recommended by your health care provider. Until we learn more about the long term benefit and side effects of taking agaricus extracts, taking a full week off each month is a good idea. See side effects of agaricus discussed below.
* Agaricus extract daily value not established.

Agaricus mushroom Information
The group of mushrooms in the Agaricus family are probably some of the best known mushrooms in the Western world. The white buttons sold in stores as "mushrooms" are a cultivated variety of Agaricus (Agaricus bisporus now called Agaricus brunnescens). The "wild" Crimini and Portabella mushrooms are also cultivars of this species. A cultivar is defined as a variety of a plant that has been created or selected intentionally and maintained through cultivation.

Agaricus and diabetes
The mushroom Agaricus Blazei Murill in combination with metformin and gliclazide improves insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes: a randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical trial.
J Altern Complement Med. 2007 Jan-Feb;13(1):97-102. Hsu CH, Liao YL, Lin SC, Hwang KC, Chou P. Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei Hospital, Taiwan.
This study was done to determine whether the supplement of Agaricus blazei Murill extract improves insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. Of a population of 536 registered diabetes patients with 72 subjects (1) aged between 20 and 75 years, (2) being Chinese, (3) having type 2 diabetes for more than 1 year, and (4) having been taking gliclazide and metformin for more than 6 months were enrolled in this study. The enrolled patients were randomly assigned to either receiving supplement of Agaricus blazei Murill extract or placebo (cellulose) 1500 mg daily for 12 weeks. Supplement of Agaricus blazei extract improves insulin resistance among subjects with type 2 diabetes. The increase in adiponectin concentration after taking Agaricus blazei extract for 12 weeks might be the mechanism that brings the beneficial effect. Studies with longer periods of follow-up should be conducted in the future.

Agaricus Mushroom substances
There are many different substances in agaricus mushroom that have potential medicinal properties including polysacharides such as beta glucan, ergosterol, sodium pyroglutamate, laccase, lectin, and blazeispirane derivatives.

Agaricus side effects, risk, safety
Up to April 2009, no agaricus side effects had been reported in Japan, where it has been in use as a dietary supplement since the mid 1990s. There is now a report in the medical literature that three cancer patients taking an agaricus supplement had liver damage.

An Alternative Medicine, Agaricus blazei, May Have Induced Severe Hepatic Dysfunction in Cancer Patients.
Japan J Clinical Oncology. 2006 Dec;36(12):808-10. Mukai H, Watanabe T, Ando M, Katsumata N. Division of Oncology/Hematology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, 6-5-1, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba, Japan.
We report three cases of patients with advanced cancer who showed severe hepatic damage, and two of whom died of fulminant hepatitis. All the patients were taking Agaricus blazei ( Himematsutake ) extract, one of the most popular complementary and alternative medicines among Japanese cancer patients. In one patient, liver functions recovered gradually after she stopped taking the Agaricus blazei, but she restarted taking it, which resulted in deterioration of the liver function again. The other patients who were admitted for severe liver damage had started taking the Agaricus blazei several days before admission. Although several other factors cannot be completely ruled out as the causes of liver damage, a strong causal relationship between the Agaricus blazei extract and liver damage was suggested and, at least, taking the Agaricus blazei extract made the clinical decision-making process much more complicated.
   Comments by Dr. Sahelian: For the time being, limit your intake of agaricus supplement to maximum 3 times a week and a full week off each month. It is not clear at this time whether the problem was with the particular agaricus supplement these patient were using, i.e, Himematsutake as it is called in Japan, or whether the problem of liver harm applies to all agaricus extract brands. Was the Himematsutake product these Japanese cancer patients were taking contaminated with something else? It is also not clear whether the liver problem is dose dependent. Sometimes patients with cancer will take a very high amount of a supplement thinking more is better. It is also not clear whether the liver damage occurred due to the fact that these patients may have been on chemotherapy drugs which weakened their liver and immune system.

Agaricus Research studies
Structural Characterization of beta-glucans of Agaricus brasiliensis in Different Stages of Fruiting Body Maturity and their Use in Nutraceutical Products.
Biotechnol Lett. 2005 Sep;27(17):1295-9.
Beta-Glucans of Agaricus brasiliensis fruiting bodies in different stages of maturity were isolated and characterized. These fractions had greater amount of (1-->6)-beta-glucan and the (1-->3)-beta-glucan increased with fruiting bodies maturation. Yields of beta-glucans increased from 42 mg beta-glucans g(-1) fruiting bodies (dry wt) in immature stage to 43 mg g(-1) in mature stage with immature spores, and decreased to 40 mg g(-1) in mature stage with spore maturation. Mature fruiting bodies of agaricus mushroom, which included these glucans, have potential therapeutical benefits for use in nutraceutical products.

Extract from Agaricus blazei Murill can enhance immune responses elicited by DNA vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease.
Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 2005 Oct 4;
The fungus Agaricus blazei Murill is particularly rich in polysaccharides, which have shown particularly strong results in treating and preventing cancers. The goal of this study was to investigate whether co-administration of the agaricus extract with foot-and-mouth disease virus DNA vaccine could increase the immune responses. Compared with the control mice, which received FMDV DNA vaccine alone, significant increase in not only the FMDV-specific antibody response but also T cell proliferation was observed in mice which received FMDV DNA vaccine plus the ABM extract. Taken together, these results demonstrated that application of the ABM extract might provide a strategy to improve the efficacy of DNA vaccines.

Isolation of an anti-angiogenic substance from Agaricus blazei Murill: its antitumor and antimetastatic actions.
Cancer Sci. 2004 Sep;95(9):758-64.
We previously found that ergosterol isolated from Agaricus blazei inhibited tumor growth through the inhibition of tumor-induced neovascularization. In the present study, we isolated further anti-angiogenic substances (A-1 and A-2) from agaricus fungus This is the first report showing that sodium pyroglutamate isolated from Agaricus blazei as an anti-angiogenic substance has potent antitumor and antimetastatic actions, as well as immune-modulatory activity, in tumor-bearing mice.

Lack of subchronic toxicity of an aqueous extract of Agaricus blazei Murrill in F344 rats.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2005 Jul;43(7):1047-53.
Agaricus blazei Murrill, an edible mushroom, is widely used as a functional food due to its possible medicinal effects. Aqueous extracts are also used as food additive to provide an agreeable bitter taste. As a part of its safety assessment, the present 90-day subchronic toxicity study was performed in F344 rats. In conclusion, A. blazei Murrill extract even at 5% in the diet did not cause remarkable adverse effects in F344 rats.

Natural killer cell activity and quality of life were improved by consumption of a mushroom extract, Agaricus blazei Murill Kyowa, in gynecological cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
 Int J Gynecol Cancer. 2004 Jul-Aug;14(4):589-94.
A mushroom extract, Agaricus blazei Murill Kyowa (ABMK), has been reported to possess antimutagenic and antitumor effects. Here, we investigate the beneficial effects of ABMK consumption on immunological status and qualities of life in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. One hundred cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancer patients were treated either with carboplatin (300 mg / m(2)) plus VP16 (etoposide, 100 mg / m(2)) or with carboplatin (300 mg / m(2)) plus taxol (175 mg / m(2)) every 3 weeks for at least three cycles with or without oral consumption of ABMK. We observed that natural killer cell activity was significantly higher in ABMK-treated group (ANOVA, n = 39, P < 0.002) as compared with nontreated placebo group (n = 61). However, no significant difference in lymphokine-activated killer and monocyte activities was observed in a manner similar to the count of specific immune cell populations between ABMK-treated and nontreated groups. However, chemotherapy-associated side effects such as appetite, alopecia, emotional stability, and general weakness were all improved by ABMK treatment. Taken together, this suggests that ABMK treatment might be beneficial for gynecological cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Effects of extracts from Brazilian sun-mushroom (Agaricus blazei) on the NK activity and lymphoproliferative responsiveness of Ehrlich tumor-bearing mice.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2004 Jun;42(6):909-16.
Agaricus blazei Murrill, is an edible and medicinal mushroom which is popularly consumed due to its antitumoral properties. The immunomodulatory effects of methanol (METH), dichloromethane (DM) and n-hexane (HEX) extracts of this mushroom were evaluated in Ehrlich tumor-bearing mice. Subcutaneous inoculation of Ehrlich tumor cells inhibited the natural killer (NK) activity of spleen cells (specific lysis=6.18+/-2.56%) compared with normal mice (17.59+/-7.77%). Treatment of tumor-bearing mice with the extracts for 10 days restored the natural killer activity against Yac-1 target cells and the best results were observed by treatment with the HEX extract (21.48+/-5.26%). Treatment of the animals with the HEX extract for 10 days was also able to stimulate the mitogen-induced lymphoproliferative activity of spleen cells. Thirty days after the treatment, all groups presented low proliferative activity. Specific antibody production was observed to be higher in the groups treated with the DM or METH extract 30 days after the treatment. Analysis of the 3 extracts by gas chromatography mass spectrum (GCMS) and magnetic nuclear resonance (MNR) showed that the HEX extract contains mainly sugar and fatty acids and that the METH extract also contains sugar and possibly amino acids.

Oral administration of Agaricus blazei (H1 strain) inhibited tumor growth in a sarcoma 180 inoculation model.
Exp Anim. 2003 Oct;52(5):371-5.
Agaricus blazei (H1 strain) was tested for its anti-cancer activity using a sarcoma 180 (S180) inoculation model and the changing patterns of splenocyte subsets were examined. Its hot-water extract was administered orally to ICR and KSN nude mice that were inoculated with S180. The growth of S180 was significantly inhibited in agaricus treated groups. Pan T cells significantly increased in all treated groups compared to controls, even in KSN nude mice. Splenocyte subset changes were slightly different between ICR and KSN nude mice. This S180 inoculation model proved to be effective in screening the antitumor effect of basidiomycetes and allowed comparisons of immunological cellular changes between the mouse strains.

Chemoprevention of preneoplastic liver foci development by dietary mushroom Agaricus blazei Murrill in the rat.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2003 Nov;41(11):1543-50.
The chemopreventive potential of an Agaricus blazei mushroom meal was investigated in a medium-term rat liver carcinogenesis assay. Male Wistar rats initiated for hepatocarcinogenesis with diethylnitrosamine (DEN, 200 mg/kg i.p.) were fed during a 6-week period with the dry powdered agaricus mushroom strains Ab 29 or 26, each one with opened (OB) or closed basidiocarp (CB), mixed at 10% level in a basal diet. All experimental animals and controls were subjected to partial hepatectomy at week 3 and killed at week 8. Chemopreventive activity of the mushroom meal was observed for the Ab 29 (OB and CB) and Ab 26 (CB) strains in terms of the number of putative preneoplastic altered foci of hepatocytes which express either the enzyme glutathione S-transferase, placental form (GST-P+) or the transforming growth factor-alpha, and for the Ab 29 (OB) and Ab 26 (CB) strains on the size of GST-P+ foci. This was associated with inhibition of foci cell proliferation in the animals fed the Ab 29 (OB) and Ab 26 (CB) strains. The results suggest that the protective influence of the Ab meal against the DEN potential for rat liver carcinogenicity depends on both the strain and period of mushroom harvest.

Novel analgesic triglycerides from cultures of Agaricus macrosporus and other basidiomycetes as selective inhibitors of neurolysin.
J Antibiot (Tokyo). 2005 Dec;58(12):775-86.
The agaricoglycerides are a new class of fungal secondary metabolites that constitute esters of chlorinated 4-hydroxy benzoic acid and glycerol. They are produced in cultures of the edible mushroom, Agaricus macrosporus, and several other basidiomycetes of the genera Agaricus, Hypholoma, Psathyrella and Stropharia. The main active principle, agaricoglyceride A, showed strong activities against neurolysin, a protease involved in the regulation of dynorphin and neurotensin metabolism.

Health claims
FEb 2008 - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has approved health claims for Agaricus blazei mushroom. The health claims now allowed for Agaricus blazei dietary supplements throughout the EU are: "Helps the natural defences/contributes to a normal immune response;" "helps the body to resist biologic insults;" "support the immune system," and "is rich in beta glucans that contributes to the immune activity."

Agaricus mushroom extract emails
Q. Which agaricus mushroom extract is most effective for cancer treatment.?
   A. Since agaricus mushroom human trials are very limited, it is difficult to guess which agaricus mushroom extract is better, what dosages are ideal, and how often one should take agaricus mushroom extract and for how long. All these questions about agaricus and cancer are still not answered by the research. We need several more studies with agaricus extract by different research teams to have more answers.

Q. Is Agaricus blazei similar to Agaricus bisporus?
   A. Agaricus mushroom comes in different varieties, and most of the research has been done with agaricus blazei. Therefore, it is difficult to say how similar agaricul bisporus is to agaricus blazei in terms of its effects on the human immune system or cancer treatment. In addition, it is possible to have an agaricus extract from one company that could be slightly or moderately different from an agaricus extract from a different company since there is no standardization in agaricus mushroom extract products. Different fractions can be present in an agaricus supplement depending whether it is extracted by water, heat, ethanol, hexane, and other methods of extraction.

Q. I read on a website that extracts from the edible mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill are used as a non-prescription remedy against cancer, infections, and immune related diseases. Is this true.
   A. Although agaricus extract has been studied in cancer and immune related diseases, much more research is needed to find out how effective agaricus extract is in treating these medical diseases.

Q. Can you tell me about agaricus liquid extract?
   A. We have heard that agaricus liquid extract is sold, but we have not seen any research why this form would be any better than regular agaricus extract.

Q. What is the percentage of beta glucans in the Agaricus Blazei extract 400 mg capsule? Polysaccharides are 160 mg according to the bottle, does that equal out to 25% beta glucans?
   A. There are a number of different polysaccharides within the agaricus mushroom extract, beta glucans are not the only ones. Furthermore, different polysaccharides have different health effects, and it is not necessarily clear at this time whether a higher percentage or lower percentage of beta glucans within a particular agaricus extract product would offer more health benefit. We don't know exactly the portion of beta glucan within the polysaccharides of this agaricus supplement. Doctor's Best is the manufacturer of this agaricus product and their website would have the contact number if you have a strong interest in finding out the beta glucan content.

Q. My veterinarian has suggested that I give my cat, who has been diagnosed with an inflammatory mass in the bladder, possibly early stage transitional cell carcinoma, Agaricus Blazei. He said he has used it in two cats that had mammary tumors, seeing some positive anti tumor action. I am also using Piroxicam, the traditional treatment for this type of malignancy. Have you had any experience with using this product on cats?
   A. We don't have any knowledge of the use of agaricus blazei in cats.

Different varieties of Agaricus Mushroom include:
Agaricus bisporus is a common edible cultivated mushroom also known as white mushroom. The lectin from the common mushroom Agaricus bisporus, the most popular edible species in Western countries, has potent antiproliferative effects on human epithelial cancer cells, without any apparent cytotoxicity. This property confers to it an important therapeutic potential as an antineoplastic agent.

Agaricus campestris - also known as meadow mushroom

Agaricus blazei is an edible and medicinal mushroom. Agaricus blazei is also known as the Brazilian sun mushroom or himematsutake.
   Agaricus subrufescens Peck was cultivated first in the late 1800s in eastern North America. Once a popular market mushroom, this agaricus species faded from commerce in the early 20th century. More recently, a mushroom species growing wild in Brazil has been introduced into cultivation in Brazil, Japan and elsewhere. This Brazilian mushroom has been referred to by various names, most commonly as Agaricus blazei Murrill (sensu Heinemann) and most recently as A. brasiliensis Wasser et al.

Agaricus macrosporus
Agaricus xanthodermus is not edible
Agaricus californicus is a North-American species
Agaricus Alberti
Agaricus muscarius
Agaricus ciuperci