Medicinal Mushrooms: from Historical Preparations to Modern Science

In the past medicinal mushrooms have been widely used in Asia, but over the past several years dietary supplements containing medicinal mushrooms have also been introduced on the pharmaceutical and food market of Europe and the United States of America in the total value of almost USD 4 billion in 2009. Pharmacologically, the most important group of active substances from almost all species of Bacidiomycetes mushrooms are β-glucan polysaccharides, which exhibit immunomodulatory and anticancer activity. Some substances have additional antibacterial, antiviral and hepatoprotective action. Protective antioxidant activity of medicinal mushrooms was also discovered and some of them may play an important role in the therapy of diabetes type II.