Cordyceps – Caterpillar fungus and friend to fatigue
11 April 2024Medicinal Mushrooms and Menopause
Mycotherapy for Women's Health
Think you could be experiencing peri-menopausal symptoms? You are most certainly, not alone.
The Menopause has gained a volatile reputation for itself throughout history. It was correctly perceived as a natural phenomenon until around the 18th century when “civilised” Victorian values re-constructed womanhood and the menopause, declaring the latter as a disease. When confronted with a woman going through the hormonal transition into what we now consider to be their wisest years, Victorians deemed them to be insane. Hundreds were sent to asylums, many were leeched, and others even had their ovaries removed in an attempt to make them more “docile and compliant”.
While it can be easy to romanticise the past, there is very little romanticising to be done about being a woman of a certain age in the Victorian era.
Thankfully today we are pretty well versed in the fact that the menopause is a natural process that every woman will go through at some point in her life and one that millions of women go through every single year.
That said, it’s still a change that we struggle to embrace as a society. While some women find the menopause a gentle jog (if not a walk) in the park, others experience hugely disruptive symptoms. Hot flashes, mood swings, and night sweats coupled with underlying anxiety and depression make life frustratingly challenging – even traumatic. The added pressure of not feeling fully able to discuss the menopause openly forces many women to try to mask their symptoms, causing rifts in close relationships and leaving women marooned and downright miserable.
Sleepless nights
Whilst there are now several medications available to help manage symptoms, there is no such thing as a ‘magic cure’, and an increasing number of women report experiencing overwhelming side effects from menopausal therapies, such as weight gain, fatigue and psychological distress. As such, we have seen many women turning to nature as their guide, with one increasingly popular pitstop being the wise and wonderful world of medicinal mushrooms: enter mycotherapy for menopause.2 Reishi, Maitake, and Shiitake, in particular, showcase promising results in easing some symptoms. Cordyceps is also considered ‘the mushroom of excellence’ for addressing hormonal imbalances and fertility issues in Traditional Chinese Medicine. As an energising aphrodisiac, cordyceps is deemed to have additional use in supporting the menopausal transition. In this blog post, we will discuss the symptoms of the menopause and which medicinal mushrooms might just make the transition a little easier.Sleepless nights
One of the less talked about symptoms of the menopause is difficulty sleeping. Many women can find themselves tossing and turning for hours, unable to get comfortable or quieten their racing thoughts. In the East, Reishi is celebrated for its ability to assist with a restful night’s sleep, improve energy levels, and balance hormones impacted by menopausal shifts – one of them being progesterone; the natural decline of which during menopause may be a major culprit for sleep disturbance.3 Progesterone has a sleep-inducing effect by stimulating the brain to produce a neurotransmitter called ‘gamma-aminobutyric acid’ (GABA), so the more progesterone you have, the more GABA you’ll produce. Melatonin, another vital hormone for sleep, also decreases with age. Secretion of melatonin is partly influenced by oestrogen and progesterone – thereby compounding the issue.3 However, if sleep hasn’t come your way, Cordyceps – rich in the sought-after cordycepin – have incredible oxygenating and energising effects, with numerous papers indicating their ability to relieve fatigue by regulating energy metabolism.4 They are often consumed as an alternative to coffee – so you get the energy without the jitters. Furthermore, cordycepin can intensely regulate the functions of human immune cells in vitro, therapeutically strengthening the immune system’s response and controlling its exacerbated response in a stressed state.
Craving balance
Not only is this lack of sleep disruptive and exhausting, but it can also lead to weight gain. When we don’t get enough sleep, our bodies crave high-carbohydrate and high-fat foods as a way to boost energy levels. In addition, sleep deprivation can cause hormonal imbalances that make it harder to lose weight.
Shiitake in particular can be helpful for menopausal women struggling with weight gain by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol. Shiitake also contains hypolipidemic (fat-reducing) components such as eritadenine and beta-glucans which have been shown to decrease food intake by making you feel fuller more quickly while maintaining optimal nutritional absorption rates.5
One promising in-vitro animal study found that Shiitake could prevent body weight gain and fat deposition. While further human research is necessary to confirm these findings – results so far are promising.
Evidence shows that including Maitake in your menopausal toolkit could be another great way to maintain a healthy BMI. Maitake helps improve thyroid function and by reducing thyroid antibodies they help regulate blood sugar levels. This, in turn, improves insulin sensitivity and aids in progesterone regulation, thereby helping restore hormonal balance.6 Cordyceps too, is recognised as an anti-diabetic mushroom, triggering insulin secretion with similar beneficial blood-glucose effects – and cordyceps has been shown to improve adrenal function, which supports the optimisation of thyroid hormone levels.
Flash! Ahhhhh
It’s thought that hot flashes occur when decreased oestrogen levels cause your body’s thermostat (hypothalamus) to become more sensitive to slight changes in body temperature.7 When the hypothalamus thinks your body is too warm, it initiates a counter response — a hot flash — to cool you down.
Maitake contains a substance called “Ergothioneine,” which is thought to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In a small study of postmenopausal women, those who took a daily supplement of maitake for eight weeks reported a significant reduction in hot flashes and night sweats.
Another study published in the journal Menopause found that a daily supplement containing Reishi mushroom extract helped to reduce hot flashes by supporting the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian) axis. This action may help regulate oestrogen production, while also increasing the sensitivity of oestrogen receptors – making the amount of oestrogen in a woman’s body ‘go further’.8
Cordyceps are rich in phytoestrogens, and new animal studies suggest they can play a role in preventing oestrogen-decreasing symptoms whilst also preventing bone loss related to oestrogen decline. Cordyceps also contain testosterone, but don’t fret!, the sex hormone is important in women for cognitive function, mood, sexual function, energy, bone density and muscle mass.9 Adequate testosterone levels are essential for vascular and brain function and musculoskeletal health.
Conclusion
While there is no magic bullet for menopausal symptoms, incorporating medicinal mushrooms into your regime may help ease some of the symptoms and improve your quality of life. In addition, medicinal mushrooms are a rich source of antioxidants and other bio-active compounds that support overall health and bolster our immune systems.
It’s important to remember that much medicinal mushroom knowledge has come from TCM and Asian cultures with long histories of consuming culinary and medicinal mushrooms. Interestingly, in general, Asian women have much milder experiences of the transition compared to the average Western women who don’t traditionally eat medicinal mushrooms.10 As for women working on mushroom farms… well, we are the research in progress!
As always, this is an ever-changing field and much research is yet to be done and replicated in human clinical trials. While Reishi, Shiitake, Maitake, and Cordyceps are paving the way for menopausal mycotherapy, several recent studies are also celebrating the brain-boosting capacities of Lion’s Mane in alleviating menopausal brain fog so stay tuned for Medicinal Mushrooms and Menopause 3.0! 11
If you’re interested in trying medicinal mushrooms to help with menopause, perhaps first start by consuming shiitake, maitake, and cordyceps as whole foods. However, if you are looking for a faster, more effective approach in tincture form, please consult your GP, a qualified herbalist or Mycotherapist. Some mushrooms can interact with other medications, so it’s important to know which are right for you.
Known Contraindications
- If an individual is on immunosuppressant drugs, they cannot take any of our tinctures. (or other medicinal mushroom supplements).
- Reishi cannot be taken by anyone on blood-thinning medication.
- Maitake cannot be taken by anyone on antidiabetic drugs.
- People prescribed with thyroid medication should consult their doctor before taking Cordyceps.
References;
- Sex hormones affect neurotransmitters and shape the adult female brain during hormonal transition periods
- Springer, S ‘Menopausal symptoms: Time of change – Beginning of a new phase of life: With medicinal mushrooms easier through menopause!’ Healing Mushrooms
- Menopause Natural Solutions, 2021. Mycotherapy for Menopause
- Goërtz, Y. M., Braamse, A. M., Spruit, M. A., Janssen, D. J., Ebadi, Z., Van Herck, M. & Knoop, H. (2021). Fatigue in patients with chronic disease: results from the population-based Lifelines Cohort Study. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 20977. [Online]. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00337-z (17/06/23).
- National Library of Medicine, 2011. Dietary Shiitake Mushroom (Lentinus edodes) Prevents Fat Deposition and Lowers Triglyceride in Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet
- The Free Library, 2011. Maitake Mushroom Extract and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
- Mayo Clinic. Hot Flashes
- Shimizu, K., 2009. Estrogen-like activity of ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum
- Scott, A. & Newson, L., 2020. Should we be prescribing testosterone to perimenopausal and menopausal women? A guide to prescribing testosterone for women in primary care
- Menopause Natural Solutions, 2021. Mycotherapy for Menopause
- Nagano, M. et al., 2010. Reduction of Depression and anxiety by 4 weeks Hericium Erinaceus intake.
- Harvard, School of Public Health. Mushrooms: The Nutrition Source
