Lung Protection

Traditional Chinese Medicine has characterized Cordyceps as a guardian of respiratory health for many hundreds of years. Much of its reputation for protecting the lungs is believed to come from its ability to promote enhanced oxygen utilization efficacy. Such efficacy alludes to the use of Cordyceps as an effective treatment for bronchitis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (Holliday 2017). In addition, its anti-inflammatory properties bring further relief to asthma patients, whose airways become obstructed due to an allergic reaction resulting in swelling of the bronchial pathways (Rao et al. 2007). There have been many well-designed trials with Cordyceps for improving lung function in humans, using Cordyceps to treat all manner of respiratory illnesses including asthma, COPD, and bronchitis, either alone or as an adjunct to other standard therapies. It has proven useful for all of these conditions (Zhu et al. 1998).

C. militaris was found effective in the treatment of chronic bronchitis (Gai et al., 2004). Cordycepin has also been well documented by different research groups and is known to possess potential therapeutic properties for the treatment of allergic asthma (Deng et. al., 2020).

References:

• Holliday J. Cordyceps: A Highly Coveted Medicinal Mushroom. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. (2017) D.C. Agrawal et al. (eds.), Medicinal Plants and Fungi: Recent Advances in Research and Development, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the World 4.
• Rao YK, Fang SH, Tzeng YM. Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferation tumoral cells activities of Antrodia camphorata, Cordyceps sinensis, and Cinnamomum osmophloeum bark extracts. Journal of Ethnopharmacology (2007) 114(1):78–85.
• Zhu JS, Halpern G, Jones K. The scientific rediscovery of an ancient Chinese herbal medicine: Cordyceps sinensis. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (1998) (Part I) 4(3):289–303; (Part II) 4(4):429–457.
• Gai GZ, Jin SJ, Wang B. The efficacy of Cordyceps militaris capsules in treatment of chronic bronchitis in comparison with Jinshuibao capsules. Chinese New Drugs Journal (2004) 13:169-170.
• Tan L, Song X, Ren Y, Wang M, Guo C, Guo D, Gu Y, Li Y, Cao Z, Deng Y. Anti-inflammatory effects of cordycepin: A review. Phytotherapy Research (2020) 1–14.