Maitake D-Fraction: a promising natural agent for alternative cancer treatment

Despite the medicinal aspects of several mushrooms having been passed down through folklore in the Orient, the scientific study of these mushrooms to explore their biological properties has been initiated only within the past 20 years. A number of researchers have particularly focused their attention on one of these mushrooms called maitake (Grifola frondosa) mushroom. "Maitake" (pronounced "my-tah-keh") is an edible, tasty mushroom and literally means "dancing mushroom." Characteristically, it is a giant mushroom that often reaches 20 inches in diameter and may weigh up to 100 pounds. This mushroom has been available through cultivation since the mid-1980s, enabling scientists/researchers to study its medicinal properties as claimed in anecdotes and folklore. Numerous physiological benefits of maitake have been postulated, ranging from antitumor effects to treatment for hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and hepatitis B infection. (1-9) Maitake's antiviral activity against HIV (AIDS) was also confirmed by the US National Cancer Institute in 1992. (10)