Chaga: Solzhenitsyn's "Peasants Cancer Cure"

A forest-dwelling elixir of health long renowned by Siberian shamans, now demanded by elite Herbal Biohackers.

Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus), also known as KING OF MUSHROOMS, is a curative fungus most commonly found on birch trees. Chaga powder may be one of the best supplements for enhancing immune function.

This article is mostly going to focus on decoding what the science is saying about Chaga and how this squares up with the anecdotal experiences of Biohackers online.

History

Since time immemorial, it has been used by the native people who lived in areas where it is found for a wide range of treatments both internally and externally in a poultice. How long it has been used by rugged peoples in cold northern climates, nobody knows. In fact, it was one of the two Adaptogens found on Ozti the Iceman.

My wife and I enjoy watching YouTube documentaries about the Asiatic Yakuts people who reside in the coldest place on Earth, in Siberia. And they don't just reside, they thrive! These people are now obviously very dependent on central heating, but one has to question how they survived before modernity. Herbal medicine like Chaga, that's how, of course!

And interestingly, it's used in rituals by the Denesuline people in Northern Saskatchewan to predict the future.

A Terrific Tree-Hugger

Different from mushrooms, it grows its sclerotium or mycelium on the outside of the tree instead of fruiting bodies. It is believed to not be parasitic but instead to live symbiotically with the host tree.

Summary of Chaga Science

On Pubmed, you can find more than 200 scientific papers referencing Chaga, although it lacks human clinical trials. I'll summarize some of the recent interesting findings...

It's not actually a mushroom, as some on the internet suggest; it's a fungus. A recent Canadian paper reviews literature published on it dating back to 1900 and calls it a super-fungus with countless facets and untapped potential.

* Anti-inflammatory

* Anti-oxidant

* Anti-cancer

* Anti-viral

* Anti-tumor

* Anti-thrombotic

* Antihyperglycemic

* Anti-Lipo peroxide

* Anti-fatigue

* Antibacterial

* Immune booster

* Gene protection

The abstract of the paper concludes:

Overall, chaga is a promising natural resource with a wide range of potential applications and therefore the diverse array of therapeutic compounds makes it an attractive candidate for various applications

A recent Russian overview describes its wide array of effects.

The use of mushrooms as functional foods and in the treatment of diseases has a long history. [Chaga] is a mushroom belonging to the Hymenochaetaceae family and has possible anticancer, antiviral, and hypoglycemic properties... A plethora of findings have highlighted the potential molecular mechanisms of actions of this mushroom such as its ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species, inhibit the growth of tumors, decrease inflammation and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes, and stimulate the immune system.

I'd like to see some human clinical trials done with Chaga. Generally, I'm skeptical of supplements that haven't undergone clinical trials, but Chaga has been used by millions around the world, and it's been used traditionally in North America, Northern Europe, and Asia. Unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies, universities, and federal health agencies with their billion-dollar research budgets just aren't really interested in funding trials for unpatentable natural medicines like Chaga. I still enthusiastically recommend it because of its historical credibility and relative lack of side effects.

Vs Cancer

There are nearly 30 studies and scientific publications specifically evaluating Chaga's cancer-fighting prowess. It has well-established mechanisms counteracting various cancers of the lung, liver, bladder, pancreas, breast, and even the brain.

While researching this one, I came across a book I'd like to read "Cancer Ward," a semi-autobiographic novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (yeah, that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) about cancer patients in the post-Stalinist Soviet Union. Chaga was the "peasant's cancer cure" - describing a political prisoner stricken with cancer and subjected to iatrogenic radiation treatment, Solzhenitsyn writes...

He could not imagine any greater joy than to go away into the woods for months on end, to break off this chaga, crumble it, boil it up on a campfire, drink it and get well like an animal.

It acts against lung cancer via a Mitochondrial mechanism; from a 2019 paper:

Collectively, our results demonstrate that [Chaga polysaccharides] acts on cancer cells through a mechanism by which AMPK triggers the apoptotic pathway via the opening of mitochondrial permeability transition pore, and reducing [mitochondrial membrane potential], leading to an inhibition of ATP production. Therefore, our study provides a solid foundation for the use of IOP as a promising alternative or supplementary medicine for cancer therapy.

And that's not the only science on it counteracting lung cancer. Perhaps you're saying, "I don't need to worry about lung cancer because I don't smoke!" Well, good for you, but do you live in a big, bustling, smoggy city? If so, sorry, you're not so safe from lung cancer - in fact, you face lung cancer risks, similar to a light smoker, and taking something like a Chaga is a really smart idea!

A 2016 Japanese animal study found that just three weeks of aqueous Chaga extract suppresses cancer progression.

in tumor-bearing mice, 60% tumor reduction was observed, while in metastatic mice, the number of nodules decreased by 25% compared to the control group... Our findings suggest that the [Chaga] extract could be used as a natural remedy for cancer suppression by promoting energy metabolism.

Searching for anecdotal evidence, I found a Stage-4 Bile Duct Cancer survivor on Reddit who reports

I drank it some during chemo. Never saw any changes in liver function panel results but then I had liver mets. Maybe my results were skewed? In the end, both liver tumors and the lung tumors disappeared. One year [no evidence of disease] this week!

There are no human studies showing that it "cures cancer," but mechanistically, it's very promising. And if it is good enough for Solzhenitsyn, I'll certainly add it to my cancer prevention protocol. If you're taking Chaga to treat cancer, heed the wizened words of Daryl Patton, The Southern Herbalist: 1) Make the tincture first in whatever ratio 2) Do the extraction with pure grain alcohol 3)