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Many mushrooms have medicinal properties, but have you ever tried mushroom tea?
If not, you may want to look into Chaga mushroom tea.
This
particular drink originates in the Russian/Siberian region, and the
‘Chaga’ mushroom is native to much of Northern and Eastern Europe, and
Asia.
Chaga mushrooms are a type of fungus that grows on birch
trees, and making them into tea simply involves boiling a piece of the
dried mushroom.
It is a common daily drink in Siberia, and people believe it has important health and longevity benefits.
Is this belief backed by science?
Firstly, preliminary research into the potential benefits of the Chaga mushroom seems interesting.
Some
promising studies suggest that Chaga tea extract has anti-tumor
properties and may inhibit oxidative DNA damage in human cells (4, 5, 6).
However,
these clinical trials tend to use higher concentrations of the mushroom
than what you will find in the tea. There is also no high-level
evidence (yet) that these effects occur in humans drinking the tea.
That said, the mushroom is full of phytonutrients, and it’s reasonable to suggest that drinking the tea will do our body good.