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Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

medicalxpress.com

141–150 of 174 posts

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#141
As someone who has been very interested in diet and health from many perspectives, be it general health and wellness when I was younger, competitive cycling and rowing, and more recently competitive bodybuilding, I have come to a tragically bland conclusion.

Every day it seems like there's a new study about a new food that will revolutionize XYZ. Meanwhile, most people don't sleep well, dont drink enough water, overindulge in alcohol, don't get enough excercise, and don't get much sunlight.

I think it should be everyone's primary focus to sleep well, drink water, get outside, get active, and eat generally decently. The huge cognitive and physical gains that would come from these basic activities far surpass any marginal benefit from optimization. I hate to say it, but if you're not eating a good amount of vegetables and fruit, decent protein, sleep, etc, no amount of mushrooms will catch up to that detriment.

Now if these fundementals are in place, findings like this are truly fascinating! I just see so many people put the cart before the horse far too often.

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's surprising more mushrooms aren't actively cultivated. One thing is the mycorrhizing kinds which are hard to farm, but there are plenty of types which just need the right substrate and some care. Lion's mane, which unfortunately doesn't grow in my country, is one, but there is also sulfur shelf a.k.a. chicken of the woods which I would have thought would be a great candidate for mass cultivation. Shaggy mane inkc…

Chicken of the woods has an odd texture. Kind of gritty. So though it's abundant where we live, most mushroom hunters don't pick them. Cutting off and eating just the edge gives you a better texture than the entire mushroom.

Chicken of the woods being Laetiporus, an edible mushrooms:

- https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus

Additional edible mushrooms are here; warning: many edibles have non-edible lookalike “twins” - and whole books are written on the topic on identifying mushrooms:

- https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_mushroom

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chicken of the woods has an odd texture. Kind of gritty. So though it's abundant where we live, most mushroom hunters don't pick them. Cutting off and eating just the edge gives you a better texture than the entire mushroom.

Chicken of the woods being Laetiporus, an edible mushrooms: - https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Laetiporus Additional edible mushrooms are here; warning: many edibles have non-edible lookalike “twins” - and whole books are written on the topic on identifying mushrooms: - https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_mushroom

As the saying goes all mushrooms can be eaten once...

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#144
post #141

As someone who has been very interested in diet and health from many perspectives, be it general health and wellness when I was younger, competitive cycling and rowing, and more recently competitive bodybuilding, I have come to a tragically bland conclusion. Every day it seems like there's a new study about a new food that will revolutionize XYZ. Meanwhile, most people don't sleep well, dont drink enough water, overi…

> Meanwhile, most people don't sleep well, dont drink enough water, overindulge in alcohol, don't get enough excercise, and don't get much sunlight.

A couple I know in their mid-60s were both diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. They were both sedentary, overweight and ate horribly. They embarked on an ambitious diet and exercise plan, have both lost a lot of weight and are both no longer diabetic. It truly is fantastic, and I'm happy for them.

One of them is convinced that people just don't know that they can beat type 2 diabetes; she wants to publish a book about what they've done. I keep trying to tell her it's not a lack of information, but a lack of will for most people, that she and her husband are very much outliers in that regard. Her publishing their method won't change things for hardly anyone.

I'm 59 years old and have been a moderate athlete my whole life; I keep my weight decent (not as low as I'd like but well under official obesity levels), eat pretty well, get enough sleep. I am having a medical procedure done tomorrow (that's completely unrelated to anything here), and the nurse who did intake for the hospital was shocked that I don't take any prescription medications. I call that a win.

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a different person than root, just calling it out though our views are the same and we might as well be the same for practical discussion reasons. Anyway, your statement above is reasonable. I personally find all nootropics to be absolutely useless, except uppers - coffee, energy drinks, etc. They work, but there is a heavy cost afterward. I am very interested in this topic and have read everything from military…

Lifting heavy things also has the downside of potential injury. I'm an enthusiast, but it takes some education, and constant vigilance.

There is an enormous cost to working out - you need more sleep, a cleaner diet (usually at least with whey supplementation), a stretching routine, more clothing and showers. And that's after we consider that it's 1-2 hours out of a day where you probably do work-related activities for ~9, sleep 8, do chores & eat for 2. 2/5 "free" hours is a very serious commitment.

It also comes with tangential issues like knowing how not to create muscle imbalances, over-eat, over-train, etc. So that is definitely a valuable call out. Furthermore, a brilliant statement (that's common sense to most) I heard in the last few years is that efficiency is the opposite of stability - working out is more load that causes overall efficiency, but creates more risk. In short, you are absolutely right, even if we ignore the extreme scenarios where someone slips a disc or tears a bicep.

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a different person than root, just calling it out though our views are the same and we might as well be the same for practical discussion reasons. Anyway, your statement above is reasonable. I personally find all nootropics to be absolutely useless, except uppers - coffee, energy drinks, etc. They work, but there is a heavy cost afterward. I am very interested in this topic and have read everything from military…

Ah sorry I definitely thought you were the root. I suspect a lot of nootropics are so person-dependant. I can't speak much about nootropics ability to help someone who is already cognitively well-off, but I can definitely say they have significantly helped my mom's ability to remain cognitively sharp despite e.g. something akin to frontal-temporal dementia. Lions Mane absolutely does noticeably improve her cognitive…

Thanks Tim, I will read more on Lion's Mane.

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#147
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works pretty well. Been talking it for years and there seems to be a small noticeable boost. 2 things: 1) the effects are gone if you stop taking it 2) you're going to have some weird dreams if you take it in the evening (ie take it in the morning) Apart from that, I have not noticed any libido, motivation or aphathy side effects but that's a data point of 1. YMMV

Yeah never affected libido for me or motivation. But I also take other supplements inc NMN, Creatine, BCD vits, Zinc, Magnesium, and sometimes Modafinil and eat a meat based diet.

Tried NMN and NR. Decided to stick with NR.

Since we're talkimg supplements I like the OG: fish oil, vitamin D, multivitamin.

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#148
This mushroom has been used by monks for centuries, finally seeing "recent" science.

There's a 2010 study about how it helped elderly Japanese men and women in cognitive decline after 16 weeks.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18844328/

The other studies are mostly in rats/mice around the nerve regeneration, immune system, and anxiety/depression. This finding might be similar to:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3176599/

I've been off and on it for years and it takes 4 weeks to see noticeable effects for those who want to try at home. I mostly got into it due to recovery of a covid infection that turned into an extended one while I am young and healthy. I believe it has helped me significantly, but might be too early to generalize.

Re: Study finds mushrooms magnify memory by boosting nerve growth

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you mix it with Mucuna Pruriens?

I would not take Mucuna Pruriens. L-DOPA (the active component in Mucuna Pruriens) is well known to cause degeneration when given clinically to Parkinson’s patients who actually need it. L-DOPA becomes Dopamine, but given that the L-DOPA is distributed throughout your brain and body when you take it orally, the conversion happens in higher volumes in places in your brain where it’s not normally occurring. Dopamine me…

Does it even cross the blood brain barrier?
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