Medicinal Mushrooms as an Effective Early Nutritional Intervention for Dementia Management
摘要
With no cure for dementia, it is becoming a bigger global health issue, which means early and safe interventions are needed. This chapter points out that medicinal mushrooms such as Hericium erinaceus, Ganoderma lucidum, and Cordyceps sinensis can be beneficial as additional nutritional treatments for dementia prevention. These fungi protect the brain by addressing problems such as oxidative stress, brain inflammation, malfunctioning mitochondria, and issues in the connection between gut and brain. H. erinaceus has proven to encourage nerve growth factor synthesis and help with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and G. lucidum and C. sinensis have shown signs of being anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroregenerative. This chapter brings together studies from preclinical and emerging human studies to illustrate the potential of these fungi as simple, low-risk agents for the development of integrative therapeutic strategies. Their immunomodulatory and neurotrophic profile makes them especially useful in holistic dementia care. Integrating traditional mycotherapy with neuropharmacology could help medicinal mushrooms introduce a preventive approach to neurology. This chapter supports using these drugs in multidisciplinary ways and calls for structured clinical trials to test their effects in treating neurodegenerative conditions.