Shii-Ta-Ker HOLISTICA

In many Eastern cultures, Shii-ta-ke mushrooms are an integral part of the daily traditional use for 2,000 years. Shii-ta-ke edible mushrooms (growing on Shii-tree) contain naturally occurring nutrients, including precious natural polysaccharides compounds known as alpha and beta-glucan.
Holistica is proud having been in the 80’s the first European company after the Japaneese Chihara team to develop a large know-how related to mushrooms polysaccharides and glyconutrients from concentrated edible shii-ta-ke mushrooms extracts.

Unlike green plants which produce many of their own nutrients via the sun’s energy during photosynthesis process and from soils, mushrooms primarily obtain their precious nutrients from wood matter where they grow on. Rich in enzymes, the shii-ta-ke mushrooms digest the wood fibers rich in rare carbohydrates as mannose, xylose and some others, resulting in polysaccharides high level content in these shii-ta-ke mushroom extracts. While unfortunately the majority of shii-ta-ke mushrooms produced worldwide are now grown on sawdust block in a non-natural setting, Holistica has studied many traditional substrates for his shii-ta-ke extract and never selects mushrooms growing on rice bags (used in «so-called» organic cultures) because rice is a substrate rich in glucose, and is the last sugar we could miss in our modern diet. Rice (even an organic one) is definitively not the natural substrate for shii-ta-ke mushrooms. That is one of the reasons why Holistica prefers natural wood substrate for its mushrooms selection and endemic origins than artificial organic method that are sometimes too far from the traditional and natural substrates.

Although these shiitake mushrooms can be obtained from the usual diet, extracts with hot water are preferred form because the cell walls of the mushrooms are made up of a high percentage of an indigestible fibrous material known as chitin. It is difficult for humans to gain all the benefits from these nutrients unless they are processed in a precise manner to extract these nutrients and turn them into bioavailable compounds for humans. It is also recommended not eating raw shii-ta-ke or simple low-cost raw shii-ta-ke powder without the necessary extraction process, to avoid bad digestion of these compounds.

If usual macronutrients are well known, some rare carbohydrates families, including polysaccharides, had not been investigated enough to underline their role for general well-being. As saturated fatty acids are in excess in modern food and unsaturated fatty acids are missing, refined and short chain sugars are also in excess but researchers have shown that long chain polysaccharides as alpha and beta glucans are missing.

Many famous researchers have described Lentinan, KS2 & AC2P polysaccharides and alpha hexose natural compounds of shii-ta-ke mushrooms as promising nutrients for general well-being.