Mushrooms are poised to be the next big thing in skincare – Stuff.co.nz

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A fungus isnt traditionally considered a good thing, dermatologically speaking, but mushrooms are now saving face - literally.

Mushrooms taste delicious on toast, but these days the edible fungus has moved far beyond the realms of breakfast food, with pills, powders and potions made from fungi popping up in the health and wellness market like, well, mushrooms.

The latest iteration is the most interesting, as mushrooms move into the skincare realm at a rapid pace.

While the Chinese have been tapping into the healing and health-giving properties of mushrooms for thousands of years, its taken the rest of the world a bit longer to catch on.

But scientists and others are now making up for lost time with a slew of products, ingestible and topical, to tackle everything that ails us. And that includes average skin.

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There are more than 14,000 varieties of mushrooms, though not all of them come with benefits for humans. But there are a number of key ones that are now commonly associated with beauty and wellness from chaga, reishi, cordyceps, coprinus, and shiitake to trametes versicolor (or turkey tail), tremella and lions mane each with unique benefits.

Skincare brand Origins was the first to introduce the ingredient into mainstream beauty, in 2005, via its Mega-Mushroom line, created in collaboration with integrative medicine pioneer, Dr Andrew Weil, to try to tackle skin inflammation, which Weil believes is at the core of many skin concerns.

More than 15 years later, the mushroom beauty market is booming, with fungi featuring in everything from serums and shampoos to foundation and lipstick.

New wellness brand, Mother Made, created by Kiwis Emily Blanchett and Jessica Clarke, draws on many of the mushrooms that are hot topics in the beauty industry, with an offering of supplements in capsule and powder form.

The pair had experienced functional mushrooms overseas, where they are popular for supporting a healthy immune system, optimal wellbeing, and a normal stress response.

Their hero product, the PM powder blend, includes reishi, turkey tail and shiitake mushrooms, with relaxing and anti-ageing properties that they say helps with the best beauty sleep ever.

Naturopath Denise Melton, who works at Aucklands Tonic Room, agrees that recent studies have simply confirmed what traditional medicine practitioners have known for centuries: that certain mushrooms (such as maitake, cordyceps, reishi, turkey tail, shiitake, and chaga) contain compounds that exert various biological effects.

These compounds have been shown to have the ability to be reduce stress, stimulate the immune system, modulate both extracellular and intracellular immunity, have antimicrobial and antiviral potentials, rejuvenate a weakened immune system, have antidiabetic properties, protect the liver, and support a healthy cardiovascular system, she says.

In addition, wound healing and skin rejuvenation has been one of the most studied beneficial effects of mushrooms.

Adding a variety of mushrooms to your diet will probably reap a lot of benefit, but as with anything, quality and purity is important.

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Mushrooms are poised to be the next big thing in skincare - Stuff.co.nz