If you do a quick search of “Chaga” on YouTube, you will be inundated with videos about how to make Chaga tea, Chaga tinctures, and other Chaga extracts.
It’s not hard to see why these are popular. Chaga’s place in the superfood kingdom is rising. Once considered the “King of Medicinal Mushrooms,” Chaga is now making its way into the homes of people around the world.
While many people are beginning to take Chaga, odds are that most people aren’t using Chaga to its fullest potential.
Tinctures, teas, and homemade extracts don’t always beak down the Chitin cell-walls, the hardest natural material known to humans, that cover the dense Chaga fungus. These cell walls are only broken down after intense pressure and heat, most of which cannot be completed from home. By eliminating this dense material, only then can you enjoy the full benefits from this precious substance.
Currently, the best method for breaking down Chitin Fibre around Chaga is a Dual-Extraction Technology.
Dual-Extraction for Chaga
Many home remedies for making Chaga require one type of extraction. Even most companies who sell Chaga, sell it ground up in raw form, or process it through a single extraction.
These single extractions include either a water extraction or an alcohol extraction. While both of these extractions can occur from home using different methods, neither method offers the type of high-pressure, high-temperature extraction that is necessary to unearth all of the bioactive medicinal ingredients in Chaga.
A dual-extraction method combines both an aqueous (water) extraction and an ethanol (alcohol) extraction. Using both extractions is costly and time-consuming, but it’s the most effective way to retain all of the medicinal ingredients in Chaga.
Our raw Chaga samples came back from lab tests with a polysaccharide count of 8%. After dual-extraction, our polysaccharide count was over 50%. Even with those 8% samples, the chitin fibre makes the Chaga mushroom hard for the body to absorb. In our dual-extracted capsules, all of those bioactive ingredients are readily available to be absorbed by the human body.
For most Chaga products on the market that include lab tests, the polysaccharide count tends to be between 10-30%.
Uncorking Chaga’s Benefits
So why should you care about dual-extracted Chaga? Well if you’re in it for Chaga’s health benefits, there’s no better way to consume this mushroom.
Those polysaccharides we keep talking about are becoming renowned for their anti-cancer effects. Research dating back as far as the 1970’s has highlighted the anti-tumour activity of polysaccharides, and that research has only grown in recent years.
One of the most important polysaccharides is the beta-glucans, which are also digestible from Chaga after you break down the Chitin wall. Beta-Glucans are effective for modulating the immune system. Beta-Glucans don’t just boost your immune system, but they also suppress it when it is overworked.
Betulinic Acid is one of the most beneficial components of the Chaga mushroom. This bioactive ingredient shows anti-tumour potential by causing apoptosis in cancer cells. Betulinic Acid is also a very powerful anti-inflammatory.
One of the most unique bioactive ingredients in Chaga is melanin, the outer black skin of Chaga. This give the mushroom it’s unique appearance, but melanin holds more value than just looks. Arguably, the most beneficial part of melanin regards its radioprotective properties. Radiation is usually associated with damage to DNA, in which that damage can be passed down through genetics. Damage to human DNA possesses harsh long-term and short-term consequences.
Research shows that melanin works to stabilize DNA. While radiation usually strips away electrons from molecules, melanin continually restores itself.
Chaga also has an incredibly powerful antioxidant in the form of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD). This ingredient works well with melanin, acting as a bodyguard against radiation. A lab test from the Dove Health Alliance highlighted the effectiveness of Chaga compared to other medicinal mushrooms.
There are only some of the bioactive ingredients that are easily absorbed by the body thanks to dual-extraction. Without this extraction technique, many people are wasting the rich benefits that Chaga has to offer. Chaga is a valuable resource that takes a long time to grow. This is why we must utilize Chaga to the best of our ability.