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Chaga is a fungus from birch trees, drunk as a tea or taken as powder in the belief that it fights cancer. It has never been tested for safety or benefit in people with cancer, and large daily amounts of the powder have caused kidney failure from oxalate in case reports.
Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a folk remedy in Russia and northern Europe, including for cancer. Memorial Sloan Kettering's About Herbs page lists a long range of laboratory and animal effects, including killing of colon, lung, liver and cervical cancer cells in culture, and states that its safety and efficacy have yet to be evaluated in clinical studies. MSK records case reports of oxalate nephropathy: a 72-year-old woman with liver cancer who took 4 to 5 teaspoons of chaga powder daily for 6 months needed dialysis and her kidney function did not recover, and a 69-year-old man taking 10 to 15 g a day with vitamin C recovered after dialysis and steroids; a third man developed end-stage kidney disease after long-term use. Chaga inhibited platelets in mice and may add to anticoagulants and diabetes medicines. The graded harm is the kidney injury from concentrated powder; tea in ordinary amounts has not been studied either way.
Chaga contains oxalic acid and triterpenes such as inotodiol; the anticancer effects are from cell culture, and the oxalate load from concentrated powder is what has damaged kidneys.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Chaga mushroom" OR ABSTRACT:"Chaga mushroom") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Chaga mushroom, not a curated reading list.
Shares Cordyceps, Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
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Shares Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets), Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets), Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets), Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets), Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets), Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Unproven diet claims (alkaline, juice, 'anti-cancer' diets), Dietary supplements during cancer treatment: interactions and harms, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
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