Chaga Tea Health Benefits
Chaga tea has fast become a favorite of health-conscious consumers worldwide due to its rejuvenating health benefits. Indeed, chaga tea has been used as a folk remedy in Siberia, Alaska, and other northern lands for hundreds of years due to its unique qualities. For the first time ever, people who live outside of these regions can partake in chaga’s benefits and learn what the fuss is all about.
What is chaga tea and what benefits does it provide? If you’re curious about chaga, here’s a list of all the health benefits that drinking it can give you.
What is Chaga?
Chaga is a naturally-occurring mushroom that grows on birch trees, found throughout North America and Eurasia. When harvested from these trees, dried chaga can be brewed into a tea. In nature, it appears as a dark, charred-looking fungus on the trunks of trees, while its interior is colored yellowish brown.
While chaga can be found across a wide range in the Northern Hemisphere, most chaga is unsuitable for human consumption due to warm weather destroying its nutrient content. Because of this, only chaga harvested from exceptionally cold climates such as Alaska or Siberia is usable for creating chaga tea.
Chaga Benefits
Health researchers have recently confirmed the innumerable health benefits of consuming chaga tea, validating centuries of folk wisdom. Here are the primary health benefits of chaga.
Immune Health
Perhaps the most important benefit of consuming chaga tea is the fact that it strengthens your immune system. Chaga contains large amounts of beta-d-glucans, a nutrient that acts as a balancer when it comes to immune health. Beta-d-glucans will allow your immune system to respond to threats when necessary at a much more rapid rate, but will also throttle back your immune response when it is no longer necessary. This allows your body to fight disease more effectively and also conserves your energy for when you truly need it. If you’re older, chaga tea’s immune system benefits are especially relevant for you, helping keep your body free of diseases and fight them off more effectively when you do get sick.
In addition to these more conventional benefits, chaga tea may also help combat cancer. Preliminary research has shown that chaga consumption helps activate immune cells that are responsible for keeping other cells in the body from becoming cancerous. Not only that, chaga tea has been shown to benefit individuals going through chemotherapy by ameliorating its severe, negative side effects. While more research needs to be done to more accurately understand chaga’s relationship to cancer prevention, these scientific studies suggest that consuming it can both reduce your risk of getting cancer and help combat it if you already have it.
Finally, chaga tea has been shown to have strong antiviral benefits. In particular, recent studies suggest that consuming chaga tea can help combat skin blemishes, leaving you with clearer, cleaner skin, particularly if you’re younger.
The bottom line is that chaga’s positive effects on the human immune system are proven and substantial, meaning that it’s a must-buy if you’re concerned about protecting yourself from disease. If you’re consuming zinc or other nutrients that strengthen immune health, adding chaga to the mix will make you into a powerhouse of disease immunity. You can’t have strong overall health without strong immune health, and chaga is one easy way you can give yourself a boost in this regard.
Circulatory Health
In addition to its immune-boosting properties, chaga has been also shown to support digestive health. Chaga improves the integrity of blood vessels in the body, making them less likely to block up or rupture. In instances of pain or irritation, this results in a calming or soothing effect, making whatever you’re suffering from less of an issue. Because of this, chaga tea has positive benefits for anyone suffering from chronic pain, diabetes, neuropathy, and other similar ailments.
Chaga also contains large amounts of betulinic acid, a substance that is famed for its ability to break down LDL cholesterol. This lowers the amount of cholesterol in your body, decreasing your blood pressure and lowering your risk of a heart attack, stroke, or infarction. Improved circulation will also aid your nervous system by giving you more sensation in your hands, feet, and other extremities, as well as reduce the frequency of your legs or arms “falling asleep.”
Digestive Health
Chaga’s immune system benefits also have the side effect of aiding gastric health. In particular, it can help fight ulcers. Because ulcers are typically caused by bacterial infections, a strengthened immune system — which chaga can help you build — can keep them from forming. Chaga tea has also been shown to ease ulcer pain in some patients, and is healthier for the body than artificial prescription alternatives.
Blood Sugar Regulation
Chaga has been shown to help regulate and normalize blood sugar levels, keeping them from becoming too high or too low. This is especially beneficial to those who suffer from diabetes, but can also be helpful to those who are at risk of developing the disease. Blood sugar regulation can also aid your mood and energy levels, keeping you from becoming excessively logy or hyperactive.
Protection Against DNA Damage
The very DNA of your body is under constant threat from mutations caused by pollutants, aging, and other side effects of modern life. Chaga tea has been shown to protect against damage to DNA, allowing you to avoid these negative side effects.
Combating Free Radicals
Free radicals are random substances in your body that run the risk of damaging cells that they come into contact with. They have been linked to aging in humans. Drinking chaga tea reduces the amount of free radicals in your body, slowing the aging process and preserving the integrity of your body’s cells.
Antimicrobial Effects
Chaga has been shown in various studies to stimulate antimicrobial activity, reducing the likelihood of your body suffering infections of various kinds.
What Ingredients Make Chaga Beneficial?
Now that you know all of the positive benefits that drinking chaga tea can provide, you probably want to know how chaga provides these benefits. Here are the most important ingredients found in chaga mushrooms and how consuming them can aid your health.
Polysaccharides
Chaga has an abundance of polysaccharides contained within its chitin walls, which are carbohydrate molecules that provide a host of benefits to humans. Polysaccharides have been shown to increase energy levels, improve cardiovascular health, aid the liver and digestive system, and regulate blood sugar levels. Additionally, polysaccharides have also been shown to have a positive effect on mood, helping combat depression and adding a spring to your step.
Beta-D-Glucans
Beta-glucans are a separate group of polysaccharides naturally found in various types of fungi, as well as in cereals. Beta-d-glucans are found in abundance in chaga and, as mentioned above, are primarily responsible for balancing the immune system and modulating immune response. They also greatly aid in balancing blood sugar levels and lowering cholesterol, making them beneficial for anyone who is at risk of diabetes or heart disease.
Phytosterols
Phytosterols are naturally-occurring substances akin to cholesterol, found only in plants and fungi. The phytosterols present in chaga are beneficial in reducing the risk of cancer by aiding the immune system in combating cancerous cells. Lanosterol, one of the phytosterols found in chaga, also has antiviral effects, further boosting immune system health. 45 percent of the phytosterol content of chaga consists of lanosterol, with the remaining 55 percent consisting of inotidiols, fecosterol, ergosterol, and several others.
Betulin/Betulinic Acid
Betulin and betulinic acid are triterpenes: naturally-occurring substances that are found in birch tree bark and absorbed by chaga. When consumed, they act in a therapeutic way, lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure, as well as combating the risk of heart disease and strokes. Betulin and betulinic acid have been shown to have demonstrate anti-cancer effects as well, though more research needs to be done to determine their exact role in this process.
Antioxidants
Chaga contains a higher concentration of antioxidants than the vast majority of so-called “superfoods.” In particular, chaga contains large amounts of melanin, an antioxidant that is highly effective at combating free radicals due to its high concentration of polyphenols. Melanin can reduce the effects of aging and improve cellular health through this process.
Super Oxide Dismutases
Super oxide dismutases, also known as SODs, are enzymes famed for their antioxidant qualities. Much like melanin, SODs play a significant role in helping the body combat the effects of free radicals, slowing the aging process and aiding cell integrity. SODs also aid the body in fighting the effects of excessive oxidation.
Vitamins and Minerals
In addition to these more esoteric ingredients, chaga is also rich in more conventional nutrients. Chaga contains vitamins A, B complex, C, D, E, and K, as well as calcium, zinc, fiber, iron, and a number of others. This makes it a strong complement to a balanced and healthy diet.
How Does Chaga Compare to Other Superfoods?
Chaga is often compared to better known “superfoods” such as avocado and goji berries. If you’re still not convinced as to the benefits of chaga, here’s a guide that compares chaga tea to these other foods and analyzes their effects on human health.
Avocados
Much like avocados, chaga tea is rich in Vitamin D. Avocados are also rich in folate, and when combined with the ingredients in chaga tea, these nutrients are capable of improving heart health as well as reducing cholesterol levels. Chaga tea also helps to lower cholesterol because the beta-d-glucans within it inhibit the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream during digestion. As a result, avocados and chaga tea are two great superfoods that are good to pair together.
Goji Berries
One thing chaga and goji berries have in common is their high concentration of polysaccharides. The main difference is the type of polysaccharides that each one contains. Goji berries are rich in pectin, while chaga is rich in chitin. Chitin is generally rarer in the human diet due the fact that it is much harder to obtain, while its health benefits make it an important polysaccharide to consume. Most humans have large amounts of pectin already in their diet but little (if any) chitin, making chaga tea an important supplement to your consumption habits.
Quinoa
Quinoa, like chaga, contains antioxidants, making it an effective means to combat free radicals in the body. However, chaga has a much higher concentration of antioxidants than quinoa, creating a stronger effect. The antioxidants in chaga have been shown to aid both circulatory and respiratory health. Quinoa is also rich in vitamins and flavonoids, which have their own types of benefits. Chaga tea and quinoa are also good superfoods to take together.
How to Obtain Chaga Mushrooms
As stated above, chaga mushrooms are native to a large area across the Northern Hemisphere, primarily in the U.S., Canada, and Russia. They are typically found on living birch trees and can be removed from them very easily. Individuals living in Siberia and Alaska have harvested chaga for their own uses continuously for centuries.
However, as stated previously, chaga needs to grow in a frigid environment for it to be effective. Chaga from warmer, more southerly climates loses much of its nutrient value due to temperature changes. As a result, only chaga from extremely northern locations such as Alaska can be used for human consumption.
In addition to this, chaga is best harvested from rural areas with minimal human settlement. Cities, factories, and other manmade structures pollute their surroundings with toxins that are then absorbed by the surrounding plant life. Chaga, in particular, absorbs toxins from the air easily due to the way it thrives. Because of this, chaga harvested close to civilization is generally full of pollutants and other substances that dilute its quality and may cause health problems in those who consume it. For best use, only use chaga that is picked in areas that are distant from cities and other places of human habitation.
Due to both the extreme weather of places like Alaska and the necessity of acquiring chaga from rural areas, it is impractical for many people to pick their own chaga mushrooms. In this case, you’ll want to buy chaga from a shop that has trustworthy, organic chaga products that are sourced from reliable pickers.
Due to increasing interest in chaga tea, many businesses have sprung up that are cutting corners in order to cash in and make money off of substandard products. While identifying quality chaga is a topic of its own, buyers are advised to thoroughly research any shop, website, or company that they are considering buying chaga from. In particular, make sure that you know where your chaga has been harvested: only buy chaga that is picked in rural, frigid locales such as Alaska for the best results. Don’t be sucked in by flashy sales copy and big promises: do your homework so you can ensure that you are buying the best product you can find.
The Benefits of Chaga Tea
The most common and easiest way to consume chaga is to brew it as a tea. Indeed, many chaga distributors sell chaga for precisely this purpose. Chaga is most commonly sold in chunks, which are then broken up and submerged in hot water to create a tea. Some shops also sell chaga in powder or tea bag form to make this process easier.
Chaga tea can be drunk hot or cold depending on your preferences and can also be spiced up with sugar or honey if you want a more distinctive flavor. Chaga also has a long shelf life and can last for a long time provided it is stored properly. Even small amounts of chaga can be used to make tea for months on end, making it a very cost-effective product.
Summary
Chaga tea has become one of the hottest properties in health food for a reason: its benefits for the human body are innumerable and scientifically proven. Chaga benefits include improved liver, heart, and immune system health, combating free radicals, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, and even reducing the risk of cancer. It conveys benefits for people suffering from diabetes, heart disease, chemotherapy, and many other ailments.
Understanding the science behind chaga is helpful in comprehending its various benefits for human health. Chaga has endured as a folk remedy for many generations precisely because of its countless positive effects, and with the advent of the Internet and improved transportation, individuals all over the world can now experience what natives of Alaska, Siberia, and other northern lands have known for a long time.
Remember that everyone’s situation is different and be sure to take full stock of your needs before you delve into chaga. Additionally, be sure to carefully research any store or website you plan on buying chaga from. By being an informed consumer, you can take advantage of chaga’s benefits for many years to come.
Enjoy your chaga!
