Meet Turkey Tail. A strikingly beautiful striped fungi known for centuries to be beneficial for the immune system.
Turkey Tail contains a variety of antioxidants, including phenols and flavonoids. Antioxidants are great to consume to combat oxidative stress, which is stress that can result in cellular damage and chronic inflammation.
These antioxidants help support healthy immune system functioning and fight inflammation. Plus, Turkey Tail contains polysaccharopeptides (protein-bound carbohydrates), PSK and PSP, which boost the immune responses to help fight infection and inflammation. Amazing for overall health!
Let's do a deep dive into one scientific study about the effects Turkey Tail mushroom on the gut microbiome.
First, gut microbiome?
The short version is we humans have microbial flora in our intestines that play a big role in how we feel, from digestion to our immune system, but we can go into more detail about that another time. For now, know that it is important to look after our gut microbiome for a plethora of health reasons.
Also to note, prebiotics are things that feed our good bacteria in our gut. So, how does Turkey Tail affect our microbiome? This study took 24 healthy volunteers and broke them into groups to receive either a compound called PSP (AKA what was extracted from Turkey Tail), an antibiotic called amoxicillin, or no treatment (AKA the control group).
After 8 weeks, they found the PSP (Turkey Tail) group to have clear beneficial microbiome changes, consistent with prebiotic activity. The amoxicillin group had an altered microbiome as well, decreasing the amount of good bacteria present and taking several weeks for the microflora to recover.
As someone who reads a lot of studies, I would like to point out some things I noticed about the methodology. This is a short term with a very small sample population. While I wouldn’t extrapolate to say Turkey Tail is THE best thing ever for your microbiome, scientists and myself think it can be very beneficial and serve as a prebiotic to nourish gut health, which affects so many other physiological functions in the body.
Which is why I use Shroom Magic Mix everyday!
Stay tuned for my next mushroom deep dive where I will be talking about a different amazing fungi!
Turkey Tail is one of five mushrooms in Shroom Magic Mix and was chosen because of these incredible potential health benefits!