What are the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases?
Cardiovascular disease is the name used to refer to any disease such as a heart attack / myocardial infarction or stroke that affects the heart and circulatory system (which moves blood throughout the body). Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases include high blood pressure, and high blood levels of glucose and cholesterol. People with risk factors for cardiovascular diseases are more likely to have a heart attack / myocardial infarction or stroke than people without them.
What is Ganoderma lucidum lacquered cart?
Sterile lacquered (G Lucidum), also known as "Lingzhi" or "Reishi", is a mushroom commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. In China, G lucidum (tinder lacquered) is used in the traditional form of a decoction (kneaded and boiled in water), or in tea or coffee. Recently, it has been produced in the form of an extract in tablets and capsules for the Western market, since it is currently used in Western countries in the hope that it can improve the health of the cardiovascular system.
Purpose of this review
Cochrane Collaborators have tried to determine if G lucidum (tinder mushroom is lacquered), when compared with other drugs or counterfeit drugs - called placebo - is an effective treatment to reduce the risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.
What this review has found
Researchers searched the medical literature for June 2014 to identify all relevant medical research. They found a total of 5 studies comparing G Lucidum with placebo in 398 people (in total) with type 2 diabetes. Overall, the quality of the evidence was poor (low). Unpublished data was obtained for the two included studies and one study was translated from Chinese. The daily doses of G Lucidum used varied between trials from 1.4 g to 5.4 g. In one trial, participants from the group taking G Lucidum used capsules containing either G Lucidum only or a mixture of G Lucidum (75% of the mass of the capsule) with another fungus called Cordyceps sinensis (25% by weight of the capsule). The duration of the test ranged from 12 to 16 weeks.
Two of the 5 trials reported the results only for participants who received G Lucidum, but not for those participants who received a placebo, and therefore information from them could not be used. The remaining 3 trials with 157 participants provided information for analysis.
This information showed that G Lucidum was not an effective treatment for lowering blood glucose, blood pressure, or cholesterol. It was not clear whether the fungus G Lucidum could have reduced the blood glucose level after a meal, since the only information on this was in one study of uncertain quality.
There was not enough information to determine overall safety when taking G Lucidum. One study showed some increased risk of harm (side effects) among participants taking G Lucidum, in the form of nausea, diarrhea or constipation.
Future research in this area should include clinical trials in which the results are presented better.
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