Russell Paterson
University of Minho, Portugal
Title: Medicinal mushrooms as sources of natural products
Biography
Biography: Russell Paterson
Abstract
Certain mushrooms have been used as medicines for over 2000 years. They are revered as being capable of curing numerous diseases particularly in the orient. Increasingly, they are being considered as sources of novel drugs worldwide. The activities ascribed to certain mushrooms cover the gamut of diseases from infections, diabetes, anti-inflammatory disease, to cancer. There is huge concern currently about resistance in pathogenic bacteria to antibiotics and mushroom may provide a source of much needed novel antibiotics. Much more information is being obtained on the activities of pure natural products from mushrooms and does the new information confirm the activities ascribed to the ancient remedies? There has not been enough use of valid scientific trials on humans in most cases and the use of crude extracts or whole mushrooms has obscured the source of activity. The activities ascribed to mushroom products will be described, as well the problems that require overcoming, based on recent papers by the author.