Magic mushroom ingredient eases anxiety in cancer patients
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It's inevitable for some patients with advanced-stage cancer to experience anxiety. But a new study scheduled to appear in the January 2011 print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry suggests that psychedelic drug psilocybin, which is found in many mushrooms, helps improve anxiety and mood of these patients without side effects.Hallucinogens were studied from the late 1950s to the early 1970s as drug candidates that may be potentially used to treat the existential anxiety, despair and isolation in patients with advanced-stage cancer. It was found that these drugs can not only improve mood and anxiety substantially, but also reduce the need for narcotic pain medication.
The current study led by Charles S. Grob, M.D., of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, Torrance, evaluated the safety and efficacy of psilocybin - a hallucinogen with some psychological effects similar to lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) - in 12 adults with advanced-stage cancer and anxiety.
In the study, subjects were treated in two six-hour sessions several weeks apart. Each patient was given capsules of active psilocybin in a dose of 0.2 mg per kg body weight in one session and a placebo in another, in random order.
Both physiological responses like blood pressure, heart rate and temperature, and psychological responses including depression, mood and anxiety were measured or assessed before and at the end of the session, one day and two weeks after the session and at monthly intervals for the following six months.
The researchers found both physiological and psychological responses were safe and there was no indication of severe anxiety. The treatment improved anxiety scores at one and three months after treatment and mood was improved two weeks after treatment and a significant improvement in mood was observed at six months.
The authors concluded that administering moderate doses of psilocybin to patients with advanced-stage cancer and anxiety helps reduce anxiety and improve mood.
Psilocybin is a psychoactive or active ingredient found in varying concentrations in over 200 species of Basidiomycota mushrooms. These mushrooms are often called "magic mushrooms," "zoomers" or "shrooms.
Psilocybin has been studied as an experimental treatment for a number of disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD. In addition to anxiety and mood, the psychedelic drug can also ease the pain induced by cluster headaches.
Certain mushrooms have been found to contain active ingredients that fight cancers like breast cancer and enhance the immune system. Mushrooms are also the plant source of vitamin D - vitamin D2.
By David Liu
Photo credit: wikipedia
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I like it on soup and I also like it over a carbonara pasta..
I like the taste and I know too that they're healthy, the more that I love it.
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