The Supreme Antiviral: Chaga

The state of our immune system and the ability to fend off infections have been in the news a lot lately, and of course for good reasons…

I live in one of the epicenters of the current pandemic, and my day job involves dealing with clients in person. Naturally, I was motivated to scour the web in search of an immune boosting strategy. 

I found this interesting botanical: Chaga.  It’s a mushroom that parasitizes birch trees.  I read some stories that during the Napoleonic wars, both Russians and the French were operating on the wounded soldiers in the birch forests.  Birch trees make some of the strongest antiviral and antifungal chemicals. I was wondering then why not just go after the birch tree’s extracts themselves.  It turns out, that it’s hard to get it directly from birch, as well as other chemicals present in the tree can trigger strong allergic reactions. But the Chaga mushroom purifies it, and pulls from the tree whatever us, humans, find incredibly healing. 

In the Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chaga is referred to as the botanical of longevity.  It is also the most studied medicinal mushroom. It has a lot of interesting properties, some of which are immune system modulation (prevents cytokine storm), and a very powerful antiviral and antifungal.

I bought Chaga in three forms: extract, capsules, and tisane.  I like all three.  

I take about 1 gram of Chaga daily. 

In addition, I also supplement with the following:                       

-5000 grams of vitamin C.  I have it as liposomal, pure ascorbic acid, and good old pills. 

– 5000 IU (125mgr) of Vitamin D3, although I may reduce it soon as I have been spending couple hours in the sun daily.

– 50 mg of Zinc Picolinate.

– Vitamin A.  I love organ meats, and liver is a staple in my diet, so I make sure I eat it at least once a week.

I also learned recently that selenium plays a huge role in the ability to deal with viruses, but I haven’t officially included it in my antiviral immune boosting protocol. 

I have been taking Chaga along with other supplements from the beginning of January, and so far, so good: no colds, coughs or any other infections. 

Big City Mom

P.S. My whole family follows the above protocol (in the doses appropriate to the age and body mass), and everybody is doing great health wise.