Cordyceps Used As Natural Immune Booster in Farm Animals

(Carson City, Nev., May 13, 2009) A Nevada company has developed a process that allows livestock producers to replace artificial antibiotic feed supplements with an organic compound made from mushrooms that produces healthier meat.

Aloha Medicinals, a leading supplier of dietary supplement ingredients, is seeking a patent on their process of using a hybridized type of mushroom called cordyceps to boost immune functions in farm animals.

This would eliminate the need for antibiotic supplements which most health professionals have criticized for their role in accelerating the growth of drug-resistant bacteria. Beyond the health concerns, the European Union has banned the importation of meat from animals that are fed antibiotics.

Dr. John Holliday, president and founder of Aloha Medicinals, has been researching the antibiotic and anti-viral compounds present in fungi for many years. His company has pioneered a process to mass produce cordyceps, a very rare mushroom that grows only in Tibet. Inside their facility in Carson City, the company now produces more cordyceps than are harvested in the wild in the entire world.

Penicillin, the first antibiotic and the model for all that came later, originates from fungi. Bacteria, viruses and fungi occupy the same link in the food chain. Because bacteria and viruses multiply faster, fungi have evolved to produce compounds that fight off these competitors in order to survive.

It was the isolation of one of these compounds that became Penicillin. And according to Holliday, that was where medicine took a wrong turn.

“When (Dr. Alexander) Fleming discovered Penicillin in 1928, science went down a very narrow path, trying to isolate single molecules that would have the active properties that we were looking for,” Holliday said. “If we look at using the whole, naturally occurring antibiotic instead of the single isolated molecule, we have better efficacy, lower costs and far less toxicity or side effects.”
Aloha Medicinals has proven that feeding livestock these mushroom compounds does a better job of fighting off diseases without the dangers posed by using artificially produced antibiotics and anti-viral drugs.

Holliday said they have run trials on more than 60,000 head of cattle.
And because these mushrooms are certified organic, meat produced using them would be eligible for export to Europe and other overseas markets.

“We are trying to come up with ways where we can combine the best of two systems, the happy cow in a grassy field, and the 100,000 cows in a feedlot,” Holliday said. “What we are doing is producing a healthier meat, certified organic, and it’s not sick.”

Aloha Medicinals was recently named the Small Business Exporter of the Year for Nevada by the Small Business Administration. The company also received the 2007 Governor’s Industry Appreciation Award, and the 2008 Nevada Excellence in International Business Award.