Our immune cells can attack our own body cells under conditions of stress or due to genetics. The attacks can happen on any organ in our body (as the immune cells are all over the body), thus causing chronic inflammation under the category of auto-immune system disorders. Some common ones are rheumatoid arthritis, SLE, hyperthyroidism, nephritis, allergy etc.

Scientific Experiments

It has been proven that Lingzhi can prevent auto-immune diseases. A few experiments were conducted to verify how Ganoderma works. These research articles are extracted from the presentation by Ms Yu-Chi Cheng during her talk (pgs 31-35):

Study 1


In a study by Lai (Ning Shen), et al., published in the Lupus Journal in 2001, it was proven that Ganoderma tsugae (Yung Kien Ganoderma) can prevent autoantibody formation and prolong the survival rates of lab mice with lupus condition. In the experiment, mice with lupus were divided into 2 groups and fed with prednisolone steroids or Gannoderma extract.

It was found that Lingzhi:
- improved the survival rate of lupus mice
- decreased the amount of proteinuria
- decreased serum levels of anti-dsDNA autoantibody
- showed evidence of decreased perivascular and parenchyma mono-nuclear cell infiltration in vital organs.

Study 2


A study by Pi, et al., was published in the SpringerPlus Journal in 2014.
Allergic asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways mediated by Th2 immune responses and characterised by airway hyper responsiveness (AHR). The study found that the polysaccharide component of Ganoderma formosanum stimulates the activation of dendritic cells and primes Th1 cells.

---------------------------------

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What is the difference between acute inflammation and chronic inflammation?
Acute inflammation is a short term process occurring in response to tissue injury. The body can heal itself quite quickly.
Chronic inflammation is an inflammatory reaction that lasts for months or years. If the body is unable to heal an acute inflammation it will become chronic, which is more dangerous to our health.

What medical test markers do you look at to find out if you have acute / chronic inflammation?
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Chronic inflammation in the brain is caused by diets high in fat and cholesterol, ageing, high level of stress, and also due to genetics. It leads to inflammation of the Central Nervous System, and eventually Alzheimer's Disease (build-up of beta-amyloid protein) and Parkinson disease (low and falling dopamine levels). The central nervous system is made up of the brain and spinal cord, and surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid.
When you take a wrong diet, and as you age or under stress, your body will automatically produce a lot of free radicals. The more free radicals are present in your body, the older you will look.

What is Free Radical?

Free radical is the key culprit of brain inflammation. It is a molecule which has a single unpaired electron and hence is unstable in nature. It needs to steal an electron from our body cells to stabilise itself. After losing this electron, our body cells become unstable, and they will die very fast.

The 3 enemies that we commonly know are virus, bacteria and cancer cells. Free radicals are equally, if not more harmful, than these 3. If your body is full of free radicals, your body will be more easily exposed to virus, bacteria and cancer cells. The reason is when the free radicals attack your WBC, and their numbers are eroded, your immune system is lower, thus your body becomes more susceptible to pathogens.

The mechanism to reduce free radicals is called Anti-oxidation. When free radicals are reduced, the chances of normal cells going haywire or dying is lesser. You will look better and your body can function better.

How do you get free radicals?

Every cell has a mitochondria. When you breath, mitochondria will create energy for the purpose of cell activities. During this process, it will produce 2 types of free radicals, or waste by-products, called Superoxide radical and Hydroxyl radical. When these free radicals steal electrons from your cells, attacking and damaging the DNA nucleus, it can cause you health conditions like stroke, cancer or arteriosclerosis (hardening of arteries).

How does your body reduce free radicals?

In our body, there are a few enzymes with anti-oxidation capability, i.e. able to eliminate free radicals. It's called a Multi-Enzymatic Anti-Oxidation System, comprising of these main enzymes:

a) Glutathione
b) Superoxide dismutase (SOD)
c) Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD)
d) Catalase.

When these enzymes are sufficient in your body, they can naturally get rid of the free radicals your body produce - a check and balance system. 

For example, a person suffering from an inherited disorder called G6PD deficiency has red blood cells (RBCs) that cannot transport oxygen effectively throughout the body. Their RBCs are destroyed faster than their body can replace them. These people become anaemic.

Likewise, when the free radicals attack the cells of the central nervous system or brain, it causes inflammation, and associated diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson.

If you can enhance this multi-enzymatic anti-oxidation system in your body, you will have less free radicals and can retard ageing, look younger, be more energetic and are less likely to fall sick.

What foods provide anti-oxidant?

Foods that contain vitamins C and E, green tea, pollen (as it provides enzymes and coenzymes), ginkgo (good for the brain), and Lingzhi.

How does Lingzhi work to eliminate free radicals?

1) Continuously take 12 capsules Yung Kien Ganoderma for 3-6 months. It is scientifically proven that Lingzhi is able to increase the level of the above-mentioned enzymes in our blood system, because Lingzhi has a healing ability.

2)There are more than 200 types of ganoderic acid in the Triterpenoid component of a Lingzhi. In the world, only Shuang Hor has the technology to extract the most number of ganoderic acid, where it can extract up to 9 types. Ganoderic A, B, C and D are proven to be able to reduce free radicals.

3) Macrophage is one of the key components of our immune system. If it is attacked by free radicals, it will die massively and our immune system will drop drastically. Lingzhi can protect macrophages from being oxidised. 

4) A research report from Beijing University proved that Lingzhi can reduce brain oxidation process (protect brain cells from being attacked by free radicals). One way to check how good is your brain's health is your memory level. If you are getting more and more forgetful, it means your brain cells are deteriorating drastically.

Scientific Experiments

A few experiments were conducted to verify how Ganoderma works to reduce inflammation of the brain.


A study by Sun, et al. was published in the Neural Regeneration Research Journal in 2017. It was found that Lingzhi polysaccharides...

How well your kidney functions depends on the ability of the glomeruli. The glomeruli is part of a filtration system that can filter out excess albumin, creatinine, urea etc from your body. There are about 1 million glomeruli in each kidney.

What are the basic functions of a kidney?

1) Filter blood and remove waste.
2) Control body fluid balance and balance of electrolytes.
3) Produce renin and regulate blood pressure.
4) Produce erythropoietin hormones.

What are the usual tests for kidney?

a) Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) test.
b) Creatinine.
c) GFR (glomerular filtration rate).
d) Uric acid.

Please click on this link for details..
http://www.pingofhealth.com/2018/08/bits-bites-208-health-tcm-kidney-and.html

What cause chronic inflammation of the kidney?

a) 3-Highs (hypertension, high cholesterol and high blood glucose)
b) Auto-immune diseases such as lupus
c) Diet e.g. salty food
d) Medicines such as NSAIDs
e) Genetics
f) Stress.

If you don't address these causes, they will lead to inflammation that damage your kidney, causing them to shrink and finally chronic kidney failure.

Scientific Experiment

The stomach is an important organ of our body. If it doesn't function well, the food we eat cannot be fully digested and absorbed. You may eat a lot but your body would still be starved of nutrients. Many people have the wrong impression that when they eat a lot, it means they have a lot of nutrition. However, what they eat may not be translated to what the body receives.

For people with indigestion and bloating problem, one simple solution is to chew each mouthful of food at least 25 times. This gives opportunity for the saliva in the mouth to break down the starch and start the digestion process.

Here is an easy way to test the health of your colon and intestines:
- Do you frequently have diarrhoea or watery stools?
- Do the food you eat come out half digested in your stools?
If yes, then it means the health of your digestive system is bad.
According to TCM theory, to improve the health of small intestines, massage the side of hand and continue until the pain goes away. To improve the health of large intestines, press the tip of the side of index finger.

In order to protect your stomach, we must first seek to understand what cause gastrointestinal (GI) problems. The stomach's body clock is from 7 am - 9 am. During this period, the stomach works actively. Stomach acid is released and it needs food to digest. If you don't eat during this period, the acid will attack the stomach lining instead. Over long-term, when the lining is eroded, one gets stomach ulcer.

The existing GI problem will be worsened if you take painkillers. This is because the painkillers block the enzymes of the stomach from producing stomach mucosa, thus exposing the lining to stomach acid.
Click on this link for more info and a solution..
http://www.pingofhealth.com/2018/05/bits-bites-205-health-painkillers.html

Causes of GI Problems

(a) Bacterial infections e.g. H. Pylori bacteria.
(b) Genetic.
(c) Stress. In fact, stress is a common culprit to all kinds of major diseases.
(d) Eating habits. For example, parents who tend to skip breakfast would also pass this habit on to their children. Others include regular consumption of spicy/sour food together with cold water, or oily food and meat with cold drinks or taking a lot of fried food.
(e) Drugs like painkillers.

All the above contribute to GI problems, which will eventually develop into mucosa inflammation (cells of the stomach wall starts to inflame). This is the initial stage of stomach ulcer. That's why we highly encourage people suffering from GI problems to drink Jia Hor Soya Protein because it can help to form a layer of mucosa. You can add a little apple cider for taste (which is alkaline in nature).

If the condition becomes even more serious, the inflammation and gastric attacks become ulcers. The pain from the ulcer is not only confined to the stomach area, but also spreads to the back section. It's easily mistaken for heart attack. The ulcer will turn into gastrointestinal cancer if left untreated.

Interpretation from TCM point of view

The diagram above shows the location of the liver, spleen, pancreas, gallbladder and duodenum in our body.

Liver is the only organ in the body which has no nerves. Hence it would not be able to signal to the brain if it is damaged. Unlike for example, when gallstones block the bile duct, it would give a feeling of sharp pain around the upper right portion of abdomen and also on the right shoulder blade on the back. If the block is caused by a tumour, on top of the pain, the stools that are passed out are grey / pale colour. But the signals for liver disorders are not so direct.

Testimony
Cancer of this area is very difficult to treat. A lady has breast cancer which spread to pancreatic cancer and wanted to consume Lingzhi. However, due to the location of the cancer, after consuming only 1 capsule of Lingzhi, she was so bloated that she couldn't breath and had to be hospitalised and administered with oxygen. Thus, even though she has money, it doesn't necessarily mean that she could take Lingzhi to manage her health condition.

Stages of Liver Health

As the condition of a healthy normal liver deteriorates, it goes through the stages of Fibrosis (mild scarring of tissue), Cirrhosis (hardening) and finally Hepatocellular carcinoma (most common type of primary liver Cancer).

Causes of Liver Disease 

When these factors are present, they trigger chronic inflammation which eventually lead to various causes of liver diseases:

(a) Viral infections, which commonly cause Hepatitis A, B, C, D and E.

(b) Alcohol.

(c) Long term consumption of drugs. Western drugs contain a lot fillers and binders which need to be detoxed by the liver. This burden on the liver function will eventually cause fibrosis.

(d) Stay up late. The liver detox time is 1-3 am. When we are resting, the liver can detox. But when the liver doesn't rest well, it cannot detox. If you are able to have a deep sleep during these 2 hours, it's as if you have had 6 hours of sleep. But if you don't sleep well during this time, you will still feel tired even after many hours of sleep replacement later.

Detox means the flushing out of toxins, which will flow into the kidney, and be stored there until eliminated from the body via urination / bowel movement.

One of the functions of liver is to convert carbohydrate to glucose to be used as energy. The unused energy is converted to glycogen and stored in the liver. Liver also converts protein to amino acid and fats to fatty acids. Liver will also convert toxins to non-toxic substance. The residual toxins will be brought to kidney. In fact, the liver performs more than 500 vital functions.

(e) Stress. From TCM point of view, stress traps the qi in the liver, causing it to loose its function over long-term.

(f) Obesity.

(g) Fatty liver.

Symptoms of Liver Disease

Some common symptoms of liver-related problems (from both TCM and Western way of diagnosis):

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The health of our lungs is affected by:

(a) Environmental pollution e.g. while cleaning the house
(b) Virus / bacterial infections
(c) Smoke
(d) Radiation therapy.

Our lungs will be inflamed and damaged from prolonged exposure to these elements. When this happens, the lungs will start to lose its function. Premature babies tend to have weaker lungs, because lungs is the last organ to be developed in the womb.

A news release by World Health Organisation on 2 May 2018 states that 90% of the world population breathe polluted air. We can pick and choose the food we eat and the water we drink, and choose a healthier alternative. But we cannot choose to breath only healthier air instead of dirty air.

New data reveals that we breathe air containing high levels of pollutants like black carbon which penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system. WHO estimates that around 7 million people die every year from exposure to fine particles in polluted air that lead to diseases such as stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) and respiratory infections, including pneumonia.
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This article talks about how Lingzhi helps reduce cerebral ischemic injury (CII), as extracted from page 11 of the presentation by Ms Yu-Chi Cheng in 2018. A study was published in 2014 in the online Journal of Ethnopharmacology by Zhou, et al.. In the study, Ganoderma lucidum is shown to reduce the impact of ischemic brain damage by reducing brain cell apoptosis and reducing inflammatory response.

An inflammatory response occurs when tissues are injured by bacteria, trauma, toxins, heat, or any other cause. The damaged cells release chemicals including histamine and prostaglandins. These chemicals cause blood vessels to leak fluid into the tissues, causing swelling.

The conclusion of the study states, "Our findings indicate that Ganoderma Lucidum Polysaccharides protects against cerebral ischemic injury by inhibiting apoptosis by downregulating caspase-3 activation and modulating Bcl-2 / Bax ratio."

Let's seek to understand what this finding means:

1. Cerebral ischemic injury causes a condition of insufficient blood flow to the brain. When the brain doesn't have sufficient blood, brain cells will die due to lack of oxygen. Massive death of brain cells can cause stroke.

2. Apoptosis is the death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism's growth or development. In other words, apoptosis is a form of cell death in which a programmed sequence of events leads to the elimination of cells without releasing harmful substances into the surrounding area. Apoptosis plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining the health of the body by eliminating old cells, unnecessary cells, and unhealthy cells.

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This article talks about how Lingzhi can protect the heart tissues and reduce the burden on myocardial cells, thereby preventing heart failure.

Typical causes of blood circulatory problems include formation of thrombi, fats and LDL cholesterol against artery walls.

Typical ways that conventional medical doctors use to overcome blood circulation blockages are:
(a) Prescribing blood thinners e.g. heparin or warfarin.
(b) Performing an angioplasty procedure and placing a stent inside the coronary artery.
(c) Undergoing an artery bypass surgery.

They all carry varying degrees of side effects and levels of risks. They are not safe solutions and not for long-term.

-----------------------------------

Symptoms which indicate that oxygen flow to the Heart is low (according to TCM):
- Lips turn darker colour.
- Forehead complexion darkens.

What you can quickly do:
Open up 20 capsules Yung Kien Ganoderma, mix with warm water, and drink immediately. Continue for a few days. The dark colour will slowly lighten back as your health improve.

What can you do (TCM tips):

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Steroids are chemical compounds that can occur naturally. They are present in our body and our body cannot function without them. These include:

• sex hormones - estrogen, progesterone, testosterone
• fight or flight hormone - cortisol
• body building hormone - anabolic hormones
• cholesterol etc.

Fatty liver is expected to be a major health problem in Malaysia due to increasingly affluent lifestyles and poor dietary habits. These factors have led to the increasing prevalence of obesity amongst Malaysians. Fatty livers that are not well managed can progress to liver scarring, hardening and also liver cancer.

Fatty liver is a condition where excess fats are deposited in liver cells. Excessive accumulation of fats (where it exceeds 5% of the liver's weight) can lead to inflammation and liver tissue scarring (fibrosis).

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition when there are fatty deposits in the livers of people who never drink alcohol. Fatty liver is a strong factor that puts such people at risk for cardiovascular or heart disease. The conditions of diabetes and obesity have strong links. Diabetics who have poor blood sugar control are at increased risk of having liver disease. People who are overweight and have high blood cholesterol also have a higher tendency to accumulate fat in the liver.

The widespread presence of NAFLD is disturbingly high worldwide, reported to be between 15% and 30% in Western countries (including Malaysia) and 18% to 30% in Japan. Unfortunately, most of the NAFLD are discovered incidentally e.g. when doctors find an enlarged liver or notice abnormal liver function test readings, in the course of looking for something unrelated. This is because the symptoms of liver disease are usually not obvious, e.g. tiredness, or a general feeling of being unwell.

There is no drug that can effectively cure NAFLD at the moment, even though some scientific studies are being done on tocotrienols from palm oil. While waiting for medical breakthroughs, a sensible solution is lifestyle modifications like exercising and watching one's diet.

However, there are over 30 scientific studies which have been published on the usage of ganoderma (lingzhi) in liver protection. Numerous statistical data have been collected from tens of thousands of people who showed improvements in their health after taking ganoderma. The advantages of ganoderma are well acknowledged in its role in protecting the liver.

Click here to read about the Research into the Effects of Ganoderma on Liver Protection.

(Source: 
E-liminating fatty livers, by Meng Yew Choong, StarFit4Life, 29 April 2012
Ganoderma the Ultimate Herbal Medicine, Chapter 4 by Dr Deng-Hai Chen)

Are you afraid of suffering from the complications of Fatty Liver Disease? Here is your solution - email me at laifuiping@gmail.com to buy. Click here to refer to Shuang Hor company website for Product Description and Price.

Email askfuiping@gmail.com to buy Shuang Hor Lingzhi to prevent blood clots.


Heard of DVT (deep vein thrombosis)? It's a blood clot that forms in the veins of your leg due to prolonged inactivity during long airplane flights. It becomes life-threatening when that clot breaks off (embolism) and travels to your lungs or heart.

It is normal and necessary for our blood to clot. However, it is not normal when blood clots (thrombi) form within our large veins. This is called venous thromboembolism (VTE), and can be dangerous. It's estimated to be the 3rd most common cardiovascular disease after heart disease and stroke.

Risk Factors of Developing Thrombosis

• Had a major operation recently
• Wearing a plaster cast for a broken or fractured leg
• Have cancer and undergoing treatment
• Stroke or paralysis
• Immobility, prolonged periods of sleeping, sitting or standing.
• Increasing age
• Pregnant and have a history of thrombosis
• Certain oral contraceptives
• Obesity
• Long journeys. The extended period of sitting still is exacerbated by the lower pressure in the plane's cabin, and consuming excessive alcohol and caffeine, which can cause dehydration, making the blood thicker and making it move more slowly.

The latest statistics show that 35% of Malaysians suffer from hypercholesterolaemia, or high cholesterol level. It is the chief risk factor for cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in Malaysia for the past 30 years. And nearly 50% of deaths in the world. Frightening?

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy-like substance produced by our liver. Do you know cholesterol is extremely important for normal body functioning, like:

• Enables the production of hormones, vitamin D and bile acids that aids the digestion of food in our intestines.
• Combat stress for those of us leading a stressful lifestyle.
• Combats cellular damage, which increases as we age.
• Ensures that the fats or oil we eat becomes soluble or "dissolves" in the water environment of our blood. If we take a lot of saturated fats, our liver has to produce more cholesterol to dissolve these types of fats, thereby increasing the amount of cholesterol in our blood stream.

Cholesterol is carried in our blood in 3 "packagings":

1) lipoprotein cholesterol, which is used by our body as a kind of bandage to cover abrasions and tears in damaged arterial walls.
(a) LDL or low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol)
(b) HDL or high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol)

2) triglycerides, which our body uses by converting it into energy. It also helps ensure adequate nutrition.

What is a Healthy Cholesterol Level?

Healthy adults: LDL level < 3.4 mmol/L (130 mg/dl)
People with heart disease: LDL level < 2.6 mmol/L (100mg/dl)
People with very high risk of heart disease: LDL level < 1.8 mmol/L (70 mg/dl)

HDL levels for men should be above 40 and for women should be above 50.

Conditions that cause LDL levels to rise include:

• diabetes
• hypertension
• high levels of triglycerides
• kidney diseases
• liver diseases
• underactive thyroid gland.

Do you know that our liver performs over 5,000 important functions every minute of the day to keep our body going? About 60% of our liver is made up of liver cells called hepatocytes, which has an average lifespan of 150 days.

Some of the important Functions of our Liver include:-

• Manufacturing (synthesising) proteins and blood clotting factors.
• Synthesising, storing and processing fats, including fatty acids (used for energy) and cholesterol.
• Forming and secreting bile that contains bile acids to aid in intestinal absorption of fats and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.
• Eliminating potentially harmful biochemical products produced by our body, such as ammonia (from the breakdown of proteins).
• Detoxifying drugs, alcohol and environmental toxins.
• Combating infections in our body, particularly infections arising in our bowel.
• Breaking down food and converting into energy whenever needed. Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose and stored mainly in our liver and muscles as glycogen. When energy is required, our liver will rapidly convert the glycogen back into glucose, ready to be used.

Pelvic or lower abdomen pain can be related to reproductive system, digestive system or urinary system. The article Pelvic Pain: Some Possible Culprits lists down 8 possible causes. This article elaborates on another 9 more potential causes of pelvic pain.

1. Endometriosis

Endometriosis is when endometrial cells grow outside the uterus and form growths on the ovaries, bowel, rectum, bladder and lining of the pelvic area. The symptoms are:

• pain in the lower abdomen or lower back, before, during or after menstruation
• cramps and pain during or after sexual intercourse
• pain with bowel movements

In severe cases, surgery is carried out to remove all endometrial implants and scar tissue, or more drastically, to remove your uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries.

2. Vulvar Pain

Vulvodynia is chronic pain around the opening of the vagina. There is no known cause. The pain could be a burning, stinging or throbbing sensation. It may be there constantly or come and go. Certain activities like sexual intercourse or riding a bicycle may make the pain worse.

3. Interstitial Cystitis

This pain relates to long-term inflammation of the bladder wall. There is no known cause. The pain is felt:

• during urination. You may feel the need to urinate multiple times every hour throughout the day.
• during sex.
• as a sensation of pressure above the pubic area.

UTI is caused by bacteria getting into the urinary tract and causing infection to the urethra, bladder, ureters or the kidneys.

7. Kidney Stones

The size can range from a grain of sand to a golf ball. Symptoms include:

• pink or red color urine
• sudden sharp pain in the stomach or pelvic area.