“How Much Do You Know About Food Nutrition”丨Is Cordyceps Flower a “relative” of Cordyceps?

Cordyceps flower is a kind of mushroom product that has been particularly popular in the market in recent years. It can be used as medicine or eaten daily. It is a nutritious mushroom food. Because of the word "cordyceps" in the name of Cordyceps flower, it always reminds people of the rare medicinal material "cordyceps sinensis". So what is the relationship between "cordyceps flower" and "cordyceps"? Are they "relatives"? Let's take a look at the question.

First, let's understand what "cordyceps" is: "cordyceps" is actually a combination of insects and fungi. There is a kind of green bat moth larvae, which looks like yellow silkworms and hibernates underground every autumn. At this time, the Cordyceps fungus invades the insect body, absorbs the insect's nutrients for a living, and continuously grows hyphae, which eventually leads to the death of the larvae, thus forming a dark brown "fruiting body". Then the insect's skin sac is gradually filled with hyphae and forms sclerotia. At the turn of spring and summer in the second year, a baseball-shaped, copper-colored or brown new life "fruiting body" grows from the head of the insect body and breaks out of the ground. Because its lower body is an animal that burrows into the ground in winter, and its upper body is a plant that breaks out of the ground in summer, it is called "cordyceps". In recent years, scientists have still been controversial about the specific composition of "cordyceps", but wild "cordyceps" is still a very rare medicinal material.

The scientific name of Cordyceps flower is Cordyceps militaris, which belongs to the family of Ergot and the genus Cordyceps. Cordyceps flower is a kind of artificially cultivated Cordyceps stroma, which is just an edible fungus. It is a kind of Cordyceps militaris artificially cultivated in culture medium, which is neither a flower nor a worm, but a kind of fungus. The culture medium is made by imitating the various nutrients contained in natural Cordyceps sinensis. The iconic difference between Cordyceps flower and "cordyceps sinensis" is that Cordyceps flower only refers to the "stroma" part of the fungus, and does not contain the "fruiting body" and "stroma" like "cordyceps sinensis". The common Cordyceps flowers on the market are basically cultivated artificially, while the relatively rare "cordyceps sinensis" that people say are all wild products. The stroma part of "cordyceps flower" and "cordyceps" are both Cordyceps genus fungi, with similar nutrients. But these two products are completely different products, don't be confused by the promotional slogans of some merchants.

As a high-quality edible fungus, Cordyceps flower has rich nutrients, mainly including nucleosides, cordyceps polysaccharide compounds, proteins, peptides, amino acids, cordyceps sterols, vitamins and sugar alcohols. Its main effects include immune regulation, anti-oxidation, antibacterial, anti-viral, anti-cancer, neuroprotection, lowering blood lipids and protecting the liver, lowering blood sugar and anti-radiation, etc.

The figure shows the sterols in Cordyceps flower, among which 1, 2 and 3 have anti-tumor activity; ergosterol oxides such as compounds 1 and 2 also have multiple activities such as immunosuppression, anti-atherosclerosis and antibacterial; compound 13 can inhibit the aggregation of rabbit platelets induced by PAF, and affect the changes in cell morphology and the expression of cell silver. It is believed that it can enhance lung function and has the effect of preventing and treating asthma; ergosterol (4) and other plant sterol compounds (9-12) also have vitamin D reduction and cholesterol-lowering effects; sterol compounds also have multiple activities such as anti-inflammatory immunity.

Although these proven nutritional values ​​cannot directly refer to the medicinal effects of Cordyceps flower, they at least show that Cordyceps flower is a relatively nutritious food and can be used as a daily dietary choice.

To sum up, the products commonly found on the market, called Cordyceps sinensis, are scientifically named Cordyceps militaris, and are of the same species as the stroma of the medicinal material "Cordyceps sinensis". The two products have similar growth environments, physical states, and nutritional components, and can be understood as "relatives", but they must not be confused.

Author: Cui Jingpei, Zhengzhou University of Finance and Economics

Review expert: Zhang Juanmei, School of Pharmacy, Henan University

Image source:

“Secondary metabolites and their activities of Cordyceps and related fungi”, Journal of Mycology 26 (4): 607-632, 2007

References:

“Secondary metabolites and their activities of Cordyceps and related fungi”, Journal of Mycology 26 (4): 607-632, 2007

"Research Progress on Active Ingredients and Pharmacological Effects of Cordyceps Militaris and Its Applications", Food Science 330, 2018, Vol.39, NO.21