The undisputed king of the mushroom world, Chaga is a potent adaptogen used for thousands of years by cultures native to Eastern Europe when it was first determined it could be used as food and support physical resilience. We imagine Chaga tea and soups came in pretty handy to protect against icy semi-arctic climates!
Today Chaga is revered as an elite immunomodulating and anti-ageing powerhouse, considered to increase vitality and promote whole-body resilience.
In the wild, Chaga is found growing in a symbiotic relationship with birch trees in cold regions such as Siberia, Northern Canada, Alaska and some northern parts of the United States. As it grows, Chaga harnesses the life force of the tree. The growth feeds on the nutrients and compounds found in the birch tree, predigesting the birch’s nutrients, concentrating them in a form that when extracted, is more readily available to humans. Raw Chaga's amber interior is encased in a somewhat gnarly-looking black exterior. Who would have thought something that essentially looks like it’s been burnt could have such powerful healing and regenerative properties for the human body?!
Wild Siberian Chaga is not only thought to be the most adaptogenic substance on earth, it’s also one of the single richest sources of antioxidants found in nature.
Why are antioxidants so important?
Antioxidants protect your body from free radicals, also known as oxidants. Free radicals are essentially unattached electrons bouncing around in our cells. Overexposure to free radicals from things like sun damage, stress, inflammatory foods, lack of sleep, and pollution can lead to cell degeneration. We experience cell degeneration in the form of fatigue, chronic and serious illness, pain, and the visible signs of ageing. You may have heard of the term for increased levels of free radicals in the body, it’s called oxidative stress.
The good news is antioxidants link the free radicals together rendering them harmless and they can be found in fruits, vegetables and abundantly in Chaga.
Chaga’s Incredible Antioxidant Benefits
Chaga is one of the most potent natural substances of antioxidants in the world.
Wild Siberian Chaga (the type we source at Inner Atlas) has an ORAC score of around 146,700 per gram. ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity and is a unit of measure devised to determine a food's antioxidant value. Chaga's score vastly outweighs other popular antioxidant-rich superfoods like acai berry at around 18,400 and blueberries at around 3,200.
Chaga is also known for its very high content of the anti-ageing enzyme SOD (superoxide dismutase). SOD’s anti-ageing function comes from its ability to neutralise free radicals, preventing oxidative damage to cells and tissues[1].
SOD occurs naturally in different forms in all human tissues, but our levels decline with age, particularly after 30. The best way to increase SOD levels in the body is through food. Good sources of SOD include dark leafy greens, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, and of course Chaga. Nearly all medicinal mushrooms contain SOD, but Chaga mushroom has the highest concentration by far, outweighing Reishi mushroom by about 50 times.
By prioritising our daily health practices and focusing on getting good quality sleep, minimising stressors, and eating a nourishing diet with antioxidant-rich foods such as Chaga we're able to prevent oxidative damage and improve the function and structure of our cells and essentially slow the ageing process.
Our Potent Chaga Extract
We worked hard to source what we believe is the most potent Chaga extract available in Australia. Our Chaga is organic and sustainably wild-harvested from birch trees in its native homeland of Siberia Russia. We also only use the fruiting body of the mushroom and guarantee the highest active compounds on the market, with our beta-d-glucans being greater than 30%.
Due to these combined factors, you might notice that our Chaga extract has a darker colour and deeper flavour than other products you may have tried, a testament to its purity and potency. If you try our Chaga extract for yourself we’d love to hear about your experience.
Inner Atlas Chaga
- Highly potent, containing greater than 30% beta-D-glucans.
- Sustainably wild-harvested from Siberian Birch trees.
- Certified USDA & EU Organic.
- Fruiting body only – 100% real mushrooms with no added fillers or mycelium.
- 20:1 dual extracted.
- Lab-tested for purity.
References
[1] SOD Anti-ageing Properties https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090506817301550
