Numb arthritis pain with LingZhi (靈芝)

A famous TCM arthritis drug and expensive mushroom lingzhi »">lingzhi have analgesic effects for rheumatoid arthritis, but the long-claimed anti-inflammatory and immunity boosting functions are yet to be substantiated, a new study says.

Lingzhi has been proven in lab to have medicinal value. Lingzhi has been shown to have an effect on prostate cancer and breast cancer. It also seems to be able to slow the progress of Alzheimer's disease.

The study was done at the Prince of Wales Hospital of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. It was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial.

The popular traditional Chinese medicine combo used in this study were Ganoderma lucidum (lingzhi, 靈芝 in Chinese, or reishi in Japanese ) and San Miao San (三妙散, The Three Wonders Powder).

In the Hong Kong study, 32 patients with active rheumatoid arthritis were randomly assigned to the TCM group and 33 to placebo in addition to their current medications for 24 weeks. The TCM group received lingzhi (4g) and San Miao San (2.4g) daily.

The primary outcome was the number of patients achieving American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20% response and secondary outcomes included changes in the ACR components, plasma levels, and ex vivo-induced cytokines and chemokines and oxidative stress markers.

At the end, 89% of patients completed the 24-week study. The results show that 15%in the TCM group achieved ACR20, while only 9.1% in the placebo group got the same.

Pain score and patient’s global score improved significantly only in the TCM group. The percentage, absolute counts, and CD4+/CD8+/natural killer/B lymphocytes ratio were unchanged between groups. CD3, CD4, and CD8 lymphocyte counts and markers of inflammation including plasma interleukin-18 (IL-18), interferon-gamma (IFNgamma)-inducible protein 10, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, monokine induced by IFNgamma, and RANTES were unchanged.

However, in an ex vivo experiment, the percentage change of IL-18 was significantly lower in the TCM group. 13 patients reported 22 episodes (14 in placebo group and 8 in TCM group) of mild adverse effects.

In conclusion, the study says lingzhi and San Miao San may have analgesic effects for patients with active rheumatoid arthritis, and were generally safe and well tolerated. However, no significant antioxidant, antiinflammatory, or immunomodulating effects could be demonstrated.