How to Research PubMed:

Many websites including this one sell products, services & information.  Where do you go for unbiased research?  PubMed it is a joint enterprise from the National Institutes of Health and the National Library.  It is a free service that catalogues medical research with no commentary or analysis of the findings.  Many of the abstracts that summarize the research can be a bit technical, but still it the first place to go.

For example in my next blog post about Lion’s Mane — I will go to PubMed and type in “Lion’s Mane” — there are 44 different studies that reference Lion’s Mane:

Best matches for lion’s mane:

Chemistry, Nutrition, and Health-Promoting Properties of Hericium erinaceus (Lion’s Mane) Mushroom Fruiting Bodies and Mycelia and Their Bioactive Compounds. Friedman M et al. J Agric Food Chem. (2015)

Isolation and identification of aromatic compounds in Lion’s Mane Mushroom and their anticancer activities. Li W et al. Food Chem. (2015)

Neuroregenerative potential of lion’s mane mushroom, Hericium erinaceus (Bull.: Fr.) Pers. (higher Basidiomycetes), in the treatment of peripheral nerve injury (review). Wong KH et al. Int J Med Mushrooms. (2012)

Search results

Items: 1 to 20 of 44

Since I primarily use Lion’s Mane for its neuroregenerative properties I quickly see what research is applicable to my blog post, though I will look through the other studies to broaden my knowledge, including the research on its use in cancer.

Here is one of the abstracts that is useful to my writing project:

Lion’s Mane, Hericium erinaceus and Tiger Milk, Lignosus rhinocerotis (Higher Basidiomycetes) Medicinal Mushrooms Stimulate Neurite Outgrowth in Dissociated Cells of Brain, Spinal Cord, and Retina: An In Vitro Study.

Samberkar S¹, Gandhi S², Naidu M¹, Wong KH¹, Raman J², Sabaratnam V².

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disease is defined as a deterioration of the nervous system in the intellectual and cognitive capabilities. Statistics show that more than 80-90 million individuals age 65 and above in 2050 may be affected by neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Studies have shown that out of 2000 different types of edible and/or medicinal mushrooms, only a few countable mushrooms have been selected until now for neurohealth activity. Hericium erinaceus is one of the well-established medicinal mushrooms for neuronal health. It has been documented for its regenerative capability in peripheral nerve …

In better known items such as Ubiquinol, CoQH-CF (the reduced form of Co-Q10) there are 1862 references when I type it in just “Ubiquinol,” so then I get specific and type in “Ubiquinol congestive heart failure” — at that point I get just 11 studies of which half are spot on.

So next time you want to research something on the internet and you want information you can count on PubMed — it is one thing that our government does well.

— Dr. Steven Finkbine