(Natural News) A new study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food found that polysaccharide extract from reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) contains hypolipidemic, antioxidant, and antiapoptotic properties that work against obesity. In this study, a team of researchers at Hunan Agricultural University in China looked at the effect of reishi mushroom polysaccharides on obesity.

• The Chinese research team examined the effects of reishi mushroom polysaccharides on lipid metabolism, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in mice fed a high-fat diet.
• The research team also treated mice with reishi mushroom polysaccharides at doses of 200 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) body weight or 400 mg/kg body weight for 12 weeks.
• The results showed that treatment with reishi mushroom polysaccharides attenuated the oleic acid-induced cell viability loss and apoptosis dose-dependently in splenic lymphocytes.
• In mice, treatment with reishi mushroom polysaccharides, in both doses, significantly reduced the body weight increases caused by the feeding with a high-fat diet.
• In addition, reishi mushroom polysaccharide treatment substantially decreased liver, heart, and white adipose tissues indexes, serum lipid accumulation, and serum and small intestine oxidative stress in mice fed a high-fat diet.
• Reishi mushroom polysaccharide treatment also prevented high-fat diet-induced apoptosis.

In sum, the findings of the study indicate that polysaccharides from reishi mushroom exhibit hypolipidemic, antioxidant, and antiapoptotic effects against obesity caused by high-fat diets.

Read the full text of the study at this link.

To read more studies on natural ways to combat the negative effects of obesity, visit FightObesity.news.