The Himalayan mountains, along which the border of Nepal and Tibet lies, are considered one of the most lost corners of the planet. Foreign tourists go hiking along the so-called "Annapurna circuit" - a route that runs through snow-covered passes at an altitude of more than 5 thousand meters.

"It used to be considered a sin"

When a cold night falls on a Himalayan village, Sangay Gurung and his wife gather around the fire to cook a dinner of rice and vegetables. Sangai says he can sell me yarsagumba. He got a little bit of this valuable drug from his son, who earns it by collecting it.

53-year-old Sangay Gurung picking mushrooms
does not go. This is what his son does.

"Sangay Gurung himself is not happy about the fact that he got some fragile mummified caterpillars in which the fungus sprouted. "We believe that trading yarsagumba is a sin," he says. - According to Buddhist tradition, we should not collect it. So my grandfathers told me, and I obeyed them."

I'm 53 and have never harvested [Chinese cordyceps], but the younger generation is different,” adds Gurung. "They don't believe in sin or religion, so they make money from it."

Viagra of various actions

Over the past 500 years, Chinese cordyceps have earned a reputation in China as a powerful aphrodisiac. It grows only in the Himalayas at an altitude of more than 3.5 thousand meters. And the traditional harvest time comes in the spring, on the eve of the rainy season. Every year, hundreds of Tibetan merchants illegally cross the border into Nepal to buy yarsagumba from locals and then resell in China. The cost of 1 kilogram reaches 10 thousand dollars.

"The medical properties of yarsagumba are very diverse," says medical anthropologist Carol Dunham, who has worked in Nepal for 25 years. All this has led to the fact that yarsagumba has become the most expensive raw material in this remote region of the world, which does not have rich economic opportunities.

Yarsagumba can be found
at an altitude of more than 3.5 thousand meters

"Mushroom fishing" has become so profitable that local authorities even began to issue special permits for collection. In some areas, such permits are more expensive for people from outside the region. And somewhere outsiders are simply forbidden to engage in this profitable trade.

Mushroom places are protected with knives

For some residents of the mountain villages, yarsagumba became an opportunity to get rich, others brought grief. In June 2009, seven men from the Gorkha area were killed for picking mushrooms in a plot that was not theirs. The attackers used sticks and knives, and the bodies of the dead were thrown into a deep gorge.

Nal Pramad Upadhyay, who led the investigation into the case, says the five bodies were never found. “We got two of them from a very difficult place, we had to use ropes to lift them,” says the policeman. “It was very big operation A: We have mobilized over 80 police officers. As a result, 36 people from the small village of Nar were arrested. All of them are still awaiting the verdict of the court.

The building of the district department of education,
converted into prison

"All men are in prison"

There is no prison in the area that can accommodate all the detainees, so the authorities assigned the building of the local education department to the detainees.

Since there is no prison in the region, the prisoners were put in the building of the local education department. In the past few months, 17 people have been released on bail. The rest sit behind barbed wire and play cards. Relatives bring them food.

"I think my brother will be released very soon," says Samma Tsering. "Every time I see him, he says he didn't do anything."

Since most of the men in Nar village are in prison, there is no one to work, says Samma. "Our land has fallen into desolation," she complains. "There is no one to plow, and we have not sown anything for two years." The verdict in the yarsgumba massacre case is expected in February. And in March, a new season for collecting a valuable mushroom will begin, about which in the old days it was said that it brings nothing but trouble.

Every summer, Nepal is seized by a gathering fever: hundreds of thousands of people there crawl through the mountains in search of the Yarchagumba mushroom (literally: “grass in summer, insect in winter”) that grows in caterpillars.

Its cost over the past 8 years has grown 10 times - up to 120 thousand dollars per kilogram. The main consumers of this "vegetable Viagra" are the Chinese rich, and in Nepal, the mushroom gatherers are covered by the Maoist red detachments.

It is dug out completely, the ground part is a small process, and the underground part is a mycelium with the remains of an insect at the end. Maybe that's why the locals believe that the mushroom was first a caterpillar. (By the way, he was awarded another name - a Tibetan ghost, apparently because it became so difficult to find him).

Yarchagumba has long been considered an aphrodisiac. It grows in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau at an altitude of 3 to 5 thousand meters. Approximately 60% of its range is in Nepal, the rest is in Bhutan, India and China.

As soon as the time is right, the entire local population goes to pick mushrooms. Tiny shoots of mushrooms with heads of dead larvae at the ends, stopped a few millimeters from the surface of the earth, are more valuable than gold. In China, cordyceps is called a "divine gift" and a "magic talisman". For a long time, only the imperial dynasties used it for medicinal purposes due to the very small amount of this mushroom. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) claims that mushrooms boiled and added to tea or soup can act as an aphrodisiac, treat cancer and tuberculosis, leprosy and sciatica, combat fatigue, increase potency, and so on.

Although yarsagumba was used in traditional Chinese medicine over the centuries, the demand for it soared only in recent times. The unusual miraculous properties of the mushroom became known after 1993, when three Chinese runners broke the world record, and information was leaked to the media that athletes were fed with a decoction of these mushrooms, adding it to turtle blood soup. But the most interesting property of these mushrooms is that it did not manifest itself in any way when donating blood of athletes for doping and does not have any side effects. Mr. Guo Yuehua, adviser to China's national Olympic table tennis team in 2012, as well as the head coach of the Fujian provincial team, said that China, having won gold in the team championship, won this victory thanks to the active use of cordyceps.

Yarsagumba is harvested by Nepalese villagers who sell it for over $25 per gram (with retail prices skyrocketing to $150 per gram or more). But, alas, even at such astronomical prices, the demand for it cannot be met due to a sharp reduction in natural reserves, climate change, etc. The whole world is now looking for other ways to obtain this valuable product. It has become even more difficult for local residents, for whom the collection of yarsagumba is the main source of income, once they collected from 150 to 200 pieces of mushrooms per season, but now at best they can only find 10, 20 maximum 30 pieces. The main culprit for such a sharp reduction in the miracle mushroom in nature is called climate change. In regions where the fungus grew and developed normally, in recent years the amount of precipitation has decreased, and the average annual temperature has increased, which has a detrimental effect on its development, and hence reproduction.

Today, the market for this mushroom is estimated at 600-700 million dollars a year, but this amount is increasing year by year. So, in 2002, 1 kilogram of this mushroom cost 12 thousand dollars, and at the beginning of 2012 - already 120 thousand dollars. Not a single “product” in the world has risen in price so rapidly. For example, two more hits of Chinese "cuisine" and "medicine" - rhinoceros horn and bear bile - have risen in price by 6 and 5 times, respectively, over these 8 years.

Dried Yarchagumba in China, Hong Kong and generally in the Chinese diaspora of the Southeast (Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.) is sprinkled on ready-made dishes. Someone can afford to eat a caterpillar with a mushroom and "just like that" - like a pill.

Yarchagumba ended up being the most expensive "product" in the world. In terms of cost, only truffles (also mushrooms, by the way) come close to it - but their cost per 1 kg rarely exceeds 100 thousand dollars (usually it does not exceed 20-30 thousand per kg).

By the way, Yarsagumba played an important role in the Maoist uprising that destabilized the situation in Nepal in 1996-2006. The Maoists, in dire need of money, could not ignore the economic potential of Yarsagumba. In 2000, they took control of the northeastern region of Dolpo. To make the flow of income uninterrupted, the "red devils" stationed a large rebel army here; "fighters for social justice" levied a "revolutionary tax" from each collector. They also forced resellers to pay for every kilogram of mushroom taken out of the Dolpo region. Maoist income from yarsagumba in 2003, according to the weekly Nepali Times, amounted to 200 million Nepalese rupees (about $3 million).

Attention! If you have already entered your “autumn of the patriarch”, when the physiological capabilities of the body do not always keep pace with your desires, then Chinese caterpillar fungus pill and deer penis is a must have in your first aid kit. This exclusive product, which came out of the walls of Chinese laboratories of biotechnological synthesis, has a truly unique composition: no Viagra with Cialis can provide such a diverse effect on erectile function and male reproductive system generally. The drug contains exclusively natural components, which predetermines its favorable safety profile and minimizes the pharmacological burden on the body. The main target audience of the drug is men aged 20 years and older. Buy Chinese Pill it is possible not only with medical, but also with preventive purpose: studies show that this supplement can reduce the risk of developing prostatitis by 35-40%.

Key components of the supplement:

• biological material of male deer (extract from blood, genitals, horns). The richest source of essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals. Erectile function stimulator;
• ginseng. Increases the body's nonspecific resistance to a wide range of harmful effects of physical, chemical and biological nature. Stimulates sexual desire;
• Chinese caterpillar fungus. Acts synergistically with ginseng, enhancing its effects;
• saffron. Energy tonic and natural anti-inflammatory agent;
• Oolong "Golden Cinnamon". Increases general tone, stimulates the central nervous system;
• medlar (lokva). Regulates metabolism, exhibits a tonic effect;
• sea ​​Horse. Stimulates erectile function, increases stamina;
• cistanche. Natural detoxifier and antioxidant;
• rose smooth. Source of ascorbic acid, has a reparative effect;
• cynomorium. Stimulates libido.

Chinese pill: how to apply

According to Chinese pill instructions take 1 ball a day 2-3 hours before the planned sexual activity. In chronic prostatitis and prostate adenoma (including for prophylactic purposes), the supplement is taken according to the following scheme: 1 ball every 3 days. Duration of admission - 1 month.

Indications for use:

1. erectile dysfunction;
2. premature ejaculation;
3. decrease in sexual desire;
4. diseases of the prostate of infectious and inflammatory origin;
5. poor sperm quality;
6. male infertility;
7. low energy tone;
8. cephalgia, frequent dizziness;
9. syndromes chronic fatigue and emotional burnout.

Contraindications and side effects

Chinese pill includes only natural ingredients that do not have a harmful effect on the body. The only theoretically possible side effect is allergic reactions due to individual intolerance to any component. The supplement is not intended for children under 16, pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Caterpillar mushrooms Ophiocordyceps sinensis or "gunbu yartsa" outwardly are creatures, a tiny mushroom without hats, similar to a brown match, towering a few centimeters above the ground. It usually peeks out of the soil by only three to four centimeters. The inhabitants of Tibet, and not only them, for 11 hours a day from the beginning of May to the end of June crawl along the steep mountain slopes, with all their attention combing the unimaginable interweaving of grasses and branches in search of this mysterious and unusual mushroom. At present, caterpillar mushrooms have literally transformed life throughout Tibet and laid the foundation for the modern mushroom fever.

Having found a mushroom, the "mushroom picker" carefully brings the scoop under the mycelium and removes it with a clod of earth. Then he shakes off the excess soil, and there is already something in his palm that looks very much like a bright yellow, slightly deformed caterpillar. The caterpillar has been dead for a long time, and from its head, like a unicorn's horn, grows the body of a thin brown fungus. The mushroom picker takes a plastic bag out of his pocket and carefully puts his find there: in addition to those that are already there. Caterpillar mushrooms now form a significant part of the family income of many Tibetans.

The gunbu yartsa mushroom has been known to the local population for many centuries. According to the healers, it was believed that gunbu yartsa had wonderful healing properties. The legends say that if the yaks ate this mushroom, then their strength increased tenfold. And the earliest description of the fungus yartsa gunbu is preserved in the Tibetan text of the 15th century “The Ocean of Aphrodisiac Drugs”. Its pages tout this "impeccable treasure" that "confers unimaginable benefits" on those who consume it. The author argues that it is enough to consume just a few fungi: either add them to tea, or cook soup from them, or fry them with duck, as all your ailments will be healed - at least, so it is said in the treatise. "Worms", as they are popularly called, doctors prescribe to relieve back pain, impotence, bile spillage and chronic fatigue. And also to lower cholesterol, increase vitality, improve vision. From tuberculosis, asthma, bronchitis, hepatitis and anemia. It is also stated that mushrooms have antitumor, antiviral and antioxidant effects, treat AIDS, and can even stop baldness.

At present, China is developing rapidly, traditional medicine is becoming more and more popular, so the demand for yartza has grown greatly. Now it has become a status treat at parties and a common offering to powerful officials. And if in the 70s of the last century for a pound of these "worms" they gave only one or two US dollars, then in the early 90s it was already about a hundred, and now in retail the cost of the same amount of selected yartsy can reach 50 thousand dollars ! This incredible demand is worrisome: the total annual harvest of yarzah, which today stands at 400 million pieces, may decline as Tibetan fields become depleted. According to ecologist Daniel Winkler, to ensure the reproduction of these mushrooms, pickers must leave at least something in the ground, then the spores can mature and infect the larvae in the next season. But instead, the peasants gather every sprout they can find, and then move on to new, higher-mountain areas.

The Ophiocordyceps (=Cordyceps) sinensis market is so lucrative that it accounts for 8% of Tibetan GDP, which is several times the total cash flowing into the province. This influx of money has been a great boon for the Tibetan people. According to an LA Times report on mushrooms, successful mushroom pickers earn several times more money than any of their neighbors, they can afford an education for their children, as well as material benefits for their Western-made families. Thousands of poor Tibetan pastoralists now own motorcycles, iPhones and plasma TVs. The struggle for mushroom-rich lands has led to violent skirmishes and even killings in northern Nepal. Chinese police have set up many roadside checkpoints to prevent poachers from entering the mountain slopes, where only locals are allowed to gather.

Syn.: Himalayan Viagra, caterpillar mushroom, Tibetan mushroom, grass worm.

Ask the experts

In medicine

Cordyceps chinensis is not a pharmacopoeial plant and is not listed in the Register medicines RF. However, it is officially registered and approved for sale in Russia as a dietary supplement. Although medicinal properties cordyceps chinensis and have been the subject of numerous animal and in vitro studies clinical researches therapeutic applications of the plant, the scientific community finds most of them methodologically incorrect and considers any assertions of established effectiveness of Cordyceps to be premature. However, a number of large, randomized and well-controlled clinical trials still allow us to consider Cordyceps sinensis as a potential source of medicinal raw materials with a wide spectrum of action. The plant may be able to act as an immunomodulator, hepatoprotector, adaptogen, presumably has anticarcinogenic, bacteriostatic, anti-inflammatory properties, has a positive effect on the cardiovascular system, promotes male fertility.

Contraindications and side effects

Although cordyceps chinensis has no contraindications, it cannot be said for sure that it is safe for pregnant and lactating women, children, since there are no reliable studies on this subject. Before using the plant, you should consult with your doctor. Among side effects some patients report dry mouth, nausea, and diarrhea from the use of Cordyceps chinensis.

Classification

Botanical description

Like other fungi of the genus Ophiocordyceps, cordyceps sinensis consists of two parts: sclerotia and stroma. The fungus reproduces by spores, which, like a homing weapon, “shoot out” only when a caterpillar of a butterfly crawls past from the form of fine hop weeds. Having stuck to the insect, the spores dissolve the skin and penetrate into the body, where they remain at rest until the caterpillar, on the eve of winter, begins to burrow into the ground to pupate.

Infected caterpillars always burrow into the ground like a soldier, head up. After the caterpillar is immersed in the soil, the spores enter the active phase, germinating into the flesh and eventually completely “eating away” the caterpillar, mummifying its body and filling it with sclerotia. A “stuffed” stuffed insect “sprouts” in late spring or early summer with a stroma.

The stroma of Chinese cordyceps is dark brown or black, less often yellow and reaches a length of 4 - 10 centimeters and about 5 mm in girth. On a slender bare, longitudinally striated or ribbed stem of the fungus, a club-shaped or spindle-shaped granular head is clearly visible. The aroma of the mushroom seems to many pleasant and delicate, the taste is sweetish.

Spreading

Chinese Cordyceps can be found only in the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas at an altitude of 3000 to 5000 meters.

Procurement of raw materials

Cordyceps Chinese is harvested exclusively by hand. In the summer, after the germination of fungal stroma, peasants from the surrounding villages go out to "hunt". They find fungi sticking out of the ground and carefully dig out the mummified body of an insect stuffed with cordyceps sinensis mycelium threads. Mushrooms with a long body placed on a thick "caterpillar" are recognized as the best raw materials. Peasants collect up to several tons of mushrooms a year, the price of which reaches 50 thousand dollars per kilogram.

Cordyceps powder is obtained from dried mushrooms, which are treated with ultraviolet radiation before grinding or sterilized at high temperatures. Some scientists believe that the active ingredients in mushrooms are destroyed in this way, and in order to obtain an effective dose, one has to eat capsules in which such a powder is packed, handfuls. Those who wish to receive a purified, concentrated and biologically active preparation, prefer to take Cordyceps Chinese extract. To do this, the fungus is placed in alcohol for a while, then the alcohol is evaporated and a fine powder is obtained from such a “liquid” Chinese cordyceps.

Due to the high cost of raw materials and the difficulties in obtaining it, scientists were able to isolate a strain from the wild Chinese cordyceps that can be cultivated industrially. In China, such a culture is grown in a liquid nutrient medium, and in the West they managed to grow cordyceps in laboratory conditions, using grain as a base.

Chemical composition

AT chemical composition cordyceps chinensis found all essential amino acids, polyamines, saccharides, as well as all sugar derivatives, fatty and other organic acids, sterols and vitamins, including B vitamins: B 1, B 2, B 12, vitamins E and K, as well as methanol , ethyl acetate, mannitol, ergosterol, adenine, adenosine, uracil, uridine, guanidine, guanosine, hypoxanthine, inosine, thymine, thymidine and deoxyuridine.

Pharmacological properties

Medicinal properties cordyceps chinensis have been the subject of many scientific studies, but too many of them are considered methodologically dubious, so all claims about a wide range the scientific community considers the action of the fungus somewhat premature.

However, it can be argued that Cordyceps Chinese extract enhances the activity of cytokines and induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, reducing the proliferation of tumor cells, thereby making it possible to use Cordyceps Chinese in oncology. Experiments on mice have shown that when taking the fungus, the survival rate of animals after radio and chemotherapy increases.

Long-term clinical studies have been launched to study the use of cordyceps in heart disease. Animal experiments have confirmed the vascular-relaxant and vasodilating effects of the fungus. It reduces the heart rate, fights arrhythmia. Animal experiments have also confirmed the hepatoprotective effect of cordyceps.

In vitro studies have shown an increase in the phagocytic activity of macrophages, an increase in the enzymatic activity of acid phosphatase and a decrease in the expression of cyclooxygenase-2. Experiments on mice showed an increase in splenocyte proliferation, an increase in plasma corticosterone, and a decrease in the production of immunoglobulin E.

The bacteriostatic effect of Chinese Cordyceps on pathogenic bacteria, including streptococcus and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as pneumococcus, has also been confirmed by a number of in vitro studies.

Application in traditional medicine

Cordyceps chinensis is widely used in traditional medicine. It is used when malignant neoplasms, in complex treatment cancer of the brain, liver, pancreas, kidney, breast, leukemia. Healers recommend taking cordyceps as an immunomodulator and hepatoprotector, to remove toxic substances from the body, including radionuclides and medicinal compounds. Pills with mushroom powder are drunk with bronchitis, bronchial asthma, cough, shortness of breath, pneumonia and other diseases of the respiratory system. They are taken for pyelonephritis and glomerulonephritis, cystitis, kidney diseases and diseases of the genitourinary system. Cordyceps is considered effective in diseases of cardio-vascular system and recommend taking with angina pectoris, coronary sclerosis, after myocardial infarction, with coronary disease heart to prevent thrombosis.

History reference

Although the medicinal use of Cordyceps sinensis dates back to the mists of time, the first written mention of the fungus dates back to the 15th century. The Tibetan healer Zukar Namney Dorje wrote about him. In traditional Chinese medicine, the first healer to describe the effects of cordyceps was Ben Cao Beo Yao, who included the fungus in his Materia medica of 1694. He claimed that cordyceps have been used for medicinal purposes since the Tang Dynasty, that is, since the 7th century.

The Chinese believe that the properties of Chinese Cordyceps, one of whose names translates as "caterpillar in winter, mushroom in summer", due to the peculiarities of its development, has an ideal balance of yin and yang, therefore it can fight many diseases. In traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicine, Cordyceps was used primarily to combat aging. Elderly nobles took it in the hope of longevity, to stimulate male strength, to treat cardiovascular diseases, as an immunomodulator. Cancer, hypoglycemia, asthenia, diseases of the liver and respiratory system were treated with cordyceps.

Chinese cordyceps is a very expensive mushroom. Its sale is one of the most important sources of income for many peasants in Nepal, Bhutan, and some northern states of India bordering the Tibetan Plateau. Sometimes during the collection there are very bloody conflicts between the inhabitants of different villages, sometimes ending in murders. Therefore, cultivated mushrooms will be able to solve not only the issue of the high cost of cordyceps and the purity of raw materials, but also the “mushroom wars”.

Literature

1. "Collecting dead caterpillars in the mountains of Tibet", the journal "Science and Life" No. 6, 2006 - 90 p.