Ganoderma lucidum mushroom for the treatment of cardiovascular risk factors (Review)

Background. Ganoderma lucidum (also known as lingzhi or reishi) is a mushroom that has been consumed for its broad medicinal properties in Asia for over 2000 years. G lucidum is becoming increasingly popular in western countries as a complementary medicine for cardiovascular health. Objectives. To evaluate the effectiveness of G lucidum for the treatment of pharmacologically modifiable risk factors of cardiovascular disease in adults. Search methods. We searched theCochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL Issue 6 of 12, 2014) on The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (OVID, 1946 to June week 3 2014), EMBASE (OVID, 1980 to 2014 week 26), Science Direct (1823 to 2013), Current Controlled Trials (1990 to 2013), Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (2005 to 2013), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (2007 to 2013), Chinese Medical Current Contents (2007 to 2013) and other databases. We checked reference lists of included studies, contacted content experts and handsearched The International Journal of MedicinalMushrooms.We applied no language or publication restrictions. Selection criteria. Randomised controlled trials and controlled clinical trials ofGlucidumfor the treatment of cardiovascular risk factors. Primary outcomes were blood glucose level, blood pressure and lipid profile. Data collection and analysis. Two authors independently selected trials, assessed risk of bias and cross checked data extraction and analysis. A third author arbitrated in the event of disagreement.