Chaga, also known as Inonotus obliquus (Fr.) Pilát, belongs to the genera Basidiomycotina, Hymenomycetes, Hymenochaetales, Hymenochaetaceae, and Inonotus. Chaga is a brown polypore fungus that mostly grows under the bark of white birch and silver birch trees. It forms sarcoma-like sclerotia when the bark is damaged. It mainly grows in Northern Europe at the 40° to 50° north latitude, Siberia and the Far East in Russia, Hokkaido in Japan, and the Changbai Mountain area of the Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province in China. Chaga has various pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumor, hypoglycemic, anti-viral, and anti-inflammatory. Inonotus obliquus, an edible fungus with the same origin as medicine and food, has attracted more and more attention. At present, Chaga has become a raw material with great potential for developing functional foods. In this article, Chaga’s blood sugar-lowering function, functional ingredients, and blood sugar-lowering mechanism and the development status of Chaga functional foods are reviewed and Chaga’s future development is analyzed and forecast.
Open Access
