**Acknowledgements**

*Apolipoproteins, Triglycerides and Cholesterol*

*Cordyceps sinensis* (**Figure 4**).

**Disease condition Part of fungus** 

Diabetes Fruiting body and

Immune injury Fruiting bodies

shown in **Table 4**.

**7. Conclusions**

*ethnopharmacological uses.*

**Table 4.**

**6. Other health benefits of** *Cordyceps sinensis*

**being used**

and mycelia

mycelia

activities. These polysaccharides are effective in regulating blood sugar and appear to have antimetastatic and antitumor effects [27]. *Cordyceps sinensis* contains proteins, peptides, polyamines, and all essential amino acids as well [28]. Steroltype compounds have also been found in *Cordyceps sinensis*, including ergosterol, delta-3 ergosterol, ergosterol peroxide, 3-sitosterol, daucosterol, and campesterol [27, 28]. Twenty-eight saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and their derivatives have been isolated from *Cordyceps sinensis* [14]. Polar compounds of *Cordyceps sinensis* extracts include many compounds of alcohols and aldehydes; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produced by *Cordyceps sinensis* as secondary metabolites were also reported. A water-soluble polysaccharide (CPS-2), isolated from the cultured *Cordyceps sinensis*, was obtained by hot water extraction, anion exchange, and gel permeation chromatography by Wang et al. [14]. The changes in blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine in this particular study revealed that CPS-2 could significantly relieve renal failure caused by fulgerizing kidney. An image of this polysaccharide is shown in **Figure 3**. It is believed that there are several other polysaccharides as such with therapeutic potential in terms of lipid regulation in

*Cordyceps sinensis* appear to have a variety of other health benefits which do not necessarily stem from its traditional medicinal applications. Some of them are

Oxidative damage Fruiting bodies Antioxidant [30]

Melanogenesis Mycelia Anti-tyrosinase activity [32]

*Scientifically verified beneficial properties of* Cordyceps sinensis, *which are not part of its* 

**Effect References**

Immune modulating [31]

[29]

Antiproliferative activity toward breast

cancer cells (MCF-7)

Although there is a higher and more favorable medicinal value in traditional medicines such as *Cordyceps sinensis*, the limitations should be considered as well in order to reveal its undiscovered potential of treating lipid-related diseases. However, as the availability of *Cordyceps sinensis* is gradually being decreased in the West, care should be taken when meeting the consumer demands, especially when it comes to the cultivation and growth of the herb. Moreover, as the natural *Cordyceps sinensis* is becoming rare, methods are in the process of being developed for the artificial production of this fungus with the same chemical constituents or even better. The world is now awakening to the importance of this fungus, and the price factor appears to play an important role in the marketplace. A lot of research is still pending on this fungus especially from the medical side. With the present research nevertheless, it is noteworthy that *Cordyceps sinensis* has been identified

**178**

The authors wish to thank the Australian College of Business & Technology, Kandy Campus, for the facilities provided to put this write-up together.
