Is the cure for cancer… psychedelic mushrooms?!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science saying…
Of course not! But they could make life easier for cancer patients. How’s that?
Enter Manish Agrawal’s team at the University of Pennsylvania. They ran a clinical trial for the drug psilocybin with depressed cancer patients. And the results were SPORE-tacular!
After only one dose, more than half of the participants showed fewer depression symptoms. Patients felt less sad and had improvements in appetite. Incredibly, there were long-lasting effects, even after two years! That’s some come down period!
This offers hope for better mental health and quality of life for cancer patients.
Now that sounds like a SHROOM with a view!
Reference: Agrawal, M., Roddy, K., Jenkins, B., Leeks, C., & Emanuel, E.. (2025). Long‐term benefits of single‐dose psilocybin in depressed patients with cancer. Cancer, 131(12). https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.35889