The shitake is a mushroom of Asian origin and the benefits effects connected to its use have been described for the first time during the period of Ming dynasty around the fifteenth century. Japanese and American researchers, have recently, succeeded in putting in evidence, through searches and experimentations, the antiviral, anticancer, ipoglicemica and ipocolesterolemizzante action. The Shitake contains all the essential aminoacidis, some to the free state, others in the form of proteins. it is a food rich of carbohydrates and polysaccharides; important mineral as the potassium, sodium, phosphorus, silica , magnesium, aluminum, kick, sulphur and iron; important vitamins of the group B as the thiamine, riboflavin and niacin. The shitakes have a notable antiviral action acting through a particular polysaccharide on the multiplication of the mixovirus. On the cholesterol good results are gotten administering the shitakes. The diminution of the cholesterol seems tied up to a particular principle , the eritadenina, substance that has the power to reduce its rate. knows that the butter, for his high content of fats, makes to increase a lot the rate of cholesterol, but contemporarily consuming the shitakes, it is underlined that the effects of the butter are nearly annulled. The product is characterized not only by own ipocolesterolemizzante is also characterized by immuno-stimulant properties.