Welcome to the incredible world of mushrooms. Mushroom supplements are all the rage right now, but just like everything in the supplement industry, there is a lot of confusion, false advertising, and companies looking to do whatever they can to pad their profit margins. This topic is very large, so you may want to get a snack and settle in.
A fantastic mushroom I found while foraging in my hometown, Fomes fomentarius,
commonly known as horse hoof fungus.
Mushroom Anatomy
-Anatomy-
To understand mushrooms, it’s vital to learn the anatomy because a lot of confusion has been created over it, especially the mycelium.
The three main parts are:
The mycelium
This is the part that you usually do not see. If you flip over a log and see white patches, that is often mycelium. Think of mycelium as you would the roots of a plant. These tiny filaments grow throughout whatever the mushroom is growing on, breaking it down to supply nutrients so the mushroom can produce a fruiting body and spores.
The spores
The spores are like the pollen of the mushroom world. The fruiting body releases them. The spores then germinate and form mycelia. Then when two compatible mycelia find each other and grow together (the mushroom equivalent of love and marriage), they will sometimes grow a fruiting body. However, not all mushrooms grow fruiting bodies.
The fruiting body
We commonly think of the fruiting body as mushrooms, which you would buy at the grocery store if you got some mushrooms for dinner. This is the part that grows above ground. Think of it as the flower of the mushroom world. This is where nearly all therapeutic compounds and nutrients are found in sufficient quantities.
Mushroom Supplement Sourcing
As with any other food, where and how they are grown matters greatly, not just for your well-being but the lives of the people producing it and the planet's health; most people have very little idea where and how the mushrooms in their supplements are grown. Mushroom supplements, just like any other, must be sourced from clean raw materials. However, it must be ethically sourced and not enough to be free of contaminants and appropriately tested. You cannot separate quality from ethics. How can something be a good product if someone suffers from producing it or if that material leads to massive environmental pollution? The truth is that it cannot.
China is the largest (by far) grower and supplier of the raw materials used in mushroom supplements. The problem with using mushrooms (and other ingredients) from China is three-fold.
First, the vast majority of adulterated materials in the supplement industry come from China. One example of this is in mushroom extract powders. You can often buy the dried, extracted powder for less than the whole mushrooms.
With all the steps needed to make an extract powder, there is no way it could be cheaper than whole, dried mushrooms. What happens is that the powders are cut with rice, cocoa, flour, and only the good lord knows what else.
Second, many companies in China use slave labor, and it can be nearly impossible to determine whether or not many of the suppliers are as this information is, for obvious reasons, not public. Does that mean that all companies producing mushrooms in China use slave labor, or you cannot get good quality mushrooms out of China? No, but it is a huge problem trying to figure out which ones are and which are not. Check out our article to learn more about this issue. Third, tax revenues from the sale of those raw materials go to the Chinese government, which is currently (trigger warning, the following links contain horrific information that may be traumatizing) committing genocide on a massive scale and conducting vast amounts of human organ harvesting from prisoners and religious and ethnic minorities. We understand that all governments worldwide have problems and do unethical things. However, no other government is committing genocide and human rights abuses even close to the levels that the Chinese government is.
A little-known issue that arises is that many mushroom supplements claim to use mushrooms grown in the United States, but they are really from China. Let me explain. A common practice is the importation of inoculated logs from China. Logs are inoculated with spores in China and allowed to reach the mycelium stage, then they are frozen and shipped to the United States, and the fruiting bodies are harvested, which is significantly cheaper than growing them from start to finish in the United States. It is completely illegal to label these as grown in the USA, but companies do it anyway. I cannot stress enough the importance of truly knowing who grows or harvests the mushrooms that go into making your mushroom supplement.
Another common sourcing issue is chaga. Most chaga supplements use chaga sourced from Siberia. Buying Chaga from Russia means giving the Russian government money while they commit untold atrocities in Ukraine. Until that situation has been fully corrected, we recommend avoiding products made with Russian Chaga.
Mushrooms raised indoors in greenhouses do not form the symbiotic relationships with the forest that wild mushrooms do. The exposure to stressors such as pests, competition, and harsh weather creates beneficial compounds and constituents that will either not be present or present in only tiny amounts in mushrooms grown in sterile greenhouses. This is similar to what happens with many plants.
We recommend choosing mushroom supplements made from ethically and sustainably wildcrafted mushrooms whenever possible to benefit most from them. This means a few things.
Care would be taken to ensure that the local mushroom populations are protected and not overharvested.
Mushrooms would be carefully harvested to protect the mycelium growing underneath, so the mushrooms will continue to spread and grow.
Certain mushrooms take a long time to grow, such as agarikon. These should not be harvested off the trees; only those that naturally fell to the ground should be harvested.
These sustainable harvesting practices can only be verified if the mushrooms used to produce the supplements can be traced back to the places they were foraged from and the people who harvested them.
Should mushroom supplements be grown on wood or grain?
If you have ever harvested medicinal mushrooms in the woods (turkey tail, lion’s mane, reishi, maitake, chaga), you probably noticed that they always grow on wood. Wood is the food source for medicinal mushrooms (except cordyceps, which prefer insects like caterpillars). Some even grow on specific trees like Chaga, which grows on birch, and hemlock reishi, which grows on hemlock trees.
Wood contains high levels of lignin, the ideal food for mushrooms. In addition, mushrooms grown on various types of wood can produce different types and amounts of beneficial compounds. For example, Chaga produces high levels of certain compounds because of what it gets from the birch trees. Growing it on grain or other trees will not have the same benefits or compounds.
Unfortunately, nearly all medicinal mushroom supplements sold in the United States are produced using mushrooms or mycelium grown on grain or sterilized sawdust byproducts from lumber mills.
Mushrooms grown on grain do not produce as high of levels or the diversity of beneficial compounds that medicinal mushrooms grown on their preferred food source, wood, does. For example, mushrooms grown on grain will have higher levels of carbohydrates and lower levels of beta-glucans than those grown on wood. Growing mushrooms on rice or tapioca starch can never replicate the effects of growing mushrooms on wood.
Mushrooms grown on sterilized sawdust are often just grown on one tree type, which may not be the preferred tree for that mushroom. Growing a mushroom indoors on sterilized sawdust cannot yield the same results as mushrooms growing in the wild on a variety of different trees. In addition, when growing mushrooms indoors, they are not exposed to the same stressors they would face in the wild. When plants and fungi are exposed to stressors, they produce higher levels of compounds to protect themselves through a process called xenohormesis. To get around this, many mushroom companies try to convince people that only one compound is important, such as beta-glucans. That is far from the truth, so don’t fall for it. Each mushroom has a broad range of beneficial constituents, not just one. We recommend choosing mushroom supplements made from ethically wildcrafted mushrooms to ensure you get sufficient amounts of various beneficial compounds.
While chronic stress is bad for us, a stressed mushroom makes for a better mushroom supplement.
Should mushroom supplements be made from the fruiting body or mycelium?
If you were in the forest harvesting mushrooms, you would not harvest the mycelium, as it would be nearly impossible to get more than a tiny amount, and you would destroy the mushroom's ability to reproduce and most likely damage the local ecosystem.
The fruiting body, aka mushroom, contains the by far the highest levels of the nutrients and compounds found in the mushroom, from beta-glucans and selenium to triterpenes. Mycelium does contain many of these compounds but in tiny amounts, not enough to have any effect. It does not include all the compounds in the fruiting bodies, though. An excellent example of this is chaga (which technically does not have a fruiting body or mycelium because it is a fungal sclerotium, but the fruiting body is the commonly used term). Chaga contains a powerful antioxidant called melanin. This is not present in mycelium products and grain-grown “Chaga.” That is why liquid “Chaga mycelium extracts” are clearish or tan instead of the black color that correctly made chaga extract is. Chaga is symbiotic with the birch trees it grows on and requires certain compounds to form beneficial constituents. It will not get any of those compounds from some grain in a greenhouse.
As you can see from the above picture, the grain-grown "chaga mycelium extract” on the right is completely lacking in melanin, which gives the chaga on the left its black color.
Yet, most mushroom supplements are made with mycelium, not the fruiting body. Many companies and people, including the biggest, most well-known name in mushrooms, claim they are the best way to make a supplement. This means that most products sold as mushroom supplements contain no mushrooms.
So how are mycelium products made? First, a starch is cooked, then sterilized. After that, it is inoculated with the mushroom of choice, at which point the culturing process begins. This is what it looks like before it is ground up:
That block consists almost entirely of partially broken-down starch (rice, tapioca, etc.) and a small amount of mycelium. It is ground into a powder to be sold as is or encapsulated. Products made this way contain upwards of eighty percent or more starch. Even if a liquid extract is made from this material because such low levels of beneficial compounds are present, it will have little to no benefits. These are starch supplements, not mushroom supplements. Despite the companies ' claims, there is no history of traditional use of products like this, and there are ZERO properly done human clinical trials showing benefits from this type of product. One company touts a study by the Department Of Defense as proof the product has benefits. This was just a petri dish study, showing how applying the mycelium directly to specific pathogens killed or inhibited their growth. Thousands of compounds will do this in a petri dish or test tube, but that is not how things work in the body. Another study this same company likes to tout is an NIH study using their turkey tail mycelium capsules. What they don’t tell you is that part way through, their product was discontinued and replaced with a turkey tail extract because it was not working. These products have the highest profit margin, so you can imagine why companies love to sell them. They cost virtually nothing to make. These companies then sell the fruiting bodies to restaurants and stores. Mycelium products like this are pure profit because this starch is a waste product of the mushroom growing process. It should be used as compost, not sold as a supplement.
A second claim these crude mycelium sellers like to claim is that there are prescription products in Japan made from mycelium. This is true. However, these products are highly purified and processed to isolate certain compounds. They are not just ground mycelium. They are conflating two very different products to sow confusion and make their products look better than they are.
Lastly, they claim that when the mycelium breaks down the starch, they create beneficial compounds not found in the fruiting body. This is true to a point. However, the amounts made are all so tiny that they would not be anywhere near the levels to provide benefits. It is just a marketing claim. In addition, those compounds would be present in the starch, not the mushroom, so it is just another way of saying they are selling starch supplements, not mushroom supplements. One very well-known company even likes to claim its mycelium supplement contains arabinoxylan. Arabinoxylan does not exist in mushrooms but primarily in grasses and grains. This is more evidence that these companies sell grain and starch supplements, not mushroom supplements. Always choose mushroom supplements made from the fruiting body.
This is our take on the old Reddi Whip versus Cool Whip, oil, or cream commercials.
Mushroom Supplement Manufacturing
How a mushroom supplement is made makes all the difference. Many terms are thrown around, such as heated, extracted, dual extracted, triple extracted, hot water extract, alcohol extract, tincture, and more, so it can get confusing.
Mushroom cell walls are made of a material called chitin. This is similar to the material that lobster and shrimp shells are made. As you can imagine, this makes them very hard to digest.
To get the benefits of mushrooms, the chitin must be broken down. It is not enough to heat or grind up the mushrooms. Ground mushroom powders will not provide benefits because the beneficial constituents are trapped inside the chitin. However, they are very cheap to make and very profitable. It only takes a few mushrooms to make a lot of crude powder, but large amounts are needed to make potent extracts.
To liberate the beneficial compounds, the mushrooms must be put through an extraction process. Different methods must be used to extract different compounds because not all solvents extract the same compounds, and some methods require a lot of heat, which can damage other constituents. The best way to ensure a full spectrum of beneficial compounds in amounts that will provide benefits is for a company to produce products that utilize a combination of extraction processes. We call this dual extraction.
So how is a dual extract made?
Step one would be an alcohol extraction. This extracts temperature-sensitive compounds such as terpenes and a fatty-acids. Step two would be a hot water extraction. Think of this as a super concentrated version of tea. This extracts other compounds, such as branched-chain beta-glucans, which require a lot of heat and time to be extracted properly. Step three would combine these to form a full-spectrum extract, ensuring you get all the benefits that mushrooms offer. After that, they would be packaged in dark glass bottles to protect them from light, which can damage the extracts. These dual-extracted mushroom supplements are the most potent and effective way to take mushrooms.
What about powdered mushrooms? Most powdered mushroom products are crude mycelium or mushrooms, so they will not provide many benefits. There are some mushroom extract powders, but they have several issues. The first is sourcing; most of them come from China (see reasons from earlier in this blog). The second is that many of them are grown on grain. The third is that nearly all of them are spray-dried. Spray drying is very high heat and can damage fragile constituents. It also requires the dried powder to be sprayed onto a carrier, which many companies do not list on the label of their products and contributes towards the weight. A spray-dried powder that claims to have one thousand milligrams of mushroom per serving lists the weight of the carrier and the mushroom together, so you cannot know exactly how much mushroom you are getting.
What about mushroom capsules? We have been unable to find mushroom capsules that meet our criteria, with most of the same issues as the powdered mushrooms.
What's the problem with mushroom coffees?
What about mushroom coffee products? While these have become super popular, they have a lot of issues. First, they have many of the same ones as the powders. Second, the short time and temperature of coffee brewing are not enough to extract the beneficial compounds.
While they seem cool, they are not a great combination.
Mushroom Supplement Quality control and testing
Proper quality control and testing are important for any supplement, including mushrooms. In addition to the basics (heavy metals, fungal and bacterial contamination, pesticide, herbicide, fungicide residues, and adulteration, etc.), mushrooms need specialized testing for their constituents. This is where it gets tricky.
The most well-known compound in mushrooms is called beta-glucans, which are non-starch soluble polysaccharides. This compound is found in all of the usual mushrooms used as supplements, as well as each having a host of other compounds that give each mushroom a unique profile and a different set of benefits.
There are different types of beta-glucans and polysaccharides in many mushrooms, grains, and other foods, some have benefits, and some do not. Many companies will put a percentage of polysaccharides on the label of their mushroom supplements. You will see claims of 40, 60, or even 80% polysaccharides. Well, that sounds amazing; the more, the merrier, right? Wrong! Many polysaccharides have no beneficial properties, so it’s just a very effective marketing tactic. You could have a product with 1% beneficial and 49% with no benefit.
An example of this would be alpha-glucans. Alpha-glucans will show up as polysaccharides in a lab test, but they are not found in mushrooms (in any more than a trace amount); instead, being found in many grains. Nearly all mycelium products will have a good percentage of their polysaccharides as alpha-glucans because of these grains they are grown on. Alpha-glucans do not provide the same benefit as beta-glucans. Never, ever judge a mushroom supplement's potency, quality, or potential benefits by the amount of polysaccharides listed, as it tells you very little about a product and is not a reliable measurement.
It is essential to drill down a little further. There are several types of beta-glucans, but not all of them have the same benefit. Many beta-glucan label claims may not be what they appear.
The beta-glucans with a branched structure provide a place where the immune system can “hook on” (definitely not the technical term) and allow the immune system to use them. They are sometimes referred to as beta-glucans 1,3 and 1,6. Beta-glucans with a linear structure have no place for the immune system to “hook on” to, so they do not have the same benefits. That is why it’s essential to know which beta-glucans are present, not just the levels of beta-glucans
While there have been some breakthroughs in mushroom beta-glucan and polysaccharide testing, most companies use older tests that are inaccurate, incomplete, or easy to cheat. Unless you have an expansive knowledge of mushroom testing methodologies and know how to interpret the test results to see if the right tests were used (which very few people do), it is best not to rely on them. You should also be careful about third-party test results, as many of them are from labs that use poor testing methods or are often faked.
Rooted Nutrition's head of research.
How should Mushroom Supplements be labeled?
The labeling of mushroom supplements is one of the areas of most confusion. Unfortunately, there are a huge number of mushroom supplements that have labels that lead people to believe that things are in the products that are not actually in them. There are strict labeling requirements surrounding mushrooms; unfortunately, they have not been enforced.
It is abundantly clear, with no wiggle room, from the above that mycelium only, or when the vast majority of the product is mycelium, products should not suggest or imply that they contain mushrooms. Any company selling mycelium supplements should not label them as mushroom supplements. Unfortunately, too many companies ignore these labeling rules and get away with it. It drives me insane! In order to be a mushroom supplement, it must be a majority-fruiting body product. Recently, a special type of petition has been filed with the FDA to hopefully get them to act on this issue. It is long overdue that companies misleading the public are taken to task and penalized for their actions.
This product contains no reishi fruiting body, despite the labeling and images on the bottle. Who thinks that companies should be able to do things like this?
Which mushroom supplement should you take?
It can be confusing to know which mushroom to take. While each of them contain beta glucans 1,3 and 1,6, it is each of their unique profiles of secondary compounds that provide the other benefits. It is important to match the right mushroom to your health goals. Always talk to your doctor before starting any supplement.
Artists’s conk (Ganoderma applanatum) is currently being studied for a variety of effects including liver health. It is a fascinating mushroom that is not often talked about.
Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus) is a wild sclerotium whose properties and intrinsic compounds are synthesized according to the unique nature of its parasitic relationship with living birch trees over time. You can’t have Chaga without it being wild. Any indoor propagated Chaga is merely an inferior lumpy mass having never been subjected to the back-and-forth stressors that are required to strengthen the mycological makeup of sclerotia; thus, it requires an everlasting biological battle between itself and a living birch tree’s immune system; to form what we know as Chaga! It is important to understand that there is fake chaga out there- mainstream brands sell it, and well-respected figures that some would call leaders in the mushroom world are selling it too. But it’s a gimmick; Chaga that does not come from the wild is not Chaga at all. It is materially different; it will not share the benefits that wild Chaga is well known for, and marketing it as such is completely wrong.
Chaga contains high levels of antioxidants and terpenes. It also contains a unique compound, betulinic acid, which is formed when chaga converts the betulin found in the birch bark to this beneficial ingredient. If the Chaga is grown on grain or sawdust, it will not be rich in this. It must be grown on living birch trees to produce high levels of this compound. This triterpenoid has a wide array of health benefits. It is also rich in other beneficial compounds, such as melanin and initidiol. Chaga is the best mushroom to use if you are looking for a potent antioxidant and to support healthy skin. You should not use chaga if you are sensitive to oxalates or suffer from kidney stones.
Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris) grows very differently than other mushrooms on this list. It is a parasitic organism preferring to grow on caterpillars, wasps, and other insects. It infects them and eventually takes over the host, creating a zombie bug.
In the past, we were able to source wild-harvested, dual-extracted cordyceps products, but unfortunately, we are no longer able to find a sustainable and ethical wild source of this mushroom. In many areas of the world where it grows wild, it has been overharvested, and we did not want to contribute to and make the problem worse. If you know of a sustainable source for wild cordyceps extract, we would love to know and will give you a nice finders fee if it works out for us. Please email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com and let us know!
There are some differences between wild Cordyceps and cultivated Cordyceps, despite companies saying otherwise. Wild cordyceps is most commonly known as Cordyceps sinensis (although there are a few other cordyceps species as well), and cultivated cordyceps is Cordyceps militaris, despite some companies claiming to sell their cultivated cordyceps as the sinensis variety. It is illegal to label militaris products as sinensis, but once again, the FDA refuses to enforce the regulations, and companies continue to get away with it.
One of the main differences (although there are plenty of others) is that wild Cordyceps have less cordycepin and adenosine than cultivated and more cordycepic acid and mannitol than cultivated. This is most likely due to the difference in what the Cordyceps is grown on and the growing environment being indoors instead of in the wild, exposed to stressors.
Cordyceps contains cordycepic acid, cordycepin, and adenosine, which provide some pretty unique benefits, especially for supporting long-lasting energy. Unlike caffeine, cordyceps does not cause jitteriness and is non-habit forming.
Cordyceps is the mushroom to choose if you are looking to support adrenal, lung, and kidney health, as well as support healthy energy levels.
Lion's Mane (Hericum erinaceus) is one of nature's most powerful nootropics thanks to its rich concentration of erinacines and hericenones. It also contains the compound NDPIH and its derivative hericene A. These help support healthy neurons, as well as brain, myelin sheath, and nerve health. They also promote healthy levels of nerve growth factor (NGF).
Lion's mane is the best mushroom choice for those looking for nerve, brain, mood, and sleep support.
Maitake (Grifola frondosa) is one of the most well-known and studied mushrooms. It is rich in sterols and certain polysaccharides with prebiotic properties. It is also being studied for its effects on the cardiovascular system and metabolic health. Maitake also contains an interesting glycoprotein that is being studied for its effects on blood sugar.
Maitake is the best mushroom choice for those concerned with supporting a healthy gut and metabolic system.
Reishi (Ganoderma) has long been referred to as Lingzhi (The mushroom of immortality) in Chinese medicine. This mushroom's fruiting bodies contain unique adaptogenic compounds known as triterpenoids, which have a wide array of benefits. Triterpenoids may support a healthy cardiovascular system and healthy joints. One class of these triterpenoids, ganoderic acids, helps to support a healthy liver.
It is very important to understand that triterpenoids are very bitter. This bitter taste stimulates certain digestive secretions, which provides some of the benefits. Unfortunately, most reishi mushroom supplements are made with mycelium and contain little to none of these beneficial compounds. If you have a reishi mycelium capsule at home, I encourage you to open it up and taste it; it will taste sweet, not bitter, because it does not have more than a trace amount of these beneficial compounds. Real reishi mushroom supplements taste bitter because of the triterpenoids.
Reishi is the best mushroom for those looking to support overall health and looking for a daily tonic to enhance overall health and vitality, as well as support healthy liver function.
Turkey tail (Coriolus veriscolor) is the most well-studied mushroom by far. It contains two very important compounds PSK (polysaccharide K) and PSP (a unique protein-bound polysaccharide). These compounds support a healthy immune system and have been extensively studied.
Turkey Tail is the best mushroom for those looking to support a healthy immune system.
All of the secondary compounds we listed for these mushrooms make the case for using concentrated, full-spectrum dual extracts. This is the best way to get all of the beneficial compounds these mushrooms have to offer in a bioavailable form and in sufficient quantity. Trace amounts will not provide the same benefits. A compound cannot just be detectable; it needs to be present in the amounts needed to support health.
As we are able to source more high-quality extracts made from wild, sustainably harvested mushrooms, we will add more to this list.
How do you take mushroom supplements?
As with any supplement, the key to getting benefits is to take it daily and at the correct dosage. Consistency is the most important. Mushrooms are not something you can take once in a while and expect benefits. The longer you take them, the more benefits you can feel.
Mushrooms are best taken in dual extracted, liquid form. We recommend taking 4 ml per day of the concentrated extracts and, if possible, split the dosage up throughout the day. They should be taken on an empty stomach forty-five minutes before or two hours after food. Don’t forget to shake them well! It is best taken directly in the mouth or mixed with a bit of warm, not hot or boiling, water.
Finding a good mushroom supplement company
Finding companies that met all of our criteria for a good mushroom supplement was not easy.
After a lot of searching and disappointment, we found an incredible company. This company sustainably wildcrafts its mushrooms in the United States and manufactures its own products. It is very rare to find companies that do this, but those are the kind we love. Vertically integrated companies like these form the backbone of our Farm-To-Bottle Project.
Forager's Kingdom Mushroom Extracts
That company is Forager’s Kingdom. Their mushrooms are wild-harvested in the Appalachian mountains in Pennsylvania (except for cordyceps). Forager’s Kingdom was founded by Neil Thenier. He found tremendous health benefits from mushrooms he foraged in the forests and wanted to share the amazing benefits of wild foods with everyone. All of their mushrooms are sourced within a forty-mile radius of their headquarters, giving them a very low carbon footprint. They also partner with One Three Planted; with every bottle sold, a donation is made to support reforestation around the world! We cannot say enough incredible things about the work this company is doing, and we only wish more companies would follow their example.
To Neil, we say thank you and keep up the fantastic work. The world needs more people like you.
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You did it; you made it to the end! Use code wild at checkout to save twenty percent on all mushroom products!
Mushroom Supplement Support
We know this is a lot of information, so if you have questions about our mushroom supplements, email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com, and we will be happy to provide you with the information you need.
