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- Lion’s mane mushrooms may help memory and clear thinking by helping nerve growth factor (NGF).
- A 2019 study found older adults who took lion’s mane for 12 weeks got better scores on thinking tests.
- Reishi mushrooms may help adjust the body's immune reaction and lower swelling in people with cancer.
- Medicinal mushrooms such as reishi and lion’s mane have beta-glucans, triterpenes, and antioxidants that help overall health.
- Experts warn about low-quality mushroom pills that are mostly mycelium or fillers, saying they may not be strong.
Medicinal mushrooms like reishi and lion's mane are getting noticed. People think they might help the body fight sickness, make thinking better, and ease stress. For hundreds of years, people in Asia used them in traditional medicine. Now, they are showing up in modern health routines, like teas, pills, smoothie powders, and kits to grow your own. But does science prove they help, or are they just a new fad? Let's see.
What Are Medicinal Mushrooms?
Medicinal mushrooms are fungi. People value them for the stuff inside that helps health, not just for food or taste. Unlike common cooking mushrooms like cremini or shiitake, medicinal mushrooms are often hard, like wood, and bitter. They are too hard to eat raw. But they have many active parts like polysaccharides, terpenoids, sterols, and phenolic compounds.
Here are some medicinal mushrooms people know well:
- Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) — known to help the body fight sickness and handle stress.
- Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus) — lots of studies look at it for brain health and thinking.
- Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) — a strong antioxidant that helps the immune system work better.
- Cordyceps (Cordyceps sinensis) — often used in the past to give more energy and stamina.
- Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor) — good for gut health and helping cancer treatment.
- Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) — used for cooking and medicine to help the heart and immune system.
These fungi were used for a long time in traditional medicine in places like China and India. They used them for things like getting more energy, helping organs, and making swelling less.
Why Medicinal Mushrooms Are Having a Moment
Old knowledge and new science together are making medicinal mushrooms very popular again, like never before. In the last few years, many more people have gotten interested because of a few connected things:
- People want natural health: Buyers are looking for things from plants and fungi instead of other options to lower stress, think better, and stay healthy.
- The adaptogen boom: Adaptogens—herbs and mushrooms that help your body handle stress—are becoming common. Reishi and lion’s mane are leading this change.
- Scientific validation: More studies are starting to show that traditional uses are right. This makes people trust them more and gets doctors and health experts to pay attention.
- Product innovation: Today, there are many new products. You can find coffee mixes, snack bars, powders, and pills. This makes these strong fungi easier for everyone to get.
It's getting harder to tell the difference between food and medicine. Because of this, medicinal mushrooms are now common in homes where people care about health all over the world.
Meet the Heavy-Hitters: Lion’s Mane and Reishi
There are many medicinal fungi you can buy. Among them, lion’s mane and reishi are the ones people know best and have studied the most. People like each one for different things. But together, they show what's new and exciting in natural health.
Lion’s Mane (Hericium erinaceus)
You can easily tell lion's mane by its white, shaggy look. It looks like water falling down or a fluffy ball. Many medicinal mushrooms are not good to eat. But lion's mane is good and even tasty when cooked. That's why some call it "the smart mushroom."
It got its name for helping the brain because of two special kinds of compounds:
- Hericenones: These are in the mushroom cap. They help the body make NGF (nerve growth factor).
- Erinacines: These are in the root-like part (mycelium). They can get into the brain and help nerve cells grow.
These compounds might help new nerve cells grow. They may also protect against brain damage that happens as you get older. And they can make memory and focus better. People who use it often say they feel sharper and can think faster after taking it for a few weeks.
Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum)
People call reishi the “mushroom of immortality.” For more than 2,000 years, people in East Asia respected it greatly. Old writings show it, and kings used it as a drink to stay strong. Now, new studies are showing these benefits are real.
Reishi has a lot of:
- Beta-glucans: These help adjust the immune system. They make weak immune systems stronger and overactive ones less active.
- Triterpenes: These help lower swelling and act as antioxidants. They also make reishi taste bitter.
- Polysaccharides: These help with energy, cleaning the body, and gut health.
People usually don't eat reishi fresh like lion's mane. Instead, they have it as tea, a liquid extract, or in pills. Many people use reishi to help handle stress, sleep better, and make their immune system stronger.
Lion’s Mane for Brain Health
For making your brain work better, lion’s mane mushrooms are becoming known as a natural choice instead of man-made brain boosters. Some good studies show it can help the brain in important ways.
In a study from 2019, older adults with some memory problems took lion's mane extract for 12 weeks. This was a study where neither the patients nor the doctors knew who got the real extract or a fake pill. Those who took the lion's mane got much better scores on tests of how their brain worked (Saitsu et al., 2019). When people stopped taking the extract, their scores went down again. This might mean you need to keep taking it to keep the benefits.
Lion’s mane also looks helpful in studies about things other than just getting older:
- Alzheimer’s disease: Studies on animals suggest lion’s mane might lower harmful beta-amyloid buildup and stop brain damage from stress.
- Parkinson’s disease: Early tests show it might help nerve cells grow back by making parts of cells work better and lowering swelling.
- Depression and anxiety: Small studies on people have shown fewer signs of sadness and worry in those who took lion’s mane for some weeks.
More large human studies are still needed. But lion's mane keeps looking promising for helping the brain change, handling feelings, and thinking clearly.
Reishi Mushrooms for Immunity and Stress
Reishi helps your body handle stress and adjusts your immune system. This makes it one of the most useful mushrooms for health. Studies suggest it can make the immune system work better by finding a balance, not just making it work harder. This is different from many old ways to boost the immune system.
A review of studies from 2016 said that taking reishi helped the immune system work better and made life better for people with cancer when they used it with chemo or radiation (Jin et al., 2016). It did not fight the cancer itself. But it helped cells that kill bad cells work better and made it easier for patients to handle the side effects of their usual treatment. They reported few side effects from reishi.
Reishi also works on the HPA axis. This is the system that controls stress hormones. People who take reishi often say:
- They sleep better.
- They feel less worried.
- They have more energy.
- Their mood stays more even.
Studies also look at how reishi might work like an antihistamine, protect the stomach, and even help adjust blood pressure and blood sugar.
How Medicinal Mushrooms Support the Body
Why are medicinal mushrooms such strong helpers for your health? The active parts in them work on the body's systems that keep things in check. They don't just jump in and fix one thing directly. Here's how they help health down to the cell level:
Main Stuff Inside
- Beta-glucans: These are sugars that wake up immune cells like macrophages, dendritic cells, and natural killer (NK) cells. They also wake up tissue linked to the gut, which is a key place for the immune system.
- Triterpenes: These help lower swelling and protect the liver. In reishi, these parts also seem to lower stress hormones like cortisol.
- Ergothioneine & Glutathione: These are antioxidants. They fight harm from stress in the body and help you age well.
- Prebiotics: Fungi feed good bacteria in your gut. This helps your gut stay healthy and makes your whole body's defense stronger.
These things don't work right away. But over time, they help the body get better at keeping things balanced and bouncing back from stress.
Tradition Meets Science
Medicinal mushrooms have always been a main part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. They sort them by their energy effects—like making life energy stronger, feeding the blood, or calming the mind. Japanese Kampo medicine also uses mushrooms to help the body be strong and help organs.
Now, Western science is starting to prove how these old ways work and even understand them. Here are some study examples:
- Turkey tail is used along with treatment for breast and colon cancer in Japan.
- Cordyceps militaris is studied to see if it helps people do better in sports and make energy.
- Chaga shows strong antioxidant effects in lab tests and animal studies.
Most of the studies now are new or only looked at a small number of people. So, scientists are still figuring things out together. But people are getting more interested in studying fungi as foods that help your body and as medicines.
Are They Safe? Here’s What to Know
Medicinal mushrooms are safe for most people. This is true especially if you use powders, extracts, or pills and don't use too much. But safety can be different based on where they came from, how they were made, and if someone has certain health problems.
Things That Might Happen:
- Small stomach problems: Like feeling bloated, having a stomach ache, or loose stools.
- Allergies: This doesn't happen often, but it's possible if you are sensitive to molds or fungi.
- Problems with medicines: Reishi might make medicines that stop blood clots or calm the immune system work too much.
Who Should Be Careful?
- People with sicknesses where their body attacks itself (things that boost the immune system might make things worse).
- Women who are pregnant or feeding a baby, because there are not many safety studies for them.
- If you take medicine for blood pressure, blood clots, or blood sugar, ask a doctor before adding mushroom pills.
Always pick good products that have been checked to lower the chance they have bad stuff like heavy metals or mold.
How to Add Medicinal Mushrooms to Your Diet
You can easily add medicinal mushrooms to your daily life in different ways:
- Powders: Put them in smoothies, soups, drinks like broth, or coffee.
- Teas and decoctions: Boil dried reishi slices in water for 30 minutes or longer.
- Pills: These are easy for travel and keeping track of how much you take.
- Liquid extracts: Alcohol extracts get into your body fast. They are good for when you need help right away.
- Things you can eat: Try cooking lion’s mane or eating snack bars made with mushrooms.
Begin with a little bit to see how your body handles it. The amount suggested each day is:
- Lion’s mane: 500–1000mg to help your brain.
- Reishi: 1000–1500mg to help you fight sickness and handle stress.
Growing Your Own Mushrooms at Home
If you want to get your mushrooms straight from where they grow, growing your own is simpler than you might guess. Kits you do yourself are getting more popular. They are a fun way to learn and make sure you get good quality.
Good Things About Growing at Home:
- You know where they come from and how good they are.
- They are fresh and have all the helpful parts.
- You feel more in charge and involved in your health.
Companies like Zombie Mushrooms sell kits with everything you need. They have guides and blocks with the root-like parts (mycelium) that grow fresh mushrooms in just a few weeks.
Mushrooms in the Food and Beverage World
Mushrooms that help your body are not just in herb stores anymore. They are in coffee shops, grocery stores, and even some fast food places. Here are some examples:
- Hot chocolate mixes with reishi
- Drinks like coffee with lion’s mane
- Protein powders that help you handle stress
- Drinks and tonics with mushrooms
People buying these things should know about how companies try to get them to buy. Look for phrases like:
- "Made from 100% mushroom cap"
- "Extracted twice"
- "Grown without harmful chemicals & not changed genetically"
- "Checked by a third party for how much beta-glucan is inside"
Products made only from the root-like parts (mycelium) grown on grain might not have as many active mushroom parts. They could have more starchy filler instead.
Choosing the Right Product for You
Picking a good mushroom product means you really get the good effects you are paying for. Here's a list to help you pick:
- Where it Comes From: If you can, pick mushrooms grown without harmful chemicals in the U.S. or Europe.
- How it Was Made: Extracts made with both alcohol and hot water get both triterpenes and beta-glucans out.
- Part of the Mushroom: Make sure products use the "mushroom cap" for strength.
- Lab Tests: Papers from a third party prove it is clean, has the right amount, and is safe.
- How it Fits Your Life: Think about what is easiest for you, like pills (easy to take), powders (can use in many ways), or liquid extracts (work fast).
Ancient Testimonials and Modern Success Stories
Old writings say good things about reishi, like giving you more energy and a clear mind. People in the past used lion’s mane to help their stomachs work well and get older without problems. Today, people who use them say the same things, sharing what they have really experienced:
- "My focus at work is better in just two weeks."
- "Reishi helps me relax and sleep better."
- "No more shaky feeling from coffee—just energy from mushrooms."
What happens is different for everyone. But what people say today matches the old ideas about these helpful fungi.
Understanding the Mycelium vs. Fruiting Body Debate
When it comes to mushroom pills, not all products are the same. One thing to know about is the difference between:
- Mushroom Cap Extracts: This is the part you see, the "mushroom" that grows when the fungus is ready. These usually have more beta-glucans, terpenes, and other helpful parts.
- Mycelium Grown on Grain: This is the part like roots, grown on something like rice or oats. It's often picked too early and has a lot of filler.
Some companies use products made from mycelium that don't have many active mushroom parts. If they don't tell you exactly what's in it, pick products made from the mushroom cap that are checked to have active parts.
So, Are Medicinal Mushrooms Actually Good for You?
Yes—they can help in many big ways if you use them smart. Medicinal mushrooms like lion’s mane and reishi can help your brain work well, make your immune system strong, and help you feel balanced.
They have a long past, and new science is proving they work. This makes them a good choice for people who want natural tools for their overall health. Think about trying these strong fungi by using good pills or growing them yourself at home. Your brain, gut, and immune system might start to feel better.
Ready to learn about medicinal mushrooms? Begin small—make a soothing cup of reishi tea or try a lion’s mane pill—and see how these interesting fungi can help your health path.
Citations
- Jin, X., Ruijun, G., & Tang, Y. (2016). The effectiveness of Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi mushroom) in cancer treatment adjunct: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. PLOS ONE, 11(7), e0158038. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158038
- Saitsu, Y., Takata, M., & Nakamura, M. (2019). Improvement of cognitive symptoms in mild cognitive impairment by oral administration of Hericium erinaceus. Biomedical Research, 40(4), 125–132. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/biomedres/40/4/40_125/_article
