Beneficial mushrooms have been used for centuries to support human health. From energy and stamina to cognition and memory, and from sleep and cardiovascular support to support for liver health and the microbiome, the various species of beneficial mushroom cover a wide range of system-specific needs. But one thing they all have in common is that both beneficial mushroom mycelium and fruit bodies have been extensively researched and shown to support an engaged and modulated immune response.[fda:note]

At Fungi Perfecti and Host Defense, one of the most significant outcomes of our research has been discovering the enormous value of mushroom mycelium, the root-like structure of mushrooms. Mycelium is the metabolicallyactive and longest-living structure of the mushroom organism that contains numerous novel compounds shown to benefit human health.[fda:note]

Mycelium is the longest living part of the fungal organism, consisting of intricate filaments that are only one cell-wall thick. Despite its delicate stature, mycelium is quite formidable, growing for months, years, and in some cases, potentially centuries. Mycelium can navigate through sometimes inhospitable ecosystems. It is capable of expanding its reach through a habitat filled with millions of microbes while communicating chemically with the surrounding environment, devising complex chemical responses to whatever challenges it encounters.[fda:note]

Mycelium creates its own immune response that supports not only the health and vitality of the fungal organism, but also supports the health of the surrounding ecosystem. The mycelial immune response is often the ecosystem’s immune response. Scientific research, targeted studies, and widespread use in holistic health and wellness plans demonstrate that when mushroom mycelium is harnessed in the form of supplements, human beings also benefit from its significant supportive power.[fda:note]

In order to grow mushroom mycelium, a food source called a “substrate” is used. The mycelium then breaks down and converts the substrate in a process of fermentation not unlike that of tempeh or yogurt. Host Defense® uses an organic brown rice substrate to grow their mycelium and then they use the mycelium, the fermented rice, and the fermented metabolites all together in their supplements. This provides a far greater range of metabolically active compounds than what can be found in mushroom fruit bodies alone. Recent research has shown that in Host Defense® products, both the mushroom mycelium and the fermented substrate are immunologically active and offer a complementary array of health-supporting compounds.[fda:note]

The mycelium has been shown to robustly engage NK cells, NK T cells, Monocytes, B cells, and T lymphocytes. And, the fermented rice has been shown to engage the immune system’s checks and balances to keep it from overreacting, thereby maintaining a balanced response within the immune system’s “Goldilocks Zone”.[fda:note]

What is Lion's Mane?

Both a delicious edible and incredible medicine, lion’s mane mushroom (Heiricium erinaceus), when mature, is a fleshy, semi-spherical whitish fruiting body.

It is composed of a mass of unbranched icicle-looking spines hanging from a cushiony base that attaches to recently fallen logs or injured tissue of living hardwoods.

Native to Europe, it is widely distributed throughout woodlands of North America.

When fresh, the spines are white and highly edible, though the base is too tough to be eaten.

As this mushroom ages, the color turns to yellowish to brown, at which time its delectability declines.

Lion's Mane for Brain Health

Medicinal mushrooms, such as reishi, shiitake, and lion’s mane, are among the most important supplements we can use for overall health. They share properties and chemistry that are similar, but each has its unique signature.

The unique signature of lion’s mane is its incredible potential for healing nerve tissue. Clinical and preclinical investigations show it to be uniquely beneficial in the prevention and treatment of cognitive decline, such as Alzheimer’s disease, due to its ability to both protect and regenerate nerve tissue.

Lion’s Mane Chemistry

• Beta Glucan-Type Polysaccharides

  Like most medicinal mushrooms, lion’s mane consists of an array of beta glucan-type polysaccharides, often touted as the active constituents of medicinal mushrooms.

• Diterpenoids: Erinacines and Hericenones

  Of special interest that gives lion’s mane its unique standing is a collection of diterpenoids know as erinacines and phenolic compounds known as hericenones. Both have the ability to promote the synthesis of nerve growth factor, a neuropeptide involved in the regulation of growth, maintenance, proliferation, and survival of neurons.

• Other Components

  Additionally, lion’s mane contains:

  • organic acids
  • nucleotides
  • amino acids
  • carbohydrates
  • flavonoids
  • unsaturated fatty acids
  • terpenoids
  • phenolic acids
  • phenylpropanoids
  • steroids

Lion's Mane for Neurodegenerative Diseases

In animals that received erinacine A in daily meals, improvements in neurodegenerative diseases such as ischemic stroke, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease were seen. Also observed were decreases in amyloid plaque, a characteristic feature of AD.

The same compound increased the survival of newly formed neurons in the hippocampus, suggesting general benefit, not just benefit for those with diseased brains.

Subsequently, an erinacine A-enriched lion’s mane mycelium preparation was given to patients with mild AD. Improvements were recorded using a variety of dementia assessment ratings.

Other markers associated with cognitive decline showed marked improvement, including increases in neurotropic factor in the brain and reductions in amyloid plaque and apolipoprotein E4 levels, the latter being the primary known genetic risk factor for AD.

Part of this activity is associated with a direct effect on regenerating nerve tissue but also in reducing inflammatory cytokines, which are compounds that can wreak havoc on nerve tissue (think “cytokine storm,” as seen in severe cases of COVID-19).

Other Neurological Disorders

In addition to lion’s mane potential for reducing the incidence and severity of AD and dementia, it similarly shows benefit in other neurological disorders, including:

• protecting against age-related hearing loss
• decreasing brain lesions in Parkinson’s disease
• supporting healthy myelination of nerve tissue

Myelin is a fatty substance that serves as insulation around nerve tissues, thereby improving nerve transmission and factors in conditions such as:

• multiple sclerosis
• Guillain-Barre syndrome
• peripheral nerve damage

Other Benefits of Lion's Mane

• Diabetes Control

  While the cognitive benefits of lion’s mane have been determined in human clinical and animal trials, a number of other benefits have been investigated in preclinical studies.

  When administered as a part of the diet, lion’s mane inhibited the wasting that occurs in advanced diabetes, improved fasting blood sugar levels, reduced glucose tolerance, improved liver function and lipid metabolism, and reduced oxidative stress, which is prevalent in diabetes.

  Polysaccharides were found to be at least partially responsible for these activities.

• Immunity

  A number of studies report a host of mechanisms by which lion’s mane supports health in general and healthy immunity specifically.

  In one study, compounds hericerin A and hericerin inhibited the growth of leukemia cells, while another showed that lion’s mane polysaccharides activate macrophage immune response, which suggests its potential as a preventive in respiratory infections.

• Gut Health

  Other studies show that lion’s mane improves the health of the intestinal microbiome with potential benefit in colitis, healing of the mucosal lining in the intestines, and even the potential to break down wheat.

If presented with two pictures, one of a mushroom fruit body and one of mushroom mycelium, and asked to point to the mushroom, most people would point to the fruit body without hesitation. Because mushroom fruit bodies are so easily identifiable to the majority of people, and there is much less awareness outside of mycology circles regarding mycelium, it’s easy for mushroom supplement companies to emphasize the importance of the fruit body when marketing their products.

Similarly, it’s easy for those same mushroom supplement companies to dismiss the use of mycelium as somehow less beneficial than fruit body–only supplements. They will often put particular emphasis on the high beta-glucan content found in mushroom fruit bodies. But the truth is, both mushroom mycelium and the mushroom fruit body offer benefits to human health.

Host Defense® uses the mycelium, the fermented substrate, and the fermented metabolites all together. This provides a greater range of metabolically active compounds than those found in mushroom fruit bodies alone. Research has shown that in Host Defense® products, the mushroom mycelium and the fermented substrate are both immunologically active and offer a complementary array of health-supporting compounds.[fda:note] The mycelium robustly engages NK cells, NK T cells, monocytes, B cells, and T lymphocytes. Note that the immune cells associated with allergic reactivity like mast cells and eosinophils are NOT engaged. The fermented rice engages the immune system’s checks and balances to keep it from overreacting, thereby maintaining our immune response within the “Goldilocks Zone” (not too little, not too much, but just right!).[fda:note]

While part of the immune activity is due to beta-glucan content, polysaccharides and other compounds found within Host Defense® products are also responsible for immune activation and immune modulation. Singling out beta-glucans as the only active compound neglects to take into account the complex chemistry of a whole mushroom product. Use of mushroom mycelium captures a more extensive range of beneficial compounds.

Last year we collaborated with NIS, Inc., a third-party lab based in Oregon, to publish an open-access, peer-reviewed research article in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine about the immune benefits of mushroom mycelium and fermented substrate. And just this year we published a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Inflammation Research about the efficacy of the Host Defense® MyCommunity, a 17-mushroom species blend that is shown to actively engage the immune system.

At Host Defense®, we follow the science. And years of industry-based research, along with both internal and third-party testing, tells us that mycelium-based mushroom supplements offer significant immunological support. In addition, research also confirms that the fermented substrate used to grow Host Defense® mycelium is also immunologically active.

That’s why we use mushroom mycelium in ALL of our products—because it works![fda:note]

It’s a dubious distinction: Coming in second in the list of industries that produce the most pollution is fashion. Oil is still king, of course, but the manufacturing of clothing from leather and textiles is responsible for one-tenth of carbon emissions in the world and uses up water like it’s going out of style. And that’s only on the front end: Cheap, synthetic clothes make the pollution worse by ending up in landfills by the thousands of tons.

Leather Alternatives

After a spell of wet weather, you may have noticed mushrooms popping up in droves where there weren’t any before the rain. That’s because mycelium, the fungus that produces mushrooms, grows underground, producing a thick network of fibers too small to see. Interrupting the process after the mycelium builds its network and before it produces mushrooms allows humans to control the growth of mycelium fibers.

Mycelium as an Eco-Alternative to Leather

One use of harnessed mycelium is as a less-polluting substitute for synthetic “pleather” and real leather from animals. Bolt Threads introduced Mylo, grown from mycelium, in 2018 and in the fall of 2020 wrangled executives from some high-end clothing brands (think Adidas, Lululemon, and Stella McCartney) to put aside their rivalries and back Bolt’s work on Mylo.

"Unleather"

Bolt Threads expects fashion companies to introduce products made with Mylo, which the company’s website calls, the “unleather,” as early as 2021. “Substantial, supple, and soft, Mylo has an unmistakable resemblance to animal leather, but with an unbelievably low environmental impact,” the company says, since its manufacture “consumes significantly less water and land, and emits fewer greenhouse gases than raising livestock.”

If you want leather without the cow, Mylo is the product to watch.

Medicinal mushrooms are a highly popular and respected category of botanicals. One, more than all others, put the entire category on the map and is considered the most highly revered in Chinese herbal traditions—reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum).

Historical Use of Reishi

While  most known by its Japanese name reishi, this mushroom (polypore) has been used in traditional herbal practices of China for literally thousands of years.

It once was the exclusive domain of emperors and Taoist monks. Emperors hoped it would impart longevity. Taoists used it to cultivate a peaceful state of well-being and to enjoy a long, disease-free life.

Its benefits were considered so critical to royalty that, among commoners, its use was a beheading offense.

Modern Studies About Reishi

When the modern scientific literature is reviewed, we find there are few botanicals that positively affect physiological responses as broadly as reishi; in fact, there are few systems it does not positively affect.

Reishi and the Immune System

The research detailing the effects of reishi on immunity literally fills books and is simultaneously extremely complex and simple.

Innate vs. Adaptive Immunity

In the simplest terms, there are two primary aspects of the immune system: innate and adaptive immunity.

Reishi supports both innate and adaptive immune responses; it is difficult to get better than that.

• The Innate Immune System

  Innate immunity is our oldest, most primitive evolutionary defense protective system. When infections attack, innate immunity stimulates a host of chemical immune defenses that identify bacteria, activate immune cells, and promote clearance of dead cells—immediately preventing the spread of foreign disease-causing agents throughout the body.

  The innate immune system also teaches the adaptive immune system how to identify and remove foreign substances present in organs, tissues, blood, and lymph.

• The Adaptive Immune System

  While innate immunity offers an immediate protective response, the adaptive immune system acquires defenses such as antibodies against specific pathogens and remembers how to fight them in the future; a very cogent discussion for our present times.

How Does Reishi Work?

In practical terms, here is the reishi rundown.

• Adaptogenic Properties

  It is a premier adaptogen, which means it helps us to adapt to physical and psychological stresses and changes.

• Protective Effects

  It has antibacterial, antiviral, and antiallergic activity, meaning it conveys protective effects whether we are under attack by colds, viruses, or allergens.

• Liver and Heart

  Reishi has been widely researched for its ability to protect the liver and heart from damage, has potent anti-inflammatory activities, and protects against bronchitis.

• Cancer Treatment

  Reishi is one of the primary botanicals used for increasing immune cells needed for defense against cancer and for decreasing cells that suppress immune function.

  When taken after chemo and/or radiation therapies for cancer, scientific investigation suggests it restores immunocompetency, thereby increasing one’s chance of survival.