1. Medicinal mushrooms and mushroom mycelium MUST be extracted with hot water to guarantee bio-availability and to create the potency needed for therapeutic effectiveness. (Hot water extracts are dehydrated then encapsulated). Although hot water extraction is used in 100% of the thousands of independent references, both herbal and medical, 95% of the mushroom supplements available in the U.S. and Canada are ground up mushrooms (un-extracted), mycelium grown on grain (un-extracted), or tinctures. These supplements are 1/30th to 1/50th the strength of a hot water extract and are significantly less potent than the materials used in traditional herbalism or the clinical research.

The primary actives, the polysaccharides (beta glucans) are found inside indigestible cell walls (made of chitin). Only hot water extraction can liberate the actives, maintain their structural integrity, and concentrate them to defined and therapeutically useful levels.

The good news is that every mushroom label, whether thru inclusion or omission, contains the information needed to determine potency and quality. Hot water extracts (except the Maitake Fractions), will list the polysaccharide (beta glucan) levels, as a percentage, on the label. None of the un-extracted mushroom products or tinctures list polysaccharide/beta glucan levels on their labels. If potency information is missing the supplement should probably be avoided. Optimal potency levels for the different mushroom extracts, as defined in the research, are presented later in this document.

2. Mushroom supplements should be taken twice daily, A.M. and P.M., on an empty stomach.

3. Mushroom extracts can be taken daily for long periods of time, even years, without negative side effects. For vegetarians, mushroom extracts are one of the only non-animal based immune supplements that can be used long term (as opposed to colostrum based supplements).

4. It takes time for mushroom extracts to work. Six to eight weeks is no exception. Patients need to know that mushroom extracts do not work overnight.

"Mushrooms" or "fruit bodies" represent the fruiting stage of the life cycle. The mushrooms sole purpose is to make spores (mushroom seeds). Mushrooms typically appear in the fall after increased rainfall and dropping temperatures trigger their formation and growth.

The permanent part of the organism that lives year round, gathering and storing nutrients is called the "mycelium". Mycelium is an inter-connected network of threadlike tubes growing through soil or wood. Mycelium excretes enzymes that break down organic matter, converting the material to food. This food is transported back through the cell walls of the mycelium and then metabolized or stored for later use.

The primary active compounds in medicinal mushrooms and mushroom mycelium are called polysaccharides or beta glucans. These terms are synonymous when used to describe the actives in mushroom supplements. Product labels employ a variety of terms to describe the different types of mushroom supplements. The following list covers most of the descriptions likely to be found.

Mycelium Biomass or Mushroom Mycelium
Mycelium grown on grain that is dried, powdered and encapsulated. Levels of actives are not listed on the label. This material is 50 % undigested grain, 50 % mycelium, and contains waste from the metabolized grain.
Mycelium Powder
Mycelium grown in liquid or on grain that is dried, powdered and encapsulated. Levels of actives are not listed on the label.
Fruit Body or Mushroom Powder
The mushroom fruit body dried, powdered, and encapsulated. Levels of actives are not listed on the label.

Hydro-Alcohol Extract/Tincture
Liquid products made from mycelium biomass or mushroom fruit bodies that are preserved in alcohol. Levels of actives are not listed on the label.
Most tinctures state that thirty drops equal one gram of fresh mushrooms or mycelium. References in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recommend 4 to 20 grams of dried mushrooms daily, used as a tea. It takes 10 grams of fresh mycelium or fresh mushrooms to create one gram dry.

Although tincturing works well for some cellulose based plants, mushrooms and mushroom mycelium are made from chitin, requiring heat in the extraction. Our chemical analysis of tinctures available in health food stores revealed an average potency of one-half percent polysaccharide content (.5%).

Hot-Water Extracts
Hot-water extracts are made from mycelium or mushrooms. The extracts are dehydrated and encapsulated. Levels of actives are listed on the label. This process concentrates the actives to specific and desired amounts. Depending on the species, the levels of actives range from 12% to 38%.

"Extracts"
Many encapsulated products calling themselves "extracts" are really a blend of extracts and un-extracted materials. A typical blend contains one part extract to five parts un-extracted material. As with un-extracted supplements and tinctures, blends at this ratio are incapable of delivering therapeutic doses when following label instructions.