Mushroom Talk: Fruiting Bodies or Mycellium
For those of you who already know...
We use fruiting body extracts.
Approximately 360mg of each mushroom per 1.5tbs serving. Drink two cups of Shrooms of Stability or Root and Rise each day and you already are above the recommended does of 500mg per day. With the benefit of spacing out the dosage which equates to high absorbtion.
Check out more info on chaga benefits here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPam-jZm1s0&t=7s
What is the debate?
Some brands offer extracts made from mycellium, some brands use fruiting bodies, some use both.
There are debates about which part of the mushroom makes the most effective extract. Why does this debate exist? Top muchroom man Paul Stamets uses mushroom mycellium in his extracts, particularly for Turkey Tail. When this information become public chaos ensued in the myco-world.
First, here is what we need to know:
What is mycellium; What is a fruiting body; how are the mushrooms grown; what metrics can we measure the efficacy of the extracts; does one rule apply to all fungal species?
Settling the Debate with Facts
As we already stated, we use extracts made from the fruiting bodies because the data says they contain the most medicinal compounds.
Feel free to read further for some myco-education.
Myco-Education
Mycellium:
The root structure of mushrooms. Mycellium is the bulk of mass of a mushroom. It is a network of single celled hyphae branching out into soil, rotting logs, rotting leaves or living plant material. Mycellium is respondisble for decomposing organic and mineral materials then transporting them for consumption. Mycellium plays both a parastic role and a symbiotic role in the ecosystem. Both draining life from organics and playing a vital role by exchanging nutrients with plants.
Fruiting Body:
An ephemeral (temporary) structure that emerges from the mycellium with the sole purpose of reproduction. There are many forms of fruiting bodies with one common purpose. To disemminate spores, the "eggs or seeds" of fungi. This is the portion most widely recognized as a mushroom. The shitake mushroom you eat is a fruiting body.
Silly Semantics that Matter:
Fruting bodies of Chaga are rare to find. Nearly impossible! Yet, in the myco-realm people say that we should use the fruiting body.
What they are actually refereing to is a conk. It is a visable mass formed from mycellium and sclerotic material that grows on the outside of a Birch tree. Lab grown chaga is now being cultivated as mycellium on grain culture. No conks are formed nor is there any fruiting bodies.
How is Lion's Mane Grown
Lion's Mane can be cultivated in artificial condions successfully. Innoculate some wood pellets, rice hulls, various grain mixes with lion's mane mycellium. Keep it mosit, out of direct light, at the right temperature and bam! Fruiting bodies will emerge.
Myco-Metrics
The most common metric is beta-glucan levels. These are found in all mushroom extracts. Beta-glucans stimulate the innat immune system activating our immune cells such as macrophages. Which helps defend out body from pathogenic invaders. Regulates blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Acts as a prebiotic, and has anti-obesity factos.
The misleading: Beta-glucan levels can be extracted from the grain the mycellium is grown on. Mayn companies wil report high levels of Beta-glucans, but all they are saying is "your mushroom extract is really oat and barely extract with some mycellium growing in it."
Beta-glucans are only one of the many polysaccharids found in mushrooms. Each containing their own medicianl quality.
Betulans are chagas premier quality. They are concentrated extracts of the healing anti-pathogenic anti-cancer compounds found in Birch trees, of the Genus Betula. You are not geting these from grain extracts.
Want to know more?
Check out our Video on Chaga
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPam-jZm1s0&t=7s
Future articles will dive deeper on the scientifically proven benefits of these mushrooms!
Our Metrics:
We are growing as a company. We are commited to improving our metics by: getting a deeper understanding of the latest research, continually searching for the best supplies we have access to, with the goal of one day processing out own extracts with the best tech and science technicians out there.
Chaga Extract (wild siberian harvested conk):
Beta-glucans: 30%
Poly Saccharids: 42.62%
Lions Mane (fruiting body):
Beta-glucans: 30%
Poly Saccarids: 41%
Aoe S. Beta-Glucan in Foods and Health Benefits. Nutrients. 2021 Dec 27;14(1):96. doi: 10.3390/nu14010096. PMID: 35010971; PMCID: PMC8746796.
Goodridge HS, Wolf AJ, Underhill DM. Beta-glucan recognition by the innate immune system. Immunol Rev. 2009 Jul;230(1):38-50. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065X.2009.00793.x. PMID: 19594628; PMCID: PMC6618291.