Do you know how much "medicine" is in your medicinal mushrooms?

Or whether they contain any real mushrooms at all?

It’d be a lot cooler if you did.

Check out the picture below...what you see is a fungal organism called a "basidiomycete" which consists of the mycelium (which are kind of like roots), spores (the "seed"), and the fruiting body - which is the above-ground part we see (and consume) with the familiar mushroom shape.

The fruiting body is technically and legally the only part that can be called a "mushroom".

Now go look at the label of your favorite medicinal mushroom product for one or more of the following terms:

• US Grown

• Mycelium

• Myceliated grain (or brown rice, oats, sorghum, or milo)

• Mycelial biomass

• Fermented

• Full spectrum

• Primordia and exocellular compounds

If you see any of those terms, you don't have a medicinal mushroom product...you have a mycelium product.

Why is that a problem? Let's start with what the mycelium is.

The mycelium is a vast network of thin filaments called "hyphae" that can spread out for miles underground, breaking down the organic matter it becomes incorporated into (aka "the substrate") in order to collect nutrients for the purpose of growing a fruiting body. In this process, the mycelium becomes fully integrated with the substrate it's growing on…forming an inseparable mass (remember that last point).

But here's the thing: growing medicinal mushrooms commercially is an expensive and time-consuming process. So in order to cut costs and save time, most commercial growers (and virtually ALL but a few small-time U.S. growers) use bags of grain - rice, oats, or sorghum - to provide the substrate for the mycelium to grow on. Now, remember that the mycelium becomes fully integrated with the substrate it's growing on...you cannot separate them once it grows. Further, most commercial growers typically don't wait for fruiting bodies to develop (although a few do) they just grow mycelium.

In any case, when the substrate is consumed, both the mycelium AND the grain it's grown on are processed together (because they can't be separated) and sold (for a high price) to unwitting consumers as "medicinal mushrooms".

This is a problem because the U.S. FDA labeling laws are very clear in stating that, "Any food in which mushroom mycelium is used should be labeled to state that fact. Labeling should not suggest or imply that the food contains mushrooms."

So if your "mushroom" product contains mycelium but the label says or implies it contains mushrooms (like touting the benefits of consuming medicinal mushrooms even though it doesn't contain actual mushrooms), they're deceiving you (and breaking the law).

So now you have to wonder, what else are they deceiving you about?

Now, to be clear, if you grow on a sack of grain and then produce fruiting bodies - and then use ONLY the fruiting bodies (no mycelium) - then you're good to go. And while there's nothing inherently problematic with consuming mycelium, if you're someone who can't or doesn't want to consume grains and lots of starch, then it certainly can be.

And then there's the issue with the "medicine".

Medicinal mushrooms have been consumed for thousands of years and are some of the most beneficial botanicals that we know of. However...it's the mushroom fruiting body that contains the vast majority of the best medicine - not the mycelium. But you can't just eat the mushroom and expect to get much out of it other than fiber and some vitamins and minerals. This is because the potent stuff (the medicine) is locked up in the cell wall of the mushroom which is made of chitin (the same thing crustacean shells are made of) and humans lack the necessary enzyme to break that chitin down to get to the medicine inside.

This is where extraction comes in.

"Extraction" is the process of pulling out the beneficial compounds in a plant to make them more readily available to our body. In mushrooms, this is done with either hot water or alcohol (or both - called a dual extract). It's important to note that there are some medicinal constituents that will ONLY precipitate out with water and some that will ONLY precipitate out with alcohol - hence, a dual extraction is often your best bet to be assured that you're getting the most of what the mushroom has to offer - though, sometimes it can come at a cost - which I’ll discuss in another post.

For now, just know that the myceliated grain-grown products have very low amounts of beneficial active compounds in them - like beta-glucans, which are one of the main reasons why medicinal mushrooms are consumed in the first place. On the other hand, products made with the actual fruiting body extracts have an abundance of medicine if extracted correctly...upwards of 10x as much.

Perversely, it's the lack of potent medicine availability in these mycelliated or dried powder products that's one of the reasons why the "functional mushroom" market is so popular: they're bland-tasting.

You see, many medicinal mushrooms (like chaga, turkey tail, and reishi) also contain an abundance of super important beneficial compounds called triterpenoids that are EXTREMELY bitter - and can only be extracted with alcohol...AND are only found in the fruiting body - not the mycelium.

So for example, Lion’s Mane fruiting bodies contain the beneficial triterpenoids erinacerins and hericinones…the mycelium doesn’t - it contains erinacines. Further, all of the research on Lion’s Mane mycelium-derived erinacines is done on pure mycelium from liquid fermentation…which is vastly different than grain-grown mycelium.

Likewise, Chaga draws betulin and other precursors directly from the birch tree specifically, and turns them into inotodiol, trametenolic acid, and betulinic acid. No birch wood, no important (bitter) secondary metabolites.

In fact, this bitterness was one of the problems I had to deal with when formulating my products for Astro Botanico. I wanted enough extract per serving to make it effective, but too much would have made it undrinkable for all but the most hardcore bitter lovers (like me). After a lot of trial and error in the formulation process, I found the “sweet spot” extract that I was looking for, and so far, everyone who's tried it and reported back to me seems to agree.

Those companies who sell products using mycelium don’t have this bitter problem to contend with which is what makes them palatable for so many people. Little do the people know it’s because they’re missing out on the beneficial medicine.

In short...many companies who use grain-grown mycelium are charging you for diamonds while serving you...dirt water.

So what should you be looking for in a mushroom-based product?

• Organic or organically grown.

• It should say "extract" or what type of extraction (water, alcohol, or dual).

• The beta-glucan count (or 1-3, 1-6 beta-glucans). Ignore “alpha-glucans”, which are meaningless and often used by companies using mycelium products to trick you (see below).

• Some may give you triterpenoid amounts, but not always as they can be difficult to measure in some cases.

• While beta-glucans are a polysaccharide, ignore any mention of "polysaccharide" amounts, as "alpha-glucans" - which come from the starch in the grains - are also a polysaccharide but contain very little-to-no benefit. It should specify "beta-glucans".

• Personally, I include on my website, "No grains, fillers, mycelium, or added starch" just so people know I'm not messing around.

• Be aware that there are some companies that are simply using dried mushroom fruiting bodies ground into a powder to get around the whole "mycelium" labeling issue...but remember that your body can't access the medicine inside that powder unless it's extracted with either hot water or alcohol first. An extract is always going to be your best bet.

So now that you know what a mushroom is (and isn't), let's dive into the "medicine" aspect next so you can understand why it's so important to choose a fruiting-body extract product like those at Astro Botanico over a mycelium-based product.