Lion's Mane - Test results!
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO TEST MUSHROOM EXTRACTS?
When consuming Lion's Mane extract, make sure that you are familiar with the quality of the provider. Dietary supplement brands often only chase profits and do not control the quality of their products. Mushroom fruiting bodies are often powdered together with mycelium and mushroom feed. In most cases, it is not even known what the raw material grows on. The result is mushroom powder with unknown additives.
The market is full of various elixirs, powders, syrups and capsules. We cannot say which of the aforementioned is the best, but when consuming mushrooms on a daily basis, we definitely recommend being aware of the quality of the mushroom extract provider. Ask yourself if the product provider has listed:
Our Lion's Mane extract comes from the Changbai Mountains in China, with a 20:1 concentration, and it is 100% pure Lion's Mane extract.
World-class quality - our Lion's Mane extract contains an unmatched amount of active ingredients that support brain function, immune system and digestion.
Mighty Fungi’s selection includes the world's most comprehensively tested and controlled extracts. It is our personal mission to know we are offering you the best quality.
We test for all active ingredients with independent labs - Eurofins in Europe and RINP in the US.
Our supplier sends us certificates of analysis for each batch and we also double check our extracts do not contain any heavy metals, pollution or contamination with our local government facilities.
You can see all the results combined right here in the table below. This is a simplified summary. All the actual tests from the labs are also available below.
* The contents of active substances may vary slightly in different batches.
Great, but what does it all mean?
Now let's explain a little what all those numbers, complicated names and percentages mean.
ACTIVE INGREDIENTS
1. What is Beta-Glucan?
In short: Beta-Glucan reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and cholesterol, supports digestion and the immune system.
Beta-glucan has a positive effect on human health. Beta-glucan is a healthy fiber. For example, soluble fiber increases the time that food passes through the intestine, slows down the emptying of the stomach and the absorption of glucose into the blood. This means that your stomach will not be empty so quickly and the body can release energy in a stable manner. Beta-glucan consumption is associated with a reduction in blood insulin and cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and obesity. Beta-glucan is also an important antitumor agent. It is a recognized and important functional food ingredient.[1] This makes mushrooms excellent prebiotics (food for gut bacteria) that stimulate the gut and support the host to fight inflammation and disease.[6]
2. What are terpenes?
In short: Terpenes are anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor and have neuroprotective effects.
Terpenes are unsaturated hydrocarbons, aromatic compounds that give a plant its aroma and flavor. They play an important role in the structure of a plant or fungus. On some plants, they attract pollinators, while on others they repel insects or other foraging animals. Some terpenes help the damaged plant recover, while others act as part of the immune system to ward off infectious microbes.[8] For example, tea leaves are anti-cancer because their toxic particles affect cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact.[9]
2. What are erinacines?
In short: Erinacin helps improve memory functions, reduces inflammation, and has anti-cancer properties.
Erinacins are a group of bioactive cyanide terpenoids that support nerve growth factors and neurotransmitter function. Erinacin has a low molecular weight, which allows these substances to pass through the blood-brain barrier, or blood-brain defense system, to stimulate the production of nerve growth factor (NGF). The role of NGF is to stimulate the growth, repair and protection of nerves and neurons. As we age, NGF synthesis declines, which is thought to contribute to age-related decline in cognitive ability and memory.[4] Erinacins in Lion's Mane have an antimicrobial effect on antibiotic-resistant disease-causing bacteria.[5] Erinacin is usually found in fungal mycelium.[4]
3. What are hericenones?
In short: Helps improve memory functions, reduces anxiety, reduces inflammation.
Hericenone is a bioactive substance with a similar active ingredient to erinacin, which stimulates the production of nerve growth factor (NGF). Reduces anxiety and improves sleep quality. Reduces inflammation in the body.[7] Heritcenone comes from the fruiting body of Hericium erinaceus.[5]
4. What are polyphenols?
In short: Supports the immune system, anti-cancer, balancing the nervous system
Polyphenols are naturally occurring plant compounds found in fruits and vegetables. Plants produce them as a defense against pathogens. They act as antioxidants in the body and reduce the damaging effects of free radicals in the body. Polyphenols have a healing effect on diseases of the heart and blood vessels, as well as a positive effect on disease prevention. These compounds prolong life and help fight cancer cells.[2] They also help to prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Currently anxiety disorders are also considered a neurodegenerative epidemic.[3]
5. Heavy metals and contamination
When it comes to mushroom extracts, their therapeutic potency and product purity from contaminants and heavy metals are crucial. Both criteria can be validated in an impartial and reliably conducted laboratory. Testing for heavy metals and contaminants is an undeniably important aspect of mushroom extracts, as mushrooms have a tendency to store such compounds. Prolonged consumption of heavy metals can accumulate in the human body and lead to serious health issues (such as nervous system damage, cancer, birth defects, etc.).
COMPARISON WITH OTHER LEADING BRANDS
With most brands, there are no public results at all. Therefore, it can be assumed that the product has not been tested or the useful indicators of the mushroom extract are so low that the manufacturer has decided not to publish them.
What we can say is - no other brand is doing such extensive quality control for all active ingredients and any potential pollution and / or contamination.
We highly encourage you to ask for these tests whichever mushroom products you decide to use and make sure they come from reliable, third party labs.
ABOUT THE LABORATORIES
INTERNATIONAL RINP Inc.
Our Lion's Mane product has been tested in California, USA, in an impartial laboratory called International Rinp (International Research Institute of Natural Products). Rinp's team of researchers has top-level experience in research. For example, their works have been published in scientific journals such as Planta Medica, J. Chromatography B, Nutrition Cancer, Biochemical Pharmacology. The founder of the laboratory is the well-known chemistry professor Dr. Hongyang Wang. He and his team have years of experience testing various natural products, nutritional supplements, food, cosmetics and medicines. The laboratory has the skills to perform quality control on the products sent to them, to find out the chemical structure of the product, to perform complex identification and analysis of the products.
EUROFINS SCIENTIFIC
Eurofins Scientific through its subsidiaries is a world leader in food, environment, pharmaceutical and cosmetic product testing, discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences, and in agroscience Contract Research services. With over 61,000 staff across a network of independent companies in 61 countries and operating ca. 900 laboratories, Eurofins offers a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods for evaluating the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin and purity of biological substances and products.
National Centre for Laboratory Research and Risk Assessment
LABRIS, The National Centre for Laboratory Research and Risk Assessment, is an Estonian national reference laboratory. LABRIS offers services in the areas of food, feed safety and animal health and provides risk assessments throughout of the food chain.
If you have already read this far, you should be convinced that the Mighty Fungi's Lion's Mane mushroom extract is the best on the market!
Take the opportunity and try it NOW!
All the actual, full length test results are on the bottom of this blog post.
SEE ALSO: Cordyceps, Chaga, Reishi
USED LITERATURE:
[1] Mailiis Korge, B. K. (2022). Beetaglükaani sisaldus odra ja nisu terades sõltuvalt lämmastikväetise normist ja viljelusviisist . Agronoomia 2022, 224-230.https://etki.ee/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Agronoomia2022.pdf
[2] Priinits, M. (n.d.). POLÜFENOOLID. Retrieved from tervisekool: https://www.tervisekool.ee/tervisekool/failid/File/lugemist/toitained/Marit%20Priinits%20Pol%c3%bcfenoolid%20kokkuv%c3%b5te.pdf
[3] Taba, P. (2017). Neurodegeneratsioon – kas seda peab kartma? SIRP. Retrieved from https://sirp.ee/s1-artiklid/c21-teadus/neurodegeneratsioon-kas-seda-peab-kartma/
[4] I-Chen Li, L.-Y. L.-C. (2018, 05 21). Neurohealth Properties of Hericium erinaceus Mycelia Enriched with Erinacines. Behavioural Neurology. doi: 10.1155/2018/5802634.
[5] Uibopuu, O. J. (2021). HERICIUM ERINACEUS’T, BACOPA MONNIERI’ST, CENTELLA ASIATICA’ST KOOSNEVA NOOTROOPIKUMI(SEGU) MÕJU TERVETE KATSEISIKUTE KOGNITIIVSELE VÕIMEKUSELE: PLATSEEBOGRUPIGA TOPELTPIME EKSPERIMENT. Tartu: Tartu Ülikool. Retrieved from http://dspace.ut.ee/bitstream/handle/10062/75838/Uibopuu_Oliver_magistritoo.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
[6] Jayachandran, M., Xiao, J., & Xu, B. A. (2017). A Critical Review on Health Promoting Benefits of Edible Mushrooms through Gut Microbiota. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 18(9), 1934. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms18091934
[7] Sachchida Nand Rai, D. M. (2021). Therapeutic applications of mushrooms and their biomolecules along with a glimpse of in silico approach in neurodegenerative diseases. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 137. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111377
[8] Theisen, E. (2020, 03 06). Want to know about terpenes. Retrieved from Medical News Today: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-are-terpenes
[9] Cho, K. S. (2017). Terpenes from Forests and Human Health. Toxicological Research, 33(2), pp. 97-106. doi:https://doi.org/10.5487/TR.2017.33.2.097
