Lion’s mane mushrooms (Hericium Erinaceus) are very much like their name; they are majestic in appearance and in action. These mushrooms also happen to be delicious. Research shows that that lion’s mane mushrooms can help your brain function better and support overall health. More importantly, I feel better when eating them as do many of my clients who have tried eating Lion’s mane mushrooms.
As you may know, medicinal mushrooms are healthy, and the lion’s mane mushroom is getting some attention for its unique ability to influence our brains. Our brains are just like every other part of our bodies: they need healthy food to properly cleanse from toxins and function well.
In this post, learn about Lion’s mane mushroom health benefits, how to eat them, and how to supplement Lion’s mane. I include affiliate links in this post. Here is the disclosure page describing our affiliate links.
Table of Contents
What are Lion’s Mane Mushrooms?
Considered both a culinary and medicinal mushroom, Lion’s mane is used in traditional Chinese medicine and eaten among mushroom enthusiasts across the world. Lion’s mane mushroom is also known as the Hedge Hog Mushroom, Satyr’s Beard, Yamabushitake, Bearded Tooth Fungus, or the Bearded Tooth Mushroom.
Growing under trees and on trees, these white mushrooms look and feel feathery and soft. They are delicious to eat and taste a bit like crab or lobster. I agree with the reviews. Lion’s mane mushrooms are very delicious.
Popular in Asian cuisine, the Lion’s mane is also gaining recognition as a seriously delicious food in North America. Not only popular as food but this healthy mushroom is also being used all over for its potential medicinal effects on the body, especially brain function.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Health Benefits
Lion’s mane mushrooms can be considered food as medicine. Research shows that these medicinal mushrooms have many health benefits. Here are 14 reasons to eat Lion’s mane and supplement Lion’s mane.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Are Rich in Antioxidants and Healthy Compounds
As you might imagine, Lion’s mane mushroom is quite nutritious, full of antioxidants, and has the potential to improve our health.
This is because Lion’s mane mushrooms contain:
- Palmitic acid
- Threitol
- d-Arabinitol
- Erinacines (diterpenoid erinacines)
- Hericenones
Conditions for growing Lion’s mane vary quite a bit, so the exact nutrition of these mushrooms likely varies a lot too.
Each 100-gram serving has about 24 calories, 2 grams of protein, and 3 grams of carbohydrate.
Erinacines are thought to be the major active compounds of Lion’s mane that give them their health benefits for the brain and more.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Increase Nerve Growth Factor
According to the Journal of Translational Medicine, nerve growth factor is a substance that helps with the growth and repair of both the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. This is important because scientists used to think that nerves couldn’t grow or repair. We now know that certain food compounds may help support nerve health by enhancing nerve growth factors.
Lion’s mane is one such food that has been able to increase nerve growth factor, at least in cell and animal studies so far. This means that the lion’s mane may help to increase myelination and the growth of nerves. Another term for this is neurogenesis.
What diseases benefit from neurogenesis, myelin growth, and nerve plasticity? People with depression, anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease, nerve injuries, strokes, and spinal cord damage. Multiple sclerosis patients may benefit from lion’s mane for this reason too.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Decrease Inflammation
Although inflammation is part of a healthy immune response, it becomes damaging to the body when we are constantly under inflammation due to a poor diet, stress, and toxins. Inflammation contributes to the burden of brain diseases like stroke and dementia. So it is important to decrease inflammatory compounds in your body naturally whenever possible.
Lion’s mane decreases inflammation compounds in the body, including:
- IL-6
- COX-2
- 5-LOX
- TNF
By decreasing inflammation, Lion’s mane may also reduce the risk of cancer. In a recent study, Lion’s mane extract reduced the growth and reduced the size of cancer tumors. Lion’s mane-rich antioxidant profile helps to explain why it may reduce inflammation so well.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Detoxify
The brain and nervous system require daily cleansing in order to function well. Unfortunately, many people today have excess toxins from chemicals, persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, alcohol, tobacco, and more. These toxins can cause immunotoxic effects and neurotoxicity too. And toxins impair our mitochondrial function.
According to brain experts at Amen Clinics, toxins impair brain function, so providing the body with good food and gentle detoxification can go a long way to helping optimize brain function in whatever headspace you are in right now.
Mushrooms have the ability to detoxify the world around us and also may help do the same within our bodies. In humans, mushrooms help improve liver function by increasing antioxidant enzymes. Some early evidence even suggests that Lion’s mane mushrooms can reduce the toxic effects of alcohol on the liver.
Lion’s mane gets the most attention of all mushrooms for brain detox because research shows this mushroom’s ability to reduce beta-amyloid deposits in early research work.
Our glymphatic system circulates our cerebrospinal fluid and helps cleanse our brain and keep it healthy. A good amount of rest and a diet that includes a variety of healthy foods like Lion’s mane mushrooms helps to reduce toxins in the brain through the glymphatic system.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Memory Benefits
Research shows that Lion’s mane benefits include memory improvement. An example of this was a recent clinical study where people with mild cognitive impairment received either Lion’s mane supplement or a placebo.The group receiving Lion’s mane supplement had continued improvement in memory over a period of 16 weeks. When they stopped taking Lion’s mane, memory worsened.
By reducing nerve cell damage, Lion’s mane also may reduce stroke severity according to early research.
Lion’s Mane Helps Improve Mood
Many people feel cheery when regularly eating mushrooms. I know I do. Research shows that Lion’s mane mushrooms are particularly helpful for improving mood. For example, a clinical study of women with depression and binge eating disorder had improved mood and sleep quality after receiving 8 weeks of Lion’s mane mushroom supplements compared to a control group.
Even more fascinating is that they continued to have improvements in mood for 8 weeks after taking mushrooms, which suggests that mushrooms may have long-lasting improvements in depression. These women also had an increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF compound is able to help regulate the growth and regeneration of neurons in the brain.
Another study of 30 women showed similar benefits of lion’s mane: reduced depression, stress, and irritability. Such effects on the brain are called nootropics when they are able to make long-lasting improvements in function.
Tip: Lion’s mane can be enjoyed as part of your diet regularly and should be part of a healthy diet to optimize mood to its best potential. Your mental health may improve as a result.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Reduce Stress
Eating Lion’s mane mushrooms reduce stress and anxiety levels when incorporated into an overall healthy diet. Observational research and reviews indicate that these mushrooms really dampen down stress. I’ve clearly noticed this benefit when I eat Lion’s mane supplements. So do many of my clients.
Clinical research also indicates that Lion’s mane mushrooms reduce stress. For example, a pilot study in 2023 demonstrated that supplemental Lion’s mane reduced symptoms of stress. Another clinical study also demonstrated that Lion’s mane mushrooms reduced anxiety and depression symptoms over a 4-week period. Some of the benefits are almost immediate for dampening stress, so it can be eaten on an as-needed basis as well.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Protects Neurons
One reason that chronic diseases occur is oxidative damage due to toxins as mentioned previously. Lion’s mane protects neurons by increasing antioxidants, and by doing so, may reduce the chances of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. This, in turn, helps to protect our ability to make neurotransmitters like dopamine, at least according to one study on animals.
Lion’s mane may also reduce neuronal cell death, also known as apoptosis, due to free radicals. Dopamine is critical for a happy mood and by helping to maintain normal dopamine levels, Lion’s mane may help prevent and treat Parkinson’s disease. Although more research is needed, adding Lion’s mane mushrooms to your diet certainly won’t hurt anything and most likely helps with several types of brain health.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms May Help with Weight Loss
Lion’s mane mushroom health benefits extend to healthy body weight as well, especially as part of a healthy and unprocessed diet.
Eating mushrooms regularly helps to support a healthy microbiome because of their fiber content and bioactive compounds. A healthy microbiome can reduce inflammation and obesity, at least in animal studies. When fed lion’s mane, rats lost weight and the researchers believe it is because the mushroom activates a substance in the body called PPAR, which in turn helps to burn fat in the liver. Lion’s mane boosted fat metabolism in this study too. We can’t be sure that the same happens in people, however.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Health Benefits for Diabetes
The benefits of Lion’s mane mushroom also may include diabetes benefits. Seems circular, but this is also a possible advantage for your healthy brain. This is because experts now know that uncontrolled diabetes damages brain tissue and leads to memory loss.
Everything is connected. Lion’s mane may help reduce blood sugar levels in people with diabetes according to early research work. This is because they may slow the digestive absorption of carbohydrates similar to some diabetes medications. By slowing carbs, you may feel fuller too. Lion’s mane mushrooms also may help with diabetic nerve pain too.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Are Healthy for Digestion
Mushrooms are well-known for their digestive health benefits because they have a healthy amount of fiber. Most people don’t know that the type of fiber in mushrooms is distinctly different from other types. Beta-glucan fibers and other polysaccharides in mushrooms help support digestive health by increasing the number and diversity of probiotics in the digestive tract. Using lion’s mane mushrooms may also reduce symptoms of inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease too, by lowering inflammatory compounds such as NFkB and TNF. Several animal studies show that H. Erinaceous mushrooms may reduce H. Pylori infections too. Your gut is your second brain: feed it well.
Tip: By reducing inflammation and promoting healthy bacteria, Lion’s mane is likely to be of benefit to your digestive tract, although more research is needed.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms Increase Energy
In today’s over-caffeinated world, we need some good alternative options that increase energy naturally. Many kinds of mushrooms are supportive of energy, such as cordyceps, which increases cellular ATP. Lion’s mane also has anti-fatigue properties while promoting restful sleep. By providing energy support while reducing free radicals, these medicinal mushrooms also have anti-aging effects.
Learn more about cordyceps and energy in this post.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms May Improve Heart Health
Heart disease remains the number 1 killer in the world and reduces the lifespan and health span of the majority of people. Mushrooms are no stranger to heart health either because they help boost antioxidants and reduce inflammation, and may even reduce harmful blood clots while supporting healthy blood pressure levels. Lion’s mane also may decrease harmful fats in the blood called triglycerides and reduce harmful forms of cholesterol. By increasing a substance called FoxP3, Lion’s mane also may help balance out immune cells involved in heart disease.
Tip: Mushrooms have long been considered a heart-healthy food and Lion’s mane offers some unique heart health benefits like helping immunity.
Lion’s Mane Mushrooms May Improve Bone Health
Age-related bone loss is very common, but did you know that certain foods may help prevent osteoporosis? Lion’s mane is rich in vitamins, such as vitamin D, for bones and joints. Lion’s mane mushroom was able to reduce bone loss activity in an animal study recently. Research has yet to examine the effects of Lion’s mane on bone health in people, but odds are, it won’t hurt.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Benefits for Immunity
When talking about the immune system benefits and anti-inflammatory benefits of Lion’s mane, we are often talking about the same thing. Around 80% of your immune system is dictated by your digestive health and Lion’s mane helps your digestive tract.
By reducing inflammation, Lion’s mane support a normalized immune response in the body. By boosting antioxidants in our bodies, Lion’s mane mushrooms help achieve this. Also, by helping support a healthy microbiome, the body is more likely to be able to fight off foreign invaders like harmful viruses and harmful bacteria. This is the beauty of eating healthy foods like Lion’s mane-they help achieve balance in multiple systems in the body.
Many experts today, such as Dr. Rhonda Patrick from Found My Fitness, find that a healthy immune response is achieved through achieving optimal nutrients, a gut-healing diet, and foods like mushrooms.
Tips for Cooking Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
Let’s not forget one of the main benefits of the mane: they tastes good. Food is a simple pleasure so when it is tasty and healthy…win-win! Lion’s mane is great when paired with almost any savory dish. Vegetarians often use mushrooms as a meat replacement, and Lion’s mane gives a similar taste and texture to seafood.
Sauteed Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
You can cook lion’s made just like you would any other mushroom. Try adding sliced Lion’s mane to some grass-fed butter and saute until browned and tender.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Broth
To make a mushroom broth, saute mushrooms in butter or ghee, then add 1 cup of water to the pan. With an immersion blender, puree until smooth. Add salt to taste.
Lion’s Mane “Crab” Cakes
Because Lion’s mane tastes like seafood, you can make Lion’s mane crab cake recipes like this one.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Smoothie
You can make Lion’s mane mushroom recipe like a smoothie any day or simply add the mushroom powder to coffee as well.
Supplementing Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
To get the most health benefits from eating Lion’s mane, you may want to consider supplementing them unless you have a steady supply in your diet or you are growing your own Lion’s mane mushrooms.
Lion’s mane powder or capsules are preferred over the mushroom extract forms, but some people’s digestive tract may initially do better with the extract if they don’t tolerate some kinds of fibers.
It is best to get organic Lion’s mane to avoid added chemicals. Most supplements contain the fruiting bodies of Lion’s mane, but some quality supplements also contain Lion’s mane mycelium.
How to Find Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
There are 3 ways to get Lion’s mane into your diet.
- Grow your own-many companies now have mushroom growing kits so that you can grow a good amount of Lion’s mane on your own. In my experience, it is very easy to do and provides an economical way to eat Lion’s mane. You can find a Lion’s mane grow kit like this one. I used it and I got at least 4 lbs of lion’s mane from one kit, which translates to about $4 a pound.
- Buy locally-Local specialty mushroom shops have Lion’s mane fresh for you to buy as well. Simply search for mushroom growers in your community.
- I buy mine from Mother Fungi.
- Shop for supplements of Lion’s mane is a nice option for people who don’t like the taste of mushrooms and want to take a capsule.
A great way to increase the number of mushrooms in your diet is to supplement so that you can have Lion’s mane on a daily basis, so I end up doing all three: supplementing, growing my own, and buying grow kits. The best Lion’s mane supplements will be organic and free of fillers.
Buy Lion’s Mane Supplements
Here are a few supplement favorites that are highly rated for quality and effectiveness.
- The best Lion’s mane capsule is Real Mushrooms Lions Mane. These are good mushroom powders to add to coffee or smoothies and for people on keto diets.
- And a Lion’s Mane Powder I like is Real Mushrooms Lions Mane Powder which is an organic mushroom powder. This powder is a good one to add to savory recipes or when making your own mushroom coffee.
How to Supplement Lion’s Mane Mushrooms
A typical dose of lion’s mane supplement is 2 capsules a day or ½ teaspoon of lion’s mane powder. The dose of Lion’s mane that supplements use is between 750 mg and 3 grams per day. You can add the lion’s mane powder to essentially any dish or drink you make, sweet or savory.
Other Healthy Mushrooms:
When it comes to mushrooms, variety is great. Try Reishi, cordyceps, and Chaga, for example.
Lion’s Mane Mushroom Side Effects
Lion’s mane is very safe when eaten as a food, but people with mushroom allergies or sensitivities should avoid eating lion’s mane mushrooms. No known side effects, intolerances, or adverse effects have ever been shown with large amounts of Lion’s mane as shown in an animal study. That said, no large clinical trials have set out to examine the safety. Still, people have eaten mushrooms for thousands of years with no untoward issues as long as they aren’t allergic.
Summary
To review, Lion’s mane mushrooms are an NGF-boosting food, which helps form new neural pathways and may help reduce Alzheimer’s disease and help reduce or prevent other neurodegenerative diseases. As an antioxidant-rich food, Lion’s mane helps to provide brain cleansing and reduces the risk of diseases like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and more. It also helps with synapse function, meaning we think clearer, which goes back to my original assertion: mushrooms may reduce brain fog. The health benefits of Lion’s mane also are believed to be due to an increase in BDNF, which can reduce anxiety and improve mood. Medicinal mushrooms are generally safe, but you should always check with your healthcare provider before making any changes in your diet or lifestyle.
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I have never heard of a Lion’s Mane mushroom, but after reading just half of this post I know I want to add it into my health regimen. Very fascinated by the powdered version and making a mushroom “coffee”. Thanks for this informative post!
Thank you, Jen! I add mushroom powder to my coffee every day!
I have never in my life seen this plant/mushroom before! I have never even heard of it until now! This Lion’s Mane mushroom is very beneficial and healthy! I would like to grab and have some to maybe mix it in any meal or health regimen that it can be added to.
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That Lions Mane is really interesting with its benefits! I would love to try it soon.
I hope you love it! Heidi
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The lions mane package suggests starting with 2 tsp of the powder for the first 2 weeks. I took just 1 tsp and my brain felt extremely clear but within 3 hours I got a headache & my pulse went up along with my blood pressure. I am not allergic to mushrooms, so I’m wondering if lions mane could perhaps cause some cleansing symptoms? So I’ve lowered the dosage to one capsule, which would be about 1/8th of the recommended dosage…. After which I can still feel the benefits to my brain, there is still a slight headache and my pulse is elevated a bit, but no high blood pressure. Cannot talk to my doctor as she doesn’t condone any natural supplements. Wondering if anyone else has experienced similar symptoms.
Hi! It still could be possible that you are allergic to them if you are experiencing a side effect like a headache. Another mushroom that is helpful for focus is cordyceps. Have you tried them?
You also want to make sure you’re getting pure lionsmane & organic. The reaction could be from anything the lionsmane was exposed to in its lifecycle. Fungi are bioaccumulators & will detox the area they grow in. So when you use the mushroom you’re also getting the toxins it picked up. The best info on mushroom supplements & the best quality is from Paul Stamets’ company Fungi Perfecti. They’re the makers of the Host Defense Line. I use their lionsmane powders exclusively. It’s also possible you used too much in one dose. 2 tsp is a LOT of lionsmane pure & it might have a similar initial raise in heartrate/bp, but that should even out & shouldn’t remain elevated longterm. If it is, then it’s too much in a single dose. I take it in a mushroom stack (blend) about 800mg. Be well & check out Paul Stamets. He’s the leading mycologist in the US.