Best Mushroom Supplement Brand Criteria
Medicinal mushroom supplements are popular these days, so it’s more challenging than ever to know what to look for in a quality brand. The criteria you should use to choose mushrooms with the health benefits are:
- Organic and non-GMO
- Highly-rated
- GMP facility or third-party tested
- Reputable company
- Contains the fruiting body
- Growing conditions are optimal
Organic and non-GMO
By choosing an organic mushroom supplement, you are ensuring that your body is not getting any added chemicals, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers during the growing process. The whole point of taking a mushroom supplement is to provide your body with health benefits, not to add toxins.
Look for USDA-certified organic brands. These brands will also be non-GMO.
Highly-rated
The consumer is king when it comes to supplements because there are fewer rigorous inspections of supplement factories than there are of pharmaceutical medications. That said, the mushroom supplement brands reviewed in this post all have third-party testing.
For each of the mushroom brands listed above, they have at least 50 ratings over 5 stars.
Related: Freshcaps mushrooms review + medicinal mushrooms research
Reputable company with sustainable harvesting
There are many medicinal mushroom companies out there today. Brands that provide a satisfaction guarantee are a good assurance for a company’s reputation.
Many mushroom companies now also have sustainable harvesting methods too, which means they are grown in a way that adds back to the environment, not
Uses healthy extraction methods
Mushrooms should not be processed with solvents, only steam. Certified organic brands should use only natural extraction methods like steam extraction.
Contains the fruiting body
The fruiting body of fungi is known as the mushroom, which contains most of the active compounds that act as the medicinal part. It’s a good idea to choose a mushroom brand that contains the fruiting body or is full-spectrum.
Full-spectrum contains the fruiting body, mycelium, spores, and primordia (baby mushrooms).
A few good brands are mycelium only, but be sure to check reviews to make sure the products are having the intended purity and quality.
Growing conditions are optimal
By mimicking natural growing conditions or using natural growing methods, mushrooms will have more active compounds.
That is why Medicinal Foods mushrooms stand out for quality the most because they carefully replicate natural growing conditions. Medicinal-Foods mushrooms also contain 95% pure mushroom powder, whereas many brands contain a fair amount of the rice or grain growing medium.
Medicinal Mushroom Health Benefits
Research is becoming strong in regards to the benefits of mushrooms for our health and for the health of the environment.
Medicinal mushroom species range from Chaga to Turkey Tail and Reishi to Cordyceps and Maitake. While they all have distinct compounds that are supportive of a healthy immune system, each kind has unique roles in the body.
Related: 12 Medicinal Mushrooms You Will Want to Try
Polysaccharides and healthy compounds in mushrooms include [R]:
- Hemicellulose
- Mannans
- Beta-glucan
- Glutathione
- Ergothioneine
- Cordycepin
- Polysaccharide-K
- Lentinan
Many mushroom species help digestive function by supporting a healthy microbiome and by boosting immune function.
Chaga mushrooms and Reishi mushrooms have the most research behind their abilities to help with gut health. Reishi, for example, helps to dampen the stress response, which in turn helps improve gut health [R].
By supporting adaptive immunity, many edible mushrooms help support a healthy gut too [R].
The information on this website has not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration or any other medical body and is shared for educational purposes only and is not meant to provide medical advice. Consult your doctor or healthcare provider before making changes to your supplement regimen or lifestyle.
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