WHY FUNCTIONAL MUSHROOMS?

History 

Mushrooms are among the first known foods among man, supplying prehistoric man with not only nutrition but medical benefits as well.  China was the first to cultivate mushrooms, in 600AD, and since then over 2000 species are used today for cooking and medical purposes. 

 

The earliest reports of man utilizing the use of mushrooms as aid was over 5300 years ago when a preserved body, Otiz the 53,000yr old man, was found with functional mushrooms. China and Greece used mushrooms in the 5th century for both humans and animals. The Vikings consumed mushrooms before battle to maintain strength and stamina.

 

Today, many people use mushrooms as food, pizza being a top use, and never realize the huge additional benefits they offer. Nutritionally, fungi are a good source of fiber and vitamin B, are low calorie, contains no cholesterol, and contain antioxidants, but there are numerous hidden factors in different mushrooms that we are just starting to discover, again.

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FRUITING BODY VS MYCELIUM

There is much confusion over which parts of the mushroom are the best. We turned to scientific evidence to help decide which part of the mushroom we should use, as there are two parts, the fruiting body, and mycelium. 

 

Fruiting Body

The fruiting body consists of the cap, stem, and frills.  The medicinal components of the mushroom are located within this body, offering you the highest benefits for optimum health support.

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Mycelium

The mycelium is, essentially, the root of the mushroom.  These roots can form large networks by breaking down the forest litter and plant matter, known as “substrate. The mycelium becomes intertwined with the substrate and contains whatever matter it consumes. Many growers use a starch base, such as rice or grain, to grow mushrooms.  The mycelium will then carry that starch with it, adding unnecessary and unwelcome compounds. 

 

Conclusion

Upon learning that the fruiting body is the only part of the mushroom considered a mushroom, and holds the beneficial nutrients, our decision was made and the fruiting body will be the only part we’ll use. 

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Many respected practitioners of herbal health agree that using the fruiting body is essentially the route to take if you want value from mushroom products. Who are we to argue with science? 

 

EXTRACTING THE FRUITING BODY 

Once we determined we will only be utilizing fruiting body high-quality powder, we furthered our research to determine the best method for extracting.  We wanted to have the full benefits of the mushroom powder, but in liquid form for our beverages and drops. 

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We decided to use a very uncommon method as we insisted on having as many mushroom compounds in our products as possible.  The most common extracting method is a double extraction using cane alcohol, which can only obtain crude polysaccharides.  As we are compounding healthy products, that just didn’t work for us.  We wanted to ensure we included as many polysaccharides (including β-glucans), vitamins, and nutrients as possible, as the bioactive compound component is extremely important to us and to you. 

 

Our process allows us to, in essence, use the entire mushroom as we can easily break through the “chitin” (wall of the mushroom containing probiotic fiber properties and immune-modulating).  Many of the polysaccharides are in the chitin, so breaking through it is mandatory for a great product. Using an alcohol extraction, quite plainly, can not do this, resulting in that process leaving a number of beneficial nutrients behind.

 

Our process not only allows for the full benefits of the mushroom, and offers as close to the real mushroom as possible, but it also makes the particles much smaller resulting in the drops being more bioavailable to you.

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POLYSACCHARIDES

Polysaccharides are a class of biomolecules, composed of several smaller monosaccharides which form the structural component of the mushroom.  Polysaccharides are the beneficial parts of the mushroom and the reason why people have been consuming them for centuries. Mushroom polysaccharides mainly consist of “glucans”, with the most noticeable one being β-glucan.

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β-GLUCAN

Beta-glucans are compounds called polysaccharides, a long chain carbohydrate,  that occur naturally in the cell walls of functional mushrooms. β-glucans contain many of the beneficial nutrients found in mushrooms and with our extraction method, we can break down this wall and utilize its potency. 

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