We are not going to tell you how you will feel. We would rather show you one piece of public research on the species we grow, give you its limits in full, and let you read it yourself. If you have not already, How to Read a Mushroom Study is the lens to read it through.

The trial

In 2009, researchers in Japan published a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Hericium erinaceus, the species we grow as Lion’s Mane. Thirty adults aged 50 to 80, all of whom had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, took either the mushroom or a placebo for sixteen weeks. Scores on the cognitive scale used in the study rose in the mushroom group at weeks 8, 12 and 16. Four weeks after intake stopped, those scores fell again.

In that trial the effect tracked with continued intake and did not outlast it. Whether the same is true for you, at a kitchen serving, outside that population, is not something the study answers, and not something we are going to guess at.

The parameters

  • Design: double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised, parallel-group.
  • Participants: 30 Japanese adults (15 per group), aged 50 to 80, each with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.
  • Dose: four 250 mg tablets, three times daily, about 3 g a day, 96% dried Hericium erinaceus.
  • Duration: 16 weeks of intake, then 4 weeks of observation after stopping.
  • Reported: safety labs showed no adverse effect of the mushroom in this trial.

Mori K, Inatomi S, Ouchi K, Azumi Y, Tuchida T. “Improving effects of the mushroom Yamabushitake (Hericium erinaceus) on mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial.” Phytotherapy Research, 2009. PubMed 18844328

What this is, and is not

This is a reference, not a claim. We link this study because it is public data about the species we grow, and you are entitled to read the evidence yourself rather than take our word for anything. We are not claiming that anything we sell produces these results, or any results. The trial describes what happened to its own participants, a small group of older adults with a diagnosed condition, taking a larger daily amount than a kitchen serving, and it does not describe what will happen to you.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Nothing here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Mushrooms are food, not medicine, talk to your doctor before changing anything about how you manage your health.