We are all familiar with mushrooms. We’ve had them cooked on pizza, in pasta sauce and maybe raw in a salad.
While the common edible varieties, like button or portabella mushrooms, are a great healthy way to spruce up a meal, other less common mushrooms are catching on as very fast growing nutritional supplements in your local health food store.
The part of the mushroom that we see on the menu in the restaurant or in the cooler at the grocery store is called the fruiting body.
The fruiting body of the mushroom is the delicious part, but, unfortunately, this part of the mushroom can be a little tough to digest, therefore making it less than ideal to use in a nutritional supplement.
But, luckily, there is more to the mushroom than the part that we see above ground.
This is where the mushroom’s root system, the mycelium, comes into play. Many high-quality mushroom supplements will only use the mycelium or sometimes a combination of mycelium and a hot water extract of the fruiting body to unlock the mushrooms full potential.
Mushroom supplements like reishi, maiitake and turkey tail are highly-praised for their positive effects in supporting immune health.
Chaga and lions mane mushrooms are known for their high antioxidant content and commonly used for brain and nervous system support.
Many athletes are familiar with the energizing and focusing benefits of the cordyceps mushroom. Quite a few professional endurance athletes supplement with products containing cordyceps multiple times a day.
Mushroom supplements are popping up more and more in the supplement aisle for good reason. The research is an impressive, ever-growing body of work. Even if you don’t like the taste of culinary mushrooms, you should still give mushroom supplements a chance. Mushroom supplements come in a variety of forms from single mushroom capsules and combinations with other complementary herbs to powders, liquid extracts to tea and even mushroom infused chocolate bars. With all of these great options, you are bound to find the mushroom supplement that is right for you.
Travis Lemon is a certified herbalist and co-owner of Tulsi at The Market in Huntington. He has worked in the natural health and wellness industry for over 14 years. He can be contacted at travislemonmh@gmail.com.