Finding the best lion’s mane supplement products isn’t as easy as you might think, with a growing number of brand options offering functional mushroom supplements.
While the dietary supplement industry is regulated, mislabelling and confusing marketing can prevent buyers from differentiating low-quality supplements from high-quality ones.
It’s important to know what to look for when trying to find a quality supplement to determine whether you will get the health benefits from the right products. This buying guide will help you understand what to look for when shopping for the best lion’s mane supplement.
If you’re unsure what has made lion’s mane mushroom supplements popular, we’ll briefly explain why they’re so in demand.
Lion’s mane mushroom, together with varieties such as reishi, chaga, turkey tail, maitake, and shiitake, is a functional mushroom species recognized for its potential health benefits.
Some of the many potential health benefits of organic lion’s mane include supporting a healthy inflammation response and boosting brain function. These health benefits make the mushroom an attractive option for those looking to add organic supplements to a healthy lifestyle.
Now that you’ve learned a bit about the multiple health advantages of lion’s mane mushroom supplements, it’s time to weed through your buying options.
It can be difficult to know the best lion’s mane supplement for your money’s worth, with the mainstream market being filled with different options. This is why it’s vital to understand key information about the product that will affect whether you’re making the right purchase.
You can ensure you’re buying the right product by asking:
Down below, we’ll cover each product feature with the right question you should ask before you buy lion’s mane products from a mushroom supplement supplier.
There’s a lot of debate about what the best part of this fungus is to experience the potential cognitive benefits that lion’s mane is known for. This boils down to the key ingredients of choice: the mushroom (fruiting body) or mycelium (the root-like fungal filaments that the mushroom grows from).
Two compounds are the area of focus of this debate: hericenones, which are found in the mushroom, and erinacines, which are found in the mycelium. Research shows that both hericenones and erinacines have demonstrated neuronal health-supporting properties in scientific studies [1].
So what product should you choose: a mushroom supplement (for the hericenones) or a mycelium-based supplement (for the erinacines)?
There are two problems with opting for mycelium-based lion’s mane supplements:
Currently, most of the clinical data on lion’s mane is based on research using the mushroom (fruiting body) [1]. This is why our team at Real Mushrooms only uses the mushroom (fruiting body) for our lion’s mane supplements, which the existing body of clinical data supports.
Much of the research on the neurotrophic and neuroprotective properties of lion’s mane focuses on the compounds hericenones and erinacines. However, there is no reliable lab that can test for these compounds.
Many Chinese suppliers are selling products with a guarantee of specific amounts of both compounds.
These suppliers may misleadingly market UV testing methods, which are very unreliable and inaccurate and can quantify the wrong compounds. These so-called compound-specific guarantees can give brands reselling these ingredients a false sense of quality and reliability.
Check For Certification: Any marketing claim a company makes about supplements containing specific compounds is speculative at best. This is why it’s vital to check if these manufacturers are verified through third-party testing.
Real Mushrooms has spent years and many thousands of dollars trying to quantify these compounds. With ongoing research and development, we continue to push on and look for ways to quantify these compounds.
Once we can quantify these compounds, we can begin to optimize our products for them. Until more reliable and repeatable testing methods become available, Real Mushrooms continues to focus on the clinical data that support the use of the mushroom in its entirety.
Many brands will add a variety of starch, fillers, colorings, and other unnecessary additives to their mushroom supplements.
These additions provide no health benefits and lead to a low percentage of the actual lion’s mane extract found in the product. This results in a lower concentration of beta-glucans in the supplement, which can indicate a lower therapeutic potency.
Product labels can be misleading since many popular supplement brands hide the use of myceliated grain and other fillers.
To get the most potent and high-value functional fungi supplement, inspect the product label for the specific beta-glucan content. If the beta-glucan content is not indicated on the label, it’s unlikely that the product has sufficient levels to provide noticeable health benefits.
Real Mushrooms always includes the percentage of beta-glucans on its product labels. The beta-glucan in Real Mushrooms’ lion’s mane supplement is greater than 25%, one of the highest concentrations on the market.
Beta-glucans are commonly regarded as Biological Response Modifiers (BRMs) [2]. They are the primary compounds in mushrooms responsible for immune-supporting functions and other health-promoting effects.
BRMs support the immune system by stimulating an increased immune response for a more effective reaction to fighting off infections. In contrast, they can also turn down an overactive immune response via anti-inflammatory cytokine modulation.
More About Beta-Glucans: To learn more about the other health-promoting effects of beta-glucans, read our article A Look at the Powerful Benefits of Beta-D-Glucan.
Only buy from stores that sell certified organic mushrooms. When considering a lion’s mane supplement, it’s important to make sure you are getting a high-quality product free of possible contaminants.
Here are some questions to ask about the mushroom supplement’s purity:
Organically grown mushrooms mean that these mushrooms have been grown naturally without the use of any types of herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides.
All Real Mushrooms products are tested multiple times during the production process at accredited third-party labs to ensure our products are free from agricultural chemicals.
Levels of heavy metals are also an important factor in purity, as mushrooms are bioaccumulators and absorb minerals and heavy metals from their growth substrates.
Real Mushrooms screens for heavy metals at multiple steps during production. This guarantees that we greatly exceed the heavy metals standards set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Health Canada.
Capsule Product Purity: Capsule products cannot be USDA-certified organic because the capsules themselves are not certified organic. However, you can confirm if the mushroom powder within the capsule is certified organic by checking the Supplement Facts panel on the label.
The first sign of a high-quality functional mushroom product is that it’s extracted from the mushroom (fruiting body) using the appropriate method.
There are three methods of extraction when dealing with functional mushrooms:
There is some debate over which of these methods results in the highest-quality extraction.
Not every method is effective for every mushroom and some may even be detrimental as they remove beneficial compounds in the process. With that in mind, it’s important that any supplement producer understand which extraction method will provide the maximum benefit and highest efficacy for the product you’ll buy.
Real Mushroom’s decades of expertise and experience allow us to tailor the extraction method we use to each individual type of mushroom to attain peak potency.
Our lion’s mane mushrooms are extracted using the hot water method and use the entire mushroom. This way, we can guarantee that all the health-boosting properties and benefits are transferred to the extract, delivering a product of the highest quality that you can feel confident buying.
Incorporating a lion’s mane supplement into your daily regimen can be a great resource for healthy nutrients. Lucky for you, it’s never been easier to get your hands on quality functional mushroom supplements.
However, there are many lower-quality products on the market now that functional mushroom supplements have become mainstream.
Remember these tips when you are evaluating any potential mushroom supplement to make sure you are getting a safe, high-purity, and high-potency product:
Remember to read the product’s Supplement Facts panel and attempt to distinguish the true contents of the product.
If you want a lion’s mane product that is trusted by consumers and health professionals alike, we invite you to try the Real Mushrooms lion’s mane powder or capsules.
Real Mushrooms’ supplements are trusted by leading health practitioners and naturopathic doctors around North America because of their purity and potency.
In the words of one of our customers, who is a naturopathic doctor, here’s why our lion’s mane supplements are used and recommended by medical professionals:
“I am a licensed naturopathic physician and acupuncturist, and I am so grateful to be able to recommend Real Mushrooms formulas to patients. They are of utmost quality--grown and processed properly in order to be truly rich in beneficial mushroom-derived medicinal compounds. Personally, I am using your lion's mane capsules as part of a neurological support program... Your mushroom extracts are the only ones I use and recommend, because they are the ones I trust most for potency and purity. Thank you for your dedication and integrity!” - Dr. Mark Bricca
Our products are made from 100% organic mushroom (fruiting body) extracts and come in different varieties, such as lion’s mane mushroom extract capsules to bulk powder.
Check out our wide selection of 100% organic mushroom supplements today!
.Disclaimer: The information or products mentioned in this article are provided as information resources only, and are not to be used or relied on to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This information does not create any patient-doctor relationship, and should not be used as a substitute for professional diagnosis and treatment. The information is intended for health care professionals only. The statements made in this article have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Any products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information in this article is intended for educational purposes. The information is not intended to replace medical advice offered by licensed medical physicians. Please consult your doctor or health practitioner for any medical advice.