What is the best way to take medicinal mushrooms?
Tinctures are the best way to take medicinal mushrooms. The fruiting body of mushrooms is made up of an ingredient called chitin. Our bodies can’t digest chitin so in turn, can’t efficiently process the ingredients to pull the medicine out. We would have to eat a ton of mushrooms to get the same amount of medicine from a dropper full of extraction. Chewing and digesting mushrooms provide very minimum results. The best way to pull the medicine out of Chaga is through an extraction process called “Dual Extraction”.
What is dual extraction?
Dual extraction is the process in which the medicine is pulled out of the mushrooms using alcohol and water soaks. We used distilled alcohol to extract the triterpene compound that is found in Chaga. The first part of the extraction requires us to grind up and low boil Chaga in distilled water at 165° to 180°F for 48 hours. We use fresh Chaga at the ratio of 2:1 (2 lbs. distilled water to 1 lb. fresh Chaga). This process allows us to extract beta glucans, polysaccharides and other important medicines that can’t be extracted from the alcohol soak. For the Chaga, it is important that we take this step first (unlike our Lion’s mane) because the chitin in the cell wall is a lot stronger in this mushroom than the others and must be cooked down for the alcohol to effectively extract the medicines. Once softened, we mix our alcohol at a 2:1 ratio (2 lbs. alcohol to 1lbs mushrooms) in with the mushrooms, let this mix sit for 6 weeks, while agitating once a day. We found this was the most effective way to pull out all the beneficial compounds from the Chaga. Once we have both extractions, we do a 50/50 mix to give the full spectrum of medicinal benefits the mushroom has to offer.
What is mycelium and why do you not have that in your tinctures?
Mycelium is the root system of mushrooms and does have some medicinal benefits. It is a white wispy substance that is propagated over grains. This is the first step in growing any mushrooms. As the industry has gotten more popular, the need to mass produce medicine has increased. Since it takes longer to cultivate mushrooms into complete fruiting bodies, companies have been cutting corners by growing mycelium on grains and grinding them into powders (grain and all). They use this powder and mix it with coffees, put them into pills, or extract what they can out of this mix. Even though they are legally extracting medicinal properties through mycelium, they are only getting a fraction of what they could if they had used the fruiting bodies instead. In doing this, not only are they not getting a less quality product, but they are also adding grains into their medicines. Beware of any product that has the word mycelium in their list of ingredients.
How much Chaga should I take daily?
Our company’s mission is to make medicine that works. The medical studies that have been done show that patients who have taken 3-5 grams of Chaga daily had the best results. We wanted to provide that same amount in our daily dose. This is why we insist on using fresh mushrooms every batch, while most of our competitors reuse the mushrooms for theirs. By taking our recommended dosage of 3 droppers a day, you will get the equivalent of 3 grams of fresh Chaga mushrooms and will get two weeks’ worth in our 1 oz. bottles and one month’s worth in our 2 oz. bottles. It is up to you if you want to increase your dosage to 5 grams. For those who want to increase their doses should take only 1 dropper a day for 2 days before increasing by another dropper. Use this 1 dropper/ 2 days schedule until you have reached the desired amount.
Should I keep to my normal dosing if I am taking another mushroom tincture?
Medicinal mushrooms tend to get stronger when combining them, assuming that they are of equal quality. While each mushroom has a main benefit in which they “specialize” in, they also have many other sub benefits as well. These sub benefits help to add to the effectiveness of each mushroom. For example, Chaga’s main benefit is gut health, while lion’s mane focuses more on brain health. Lion’s mane has a sub benefit that kills the h. pylori in our gut in turn boosting the overall effectiveness of the Chaga. On the other hand, Chaga has a sub benefit of lowering oxidized stress and inflammation in our brain, which helps the Lion’s Mane to communicate, protect and repair our brain neurons faster. When taking the two together, each dose can be cut in half and still get the same results. Each person is different so try to cut the dose in half to see if you can feel the same results and adjust accordingly.
How long do I need to take the tinctures before I see the results?
It all depends how well your body adapts to the new medicine and the delivery method in which you take it. Those that add it to their morning drink seem to take about 5 to 7 days before they start noticing any results. Those that take it under their tongue have noticed results faster. It also depends on the benefits you are looking for. Anti-inflammatory, increased endurance, and skin, hair, and nail repair may take about a week before noticing results; while oxidative stress relief, immune support, and pre/probiotic benefits, may happen within the first few days. If you aren't seeing the improvements within that time frame your body may need more and we suggest adding more droppers to your regimen by using our 1 dropper/2-day schedule to increase.
Do you grow the Chaga you use yourself?
No. Unfortunately, Chaga is the only medicinal mushroom that we do not grow. To ensure that the best quality of medicine is produced, Chaga must be grown on White Birch trees. The triterpene botulin found in the bark of these trees plays a critical role in producing a vital medicinal component in the mushroom. Even though it may be more cost efficient to grow our own mushroom, our medicine would lack the strength and effectiveness we desire. We properly vet the foragers we buy from to ensure that they are sending us the best quality mushrooms possible and personally inspect every part of the mushroom we do decide to use.
