Description

Reishi mushroom has been revered in China for thousands of years. It is depicted in many Chinese works of art and is utilized in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Today it is widely cultivated using a method of wood log cultivation in shade houses.

Scientific research into the compounds responsible for Reishi mushroom activity began in the 1970’s in China and Japan. Scientists discovered highly active beta-(1>3)-glucans with the ability to potentiate innate immunity by activating immune cells. Also discovered were secondary metabolites called triterpenoids which were present in significant amounts and sets Reishi apart from all the other medicinal mushrooms.

What is the difference between a 1:1 extract and more concentrated extracts?

A one to one extract starts with a finely milled mushroom powder. This powder is extracted for 3 hours in hot water at 90° – 100° C. After this extraction, much of the water is evaporated to produce a concentrated fluid. This fluid still contains the mushroom powder. At this time the powder-filled fluid is sent to the spray drier which creates a fine powder. The final product is a fine mushroom powder that has been pre-digested by the water extraction. The most important part of this process is the fact that the raw material is never separated from the extraction fluid. This means that nothing from the original mushroom is lost or discarded.

When making a more concentrated extract, a coarsely ground raw material is used. This coarse raw material is extracted three times with hot water to make certain all of the important components are fully drawn out of the raw material. With some mushrooms like Reishi and Chaga, an extra step involving a one time alcohol extraction is added. At the end of the process the raw material is discarded and considered spent. The liquid is then concentrated to the specific extract ratio. The concentrated fluid is now sent to the spray drier and dried to a fine powder. We understand that mushrooms contain both soluble and insoluble beta-glucans. The majority of these beta-glucans are insoluble and can be considered fiber. Water extraction will remove the soluble beta-glucans and most other nutritional compounds from the fiber. Research has shown that the immunologically active compounds are the soluble beta-glucans.

When we leave the fiber in the 1:1 extract, the insoluble beta-glucan plus the soluble beta-glucans will show the total amount of beta-glucans for the particular mushroom species in our testing. We think this insoluble beta-glucan still provides some benefit even though the concentration level of the extract is low. In fact, the extraction process coupled with the finely ground powder breaks down many of the bonds that often prevent full utilization of mushrooms.

When we produce our concentrated extracts, the mushroom fiber is filtered out and the insoluble beta-glucans are discarded. This means these concentrated extracts will contain only the soluble beta-glucans, the most active ones. It also means that the beta-glucan number will be lower than the 1:1 extracts. The increased amount of raw materials needed to extract only the soluble beta-glucans produces an extract of greater strength and also allows for smaller amounts to be consumed for supplementation.