With reputed medicinal and therapeutic benefits from longer life expectancy to skin health, brands like VidaCap and many others have started popping up everywhere.
One of the main things that sellers of mushroom supplements advertise is their specific medicinal effects and their supposed healthiness.
But is all of that really true? Are mushroom supplements really healthy after all?
What Scientific Evidence Is There to Support Mushroom Supplements?
The increased interest in mushroom supplements has become a popular research area in the scientific world.
There have been a number of significant studies aiming to answer the question as to whether mushroom supplements really are as healthy as advertised.
One study in 2009 looked at the effect mushroom supplements have on cognitive function. Participants were given the mushroom Yamabushitake (lion’s mane) and monitored over a prolonged period using several cognitive tests.
The 2009 study concluded that when taken for an extended length of time and consistently, there was evidence to suggest mushroom supplements could improve cognitive function. However, further research was still needed to understand the full effects of mushrooms on the brain.
In 2019, another study looked at how mushroom supplements affect cognitive function with a particular focus on short-term memory. The study results supported the 2009 research and found that mushroom supplements could improve short-term memory over several weeks or months.
How Mushroom Supplements Can Improve Digestive Health
It is not just how mushroom supplements affect cognitive function that scientific research has focused on. There has also been a great deal of research on the ways in which functional mushrooms can be used to treat digestive issues.
Using mushrooms to improve digestive health is not a new phenomenon. In fact, people have been using functional mushrooms throughout history to relieve stomach and digestive issues. Using mushrooms in this way was particularly popular in Asian cultures and is thought to have been a traditional remedy that goes back hundreds of years.
Recent studies have helped us better understand why some functional mushrooms are so good at easing digestive problems. There is now a much better understanding of which functional mushrooms are the most effective at treating digestive ailments.
Taking mushroom supplements regularly can also help to improve general gut health. Using mushroom supplements in this way can effectively prevent stomach and digestive problems from occurring in the first place.
Are Mushroom Supplements Worth Taking as a General Supplement?
There is a growing amount of evidence to support the use of mushroom supplements for people who are looking to treat specific ailments using natural remedies. But what about people who simply want to add mushroom supplements to their diet to improve their overall health?
Evidence suggests that mushroom supplements can be beneficial when taken in a similar way to how other supplements such as vitamin D and calcium are taken. Taking a low-dose of mushroom supplement as part of a healthy diet can have many significant health benefits.
For example, many functional mushrooms, like cordyceps, work to support the body’s defences and immune system. One of the main active compounds in cordyceps is cordycepin, which has a similar structure to adenosine and is one of the critical components in human cells.
It is thought that by providing the body with cordycepin cells, it becomes better equipped to fight illnesses and external threats when they occur.
Some people have also found that by adding mushroom supplements into their diet, they experience improved energy levels and motivation. This could result from the body having more resources and the ability to sustain energy levels throughout the day.
Further research is still needed to fully understand why mushroom supplements effectively treat fatigue and improve energy levels. Despite this, there is a growing amount of evidence to support the idea of using mushrooms as an herbal remedy for fatigue and low motivation levels.
Final Thoughts: Are Mushroom Supplements Really Healthy?
There is an increasing amount of scientific evidence to support the idea of using mushrooms as a health supplement. While there are still many areas that require further research to understand fully, the one theme that runs throughout all current research is that functional mushrooms can be beneficial to the human body.
Whether you’re looking for a completely natural way to manage a specific health condition or simply just a way to boost overall health and fitness levels, mushroom supplements are definitely an option worth exploring.
