Medicinal Mushroom Hot Water Extract vs. Alcohol Extract
Medicinal mushrooms, hugely popular for thousands of years in the Orient, are coming in vogue today also in the West. On the coattails of their increasing popularity follow issues of quality and ethical representation between competing brands.
This information applies to all species of medicinal mushrooms. For practical purposes, this article will focus on the most popular medicinal mushroom species, red reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), over which the most intense battle of conflicting claims is being fought.
First off, stay clear of cheap, mass-produced medicinal mushrooms. If they are just dried and pulverized, then the medicinal compounds are still inaccessible behind the mushrooms' cell-walls. You'll be wasting your money on inert matter.
Then there are the real therapeutic grade red reishi brands, which are produced with much more care. But even here there are big differences between brands. Each claims to be the best, of course, because they want to sell their product. So lets set the facts straight and be independently informed consumers.
Below are three common methods for extracting medicinal compounds from reishi. Each method results in different compounds. All groups have been shown to have therapeutic effects in scientific studies.
1. Water Extraction, Hot (polysaccharides and more)
2. Alcohol Extraction (triterpenoids, etc.)
3. Fermented (arabinoxylanes, etc.)
Polysaccharides have been shown to possess powerful anti-tumor qualities through enhancing the immune system and by inhibiting blood profusion through tumors. They are also strong antioxidants. [1]
Through alcohol extraction, we get triterpenoids, a large group of lipids with many sub-groups. Research shows triterpenoids help regulate clotting, blood pressure and cholesterol. More importantly, they are the anti-inflammatory compounds that are the reason why reishi often gets recommended for arthritis, asthma and allergies. [1]
Finally, by fermenting the red reishi, the original medicinal compounds break down to form new compounds with unique healing properties. These "secondary metabolites" have among other things been shown to be immune enhancing and help regulate blood sugar, as well as having unique anti-tumor properties. [2]
This article is not meant to recommend any particular brand so none will be mentioned by name. But the author does know of two reishi companies (Japanese and American) that both claim only hot water extract of reishi is effective and that alcohol extracts are of no use.
They do that, of course, because they wish to sell their products. However, there is no scientific validity to those claims. All three extraction methods listed above yield important medicinal compounds.
To find the best red reishi products, look for those brands that use at least the first two extraction methods in combination: Hot Water Extraction and Alcohol Extraction. Better yet would be brands that incorporate all three extraction methods, including Fermentation.
An additional point to keep in mind is the form the reishi comes in. Reishi that dissolves completely in a water-based liquid such as coffee probably only contains reishi from hot water extraction. As a substitute for regular coffee, this would be a superb health-choice. However, it will not contain the water-insoluble triterpenoids so valued for their anti-inflammatory properties.
Surprisingly, though, alcohol tinctures may include both hot water extract and alcohol extract. You will know if the alcohol tincture contains polysaccharides because when the alcohol and hot water extracts are blended, the polysaccharides fall out of solution and the tincture becomes cloudy. (Just shake it before you take it.) A cloudy medicinal mushroom tincture is an indication of high polysaccharide content. Capsules and tablets may be either hot water extract or alcohol extract or both.
[1] Boh B, Berovic M, Zhang J, Zhi-Bin L. "Ganoderma lucidum and its pharmaceutically active compounds." Biotechnology Annual Review 2007;13:265-301.
[2] Tang YJ, Zhang W, Zhong JJ, 2009. "Performance analyses of a pH-shift and DOT-shift integrated fed-batch fermentation process for the production of ganoderic acid and Ganoderma polysaccharides by medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum." Bioresource Technol. Mar;100(5):1852-9.