With striking looks and distinct flavour, Lion’s Mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) is a wild fungus that has captivated people for centuries. Inhabiting forests across a wide natural range that spans the northern hemisphere, its flowing golden spines have seen it compared to everything from a pom pom to a monkey's head. 

Despite its unmistakable appearance, the most notable thing about this member of the Tooth Fungus family isn’t its looks, but instead it's the remarkable amount of usage it has in traditional medicine.

Across Europe and Asia people all independently seemed to discover the benefits of Lion’s Mane as a medicinal mushroom, capable of promoting physical, and especially mental wellbeing. Within some cases, usage reported to date back over a thousand years.

Lion’s Mane Mushroom (Hericium erinaceus), is a medicinal mushroom best known for memory and nerve support. It promotes mental wellbeing, clarity and focus. Research suggests neural health benefits may be associated with supporting healthy levels of  NGF in the body.†

With a wide distribution across the Northern Hemisphere, Lion’s Mane Mushroom has made an impact on many cultures, and as a result, it picked up a lot of names over the years. 

In Japan, it’s called Yambushitake, whereas if you’re from China you might instead know it as Houtou (猴头菇), which translates to Monkey Head Mushroom. 

Its scientific name is Hericium erinaceus, Hericium refers to the Hericiaceae family of fungi that it belongs to, while Erinaceus is actually Latin for Hedgehog!

Further west, it’s also been called Lion’s Head Mushroom, Hog’s Head Fungus, White Beard, Old Man’s Beard, Pom Pom Mushroom, and Bearded Tooth Mushroom.

Lion’s Mane Mushroom powder is produced from Lion’s Mane Fungus (Hericium erinaceus), the mushroom is harvested, dried, heated, and powdered. From there it is formed into capsules and can be supplemented, or taken mixed with coffee or tea.

Our Lion’s Mane supplement capsules always contain a full spectrum dry powder, meaning they contain elements of the entire fungus, including Fruit Body, Mycelium, and Spores.

Our Nurolift Lion’s Mane supplement is a full-spectrum mushroom product. This means that the dry Lion’s Mane powder within our capsules is made from the entire Hericium erinaceus fungi.  

This is important to us because both major parts, the Fruit Body and the Mycelium, each contain unique bioactive molecules. Even just a quick scan of the preliminary human research and you’ll see there’s much attention being given to both of them, with similarly promising results.

What you’ll also find is that in most of the human research that deals with Lion’s Mane, they usually don’t supplement with extracts. 

Both the Fruit Body and Mycelium each have their own chemically unique Beta Glucans, as well as unique low weight molecules. The Hericinones (low-weight aromatic compounds) exclusive to the Fruit Body, and the Erinacines (low-weight diterpenoids) that are found almost exclusively in the Mycelium.

An extract focuses on isolating just one type of molecule, but considering throughout the fungus there are so many different molecules being looked at, how could you ever pick just one? 

We rather keep to the established practice of supplementing with the complete powder,  there’s just no reason to leave anything out.

We also opt to have the purity of our Lion’s Mane supplement 3rd party verified through DNA-verification testing (see our results). This goes far beyond what regulations require.

When used alongside our independent β-d-Glucan testing, these tests combined offer the absolute best way we know to accurately measure quality.

Subjecting every production batch (lot) to this same standard lets us always guarantee a consistently pure product.

As part of our commitment to ensure quality, we voluntarily send a sample from each batch of Mushrooms in for 3rd party DNA-verification testing at an independent lab.

The major benefit to DNA testing is that it doesn't just identify what nutritional ingredients are present, but instead is able to actually confirm which specific species these are from.

Utilizing high throughput Next-Generation Sequencing allows for precise identification of the different genetic materials in a sample, as well as the relative amounts they are present in.

This is important because the benefits of Lion's Mane are believed to relate back to specific bioactive molecules that are only found in Lion's Mane, including uniquely structured β-D-Glucans, in addition to other low weight molecules.

Unfortunately, any number of issues could potentially reduce the purity of a Lion's Mane supplement. Obvious examples include carelessness, such as contamination with another species during growing, or mislabelling of product during processing. However, less obvious DNA variations can also occur in commercially grown mushrooms. Over time particular strains can undergo small genetic changes which if not properly corrected can also result in abnormalities.

All of this is important because despite other mushrooms, (and even some grains) having their own similar molecules and β-D-Glucans, none are exactly the same as what's in Lion's Mane.

This is why we always first confirm genetic composition in our product. This way later on, when we do our β-D-Glucan testing, we can be confident that these β-D-Glucans are the kinds unique to Lion's Mane!

All supplements manufactured in the US are required to obtain a Certificate of Analysis, while this report can help inform on the various macronutrients present, it won’t be able to precisely identify their sources. 

For example, it can tell you the amount of Beta-Glucan polysaccharides present, but it won’t be able to tell you what portion of those are truly coming from Lion’s Mane, for this you need a test which can recognize the genetic differences between various species.

Yes, as part of our DNA-verification program, we always make the results of our voluntary 3rd party DNA testing available to attest to the purity of our product.

Yes, here’s how we recommend:  Select your favourite roast and brew a fresh cup of coffee from high-quality beans. Then you can easily twist open our Lion’s Mane capsules, and pour a full serving of Lion’s Mane powder right from them, directly into your coffee.

You’ll want to be sure to stir it though, as some components of the Lion’s Mane powder aren’t water-soluble and will tend to sink. 

When you’re done drinking, you should double-check to be sure that you’re not leaving any at the bottom of your mug. Giving what’s left a quick swish before your last sip is usually all you need to do to avoid this. 

No, Lion’s Mane mushroom is not naturally a source of caffeine. Although it may promote mental wellbeing and cognition, this effect isn’t a result of any hidden caffeine. This confusion might also stem from the popular practice of people adding the dry powder of Lion’s Mane to their coffee, which of course does contain caffeine.  

Research studies focused on the benefits of Lion’s Mane supplementation often suggest that beneficial effects are the result of multiple different bioactive molecules found within the fungus.  

1,3-1,6 Beta-Glucans, a group of complex polysaccharides found in fungi, are suggested to be of the types of bioactive molecules behind its effects. Lion’s Mane contains many of its own structurally unique 1,3-1,6 Beta-Glucans, with distinct ones reported to exist in both the Fruit Body and the Mycelium. 

The mushroom and the mycelia have both been reported to produce other types of bioactive molecules, including proteins, lectins, phenols, and terpenoids.

Two classes of unique terpenoid compounds, Hericenones and Erinacines, from fruiting bodies and cultured mycelia, respectively, have been researched for their interactions with nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesis.† 

Neurotrophic growth factors like NGF are produced naturally within the body and serve to stimulate neurite outgrowth and regeneration of nerve and brain cells. It’s these molecules and pathways which are often pointed to when researchers theorize as to how it works.†

As part of our commitment to ensure quality, we voluntarily send a sample from each batch of our Lion’s Mane Mushroom supplement for extensive testing, this includes previously mentioned DNA-verification testing, but also extensive polysaccharide testing which measures for β-Glucans. This is important because several unique ones are only found in Lion’s Mane, and many of its health effects have been attributed to them.  

However, an issue arises in that many of the grain-based substrates in which these medicinal mushrooms are grown also contain comparable levels of their own β-Glucans, something difficult to distinguish between during this testing. This is especially problematic in a supplement like Nurolift that contains Mycelium. Mycelium, which has many health benefits, is the part of the fungus that lives within the organic material that the mushroom grows on. 

Sorghum the grain we grow in is unique in that it is extremely low in β-Glucans containing less than 0.5%, compare that with something like oats which can comprise more than 25%. The decision to grow in Sorghum means we can always be confident that β-Glucans picked up in our testing for sure are coming from Lion’s Mane. It also means that if we are hitting the levels seen in studies on pure samples,  (>15% β-Glucans w/w), any trace of substrate remaining in the finished product isn’t at all significant enough to dilute its potency. This is something that would be hard to be sure of had we chosen to grow in many other grain-based growing mediums.