Fruiting body or mycelium: how mushroom extracts differ
Mushroom supplement labels mention fruiting body, mycelium, 10:1 extract and beta glucans. What these words mean and which questions are worth asking the seller.
When you compare lion’s mane or other mushroom supplements, two words keep coming up on the label: fruiting body and mycelium. They are different parts of the fungus, and they make different products. Here is how they differ, how extracts are made and what the numbers on the label mean.
A mushroom is more than what you see
What we call a mushroom is only the fruiting body, the part that grows out into the open to release spores. Most of the fungus lives inside wood or soil. That part is the mycelium: a dense network of fine threads (hyphae) that feeds on its substrate and can grow for months or years.
With lion’s mane, the fruiting body is the white, shaggy clump you can fry in a pan. The mycelium looks nothing like it: a white, cotton wool mass running through sawdust or grain.
How lion’s mane is grown
Farms grow lion’s mane in two stages. First, mycelium is added to hardwood sawdust mixed with bran and kept warm, around 25 °C, until it has spread through the whole block. The blocks then move to a cooler, very humid room, small cuts are made in the bags, and fruiting bodies grow out through them. They are picked while still white and sold fresh or dried.
Mycelium for supplements is often grown differently. One method uses cooked grain, such as rice or oats. The mycelium grows through the grain, and then everything is dried and milled together, so the powder contains the grain and its starch as well. Another method grows mycelium in a liquid nutrient medium in large tanks and separates it afterwards.
What goes into a capsule
Mushroom supplements usually fall into four groups:
- Fruiting body powder. Dried, milled fruiting bodies. The same mushroom, just dry and fine.
- Fruiting body extract. Compounds drawn out of dried fruiting bodies and reduced. Labels often give a ratio, for example 10:1.
- Mycelium on grain. The mycelium together with the grain it grew on. If a label says mycelium, myceliated grain, grown on rice, biomass or similar, the stated amount usually includes the grain.
- Blends. A fruiting body extract mixed with mycelium, powder or extracts of other mushrooms. The label should then give the amount of each part.
None of these is bad in itself. What matters is that the label says clearly which part of the fungus is used and in what form.
How an extract is made
An extract is made much like a very strong tea, only in large batches:
- The fruiting bodies are dried and milled.
- The powder is held in hot water for a long time. Water soluble compounds move into the water, mainly polysaccharides, including beta glucans.
- The liquid is filtered, reduced and dried back into a powder.
The insoluble parts, such as chitin fibres from the cell walls, stay behind in the filter. So an extract is not simply ground mushroom: it is a selected, reduced fraction of it.
Some producers also extract with alcohol to pull out compounds that dissolve poorly in water, then combine the two. This is sold as a dual extract.
A 10:1 ratio means roughly 10 kg of dried mushroom went into 1 kg of extract. It tells you how much raw material was used, not how much of which compounds ended up in the powder. Producers also calculate ratios in different ways.
What the percentages mean
Some extracts state their polysaccharide or beta glucan content, for example “30 % beta glucans”. These two numbers are not the same thing.
Polysaccharides are often measured with a simple method that counts starch along with the mushroom’s own polysaccharides. Grain is full of starch, so a mycelium on grain product can show a high polysaccharide figure while containing little mushroom beta glucan.
Beta glucans can be measured more precisely. A widely used method, described by McCleary and Draga (2016), measures total glucans and alpha glucans (starch and glycogen) separately and calculates beta glucans from the difference. If a label lists beta glucans, it is fair to ask which method was used.
Questions to ask the seller
- Which part of the fungus is used: fruiting body, mycelium or both?
- If mycelium, what was it grown on, and is the grain still in the product?
- Is it an extract or a milled powder? If an extract, what ratio, and was it made with water, alcohol or both?
- Is the beta glucan content stated, and how was it measured?
Straight answers to these questions say more than any slogan on the pack. To read the rest of the label, see How to read a food supplement label. For the mushroom itself, see What is lion’s mane.
In short
- The fruiting body is the mushroom you see. The mycelium is the network in the substrate.
- Mycelium grown on grain is often sold together with the grain.
- Extracts are made with hot water, sometimes with alcohol too. A 10:1 ratio describes raw material, not content.
- A beta glucan figure tells you more than a total polysaccharide figure.
The Cerebro ingredients and full label are on the product page. Questions are welcome at info@cerebro.lt. Choose your set
