10:1 Extract
A highly concentrated extract where approximately 10 kg of raw Lion’s Mane is reduced to 1 kg of extract. This offers higher levels of key active compounds at a lower dose than standard dried powder.
Fungal name: Hericium erinaceus (fruiting body/mycelium)
Family name: Hericiaceae (Tooth / Hedgehog mushroom family)
Other names: Yamabushitake, Pom-pom mushroom, Monkey Head, Bearded Tooth Fungus
Origin: Native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere (Asia, Europe, North America)
Parts used: Fruiting body and/or mycelium
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Short Description
Lion’s Mane is a neuro-restorative medicinal mushroom traditionally used to nourish both stomach and nerves, now widely recognised as a gentle nootropic. It supports memory, learning, focus, and healthy nerve tissue, while also protecting the gut lining, modulating immunity, and easing stress-linked mood patterns through its unique combination of neurotrophic diterpenoids and β-glucans.
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Body Systems Affected
• Nervous system – Restores and protects nerve tissue; supports neuroplasticity.
• Brain / mental health – Supports memory, learning, mood balance, and stress resilience.
• Digestive system (gut lining) – Soothes gastritis/ulcer patterns and supports barrier integrity.
• Immune system – β-glucans and polysaccharides modulate innate and adaptive immune responses.
• Endocrine/metabolic – Emerging evidence for lipid/glucose regulation via inflammation and microbiome pathways.
• Whole-body antioxidant defence – Polysaccharides and peptides protect cells from oxidative stress.
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Summary of Health Benefits
Lion’s Mane is one of the most well-studied medicinal mushrooms for cognitive health. Clinical trials in adults with mild cognitive impairment show that consistent use over 8–16 weeks can improve cognitive scores, recall, and daily functioning, with benefits gradually fading after discontinuation—indicating that ongoing intake helps sustain function rather than providing a short-lived stimulant effect. Beyond cognition, human trials and reviews suggest that Lion’s Mane can boost mood, ease anxiety, and support better sleep in specific populations, including people with stress-related symptoms, menopausal mood changes, or higher levels of psychological burden. Rather than acting as a sedative, it appears to enhance emotional resilience by reducing neuroinflammation and supporting neurotrophic repair. Another key mechanism involves the gut–brain connection. Traditionally used for gastritis and ulcers, Lion’s Mane extracts and polysaccharides have been shown in experimental studies to protect the gastric mucosa, reduce ulcer formation, and strengthen epithelial barrier function. Gut integrity and microbiome balance, in turn, influence inflammation, immunity, mood, and skin health. Overall, Lion’s Mane functions as a comprehensive system revitaliser: it supports healthy brain ageing, nourishes the gut lining, modulates immune activity, reduces oxidative and inflammatory stress, and helps rebuild resilience in those under prolonged cognitive or emotional strain.
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Traditional & Historical Uses
In traditional East Asian medicine, Lion’s Mane has long been valued as both food and medicine, a soft, white “pom-pom” fungus reserved for convalescents, scholars, and elders whose minds and digestion required gentle restoration. It was simmered in broths or added to nourishing meals for individuals with “weak stomach and spleen,” chronic gastritis, or poor appetite, and was also prescribed to soothe frayed nerves, reduce fatigue, and clear mental fog. Practitioners described it as a mushroom that “feeds the brain through the stomach,” nourishing the Shen (spirit) by first strengthening the digestive fire. Over the years, Lion’s Mane became recognised as a subtle ally of longevity: a daily culinary-medicinal companion that helped older people sustain clarity, calmness, and digestive comfort well into old age.
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Benefits Breakdown
★★★★★ High-Quality Human Clinical Evidence
• Mild Cognitive Impairment / Early memory decline
How it helps: Improves memory, recall, and overall cognitive performance in adults with mild cognitive impairment, with benefits building over 8–16 weeks.
How it works: Erinacine- and hericenone-rich extracts enhance neurotrophic signalling (NGF/BDNF), supporting synaptic repair, neuroplasticity, and neuronal resilience.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18844328/
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★★★★ Emerging Human Clinical Evidence
• Mood, anxiety & stress support
How it helps: Reduces depression and anxiety scores, menopausal psychological complaints, and stress-related symptoms in several small human trials; may also improve sleep quality and general well-being.
How it works: Modulates neuroinflammation and supports neurotrophic pathways (including BDNF-related signalling), likely improving stress resilience and emotional regulation along the gut–brain axis.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20834180/
• Early Alzheimer’s support (adjunct)
How it helps: Erinacine-enriched extracts show preliminary benefits for cognitive scores and daily functioning in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease when used alongside standard care.
How it works: Erinacines increase neurotrophins, reduce oxidative and inflammatory damage, and may protect vulnerable neurons from degenerative processes.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2020.00155/full
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★★★ Preclinical & Experimental Evidence
• Nerve regeneration & neuroprotection
How it helps: Promotes neurite outgrowth, supports myelin repair, and protects neurons from oxidative and amyloid-related toxicity in cell and animal models.
How it works: Erinacines and hericenones activate NGF-related and ERK/TrkA signalling pathways, enhancing neurogenesis, neuronal survival, and synaptic plasticity.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10650066/
• Gut-lining repair & anti-ulcer activity
How it helps: Decreases ulcer area and severity, protects gastric mucosa, and improves histological healing in experimental ulcer and gastritis models.
How it works: Polysaccharides and peptides enhance mucosal defence, reduce oxidative and inflammatory damage, and support epithelial and angiogenic repair mechanisms.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3835629/
• Immune modulation & anti-inflammatory balance
How it helps: Normalises immune responses, improving host defence while reducing chronic inflammatory signalling; shows broad immunomodulatory and anti-tumour-adjacent effects in models.
How it works: β-glucans and other polysaccharides interact with pattern-recognition receptors on immune cells (such as dectin-1 and Toll-like receptors), shaping cytokine output and enhancing appropriate innate and adaptive responses.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/8/1307
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★★★ Traditional & Nutritional Evidence
• Stomach & spleen tonic
How it helps: Long-standing traditional use for dyspepsia, gastritis, chronic gastric ulcers, weak appetite, and post-illness digestive debility.
How it works: Combines soothing polysaccharides and peptides with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions on the gastric and intestinal mucosa, supporting motility, secretion, and barrier integrity.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10280799/
• Vitality and longevity food
How it helps: Taken as a regular food-medicine to sustain vitality, mental clarity, and resilience in ageing, and to help those under heavy mental strain or chronic stress.
How it works: Provides neurotrophic compounds plus a nutrient-dense profile (B-vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fibre and β-glucans) that supports whole-system resilience, brain health, and metabolic balance over time.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1641246/full
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Skin & Topical Care
Therapeutic
• Slow-healing or inflammatory skin patterns (indirect support)
How it helps: By enhancing gut-mucosal integrity, modulating immunity, and reducing oxidative stress, Lion’s Mane can indirectly support wound healing and inflammatory skin conditions when used internally over time.
How it works: Polysaccharides influence systemic inflammatory mediators and antioxidant pathways, which in turn support microcirculation, collagen integrity, and tissue repair capacity.
Personal Care / Anti-Ageing
• Skin nourishment from within
How it helps: Long-term use may support firmer, more transparent, and more resilient skin, particularly in individuals with stress-related or gut-linked flares such as redness, dullness, or premature ageing.
How it works: Combines systemic antioxidant protection, immune modulation, and gut-barrier support, all of which feed into healthier skin structure and a reduced inflammatory burden.
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Research & Modern Findings
Mild Cognitive Impairment / Memory Decline
How it helps: Improves cognitive scores, recall, and functional performance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment when taken for 16 weeks.
How it works: Increases neurotrophic signalling (NGF/BDNF) and supports synaptic repair and neuroplasticity.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18844328/
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/8/1307
https://www.mushroomcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Phytotherapy-Research-2008-Mori-Improving-effects-of-the-mushroom-Yamabushitake-Hericium-erinaceus-on-mild-3.pdf
Early Alzheimer’s / Neurodegeneration (adjunct)
How it helps: Early studies suggest improvements or stabilisation in cognitive performance and daily functioning when erinacine-enriched extracts are used alongside conventional therapy.
How it works: Neurotrophic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory actions help protect neurons from degenerative processes and support synaptic networks.
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/1/163
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7283924/
Mood, Anxiety & Stress Patterns
How it helps: Reduces measures of depression, anxiety, menopausal psychological symptoms and “indefinite complaints” in several small RCTs and observational studies.
How it works: Likely via a combination of reduced neuroinflammation, support of neurotrophic factors, and modulation of the gut–brain axis rather than direct sedative action.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20834180/
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/17/8/1307
https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/1/163
Gut-Lining Integrity / Gastritis-IBD Models
How it helps: Demonstrates gastroprotective effects in ethanol- and NSAID-induced ulcer models and enhances gastric mucosal resistance, aligning with traditional use for gastritis and ulcers.
How it works: Polysaccharides and peptides reduce inflammatory cytokines, oxidative damage, and apoptosis in gastric tissue while enhancing epithelial repair and microcirculation.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3835629/
https://journal.hep.com.cn/fia/EN/10.48130/fia-0025-0028
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464625003251
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Emotional, Mental & Spiritual Influences
• Emotional: Helps restore calm, confidence, and steadiness where anxiety follows prolonged mental strain or depletion.
• Mental: Promotes clear thinking, sustained focus, and improved learning and recall.
• Spiritual: Symbolic of nurturing the “inner temple” through gut and brain nourishment—supporting grounded clarity and longevity.
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Properties
• Nootropic tonic – Enhances cognitive performance and mental stamina.
• Neurotrophic – Encourages nerve growth, repair, and neuroplasticity.
• Immunomodulating – Balances over- and under-active immune responses.
• Anti-inflammatory – Reduces chronic low-grade inflammatory activity.
• Antioxidant – Protects cells from oxidative damage and supports recovery.
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Actions
• Supports neuroplasticity – Encourages neurite outgrowth and synaptic renewal.
• Improves cognitive function – Aids memory, processing speed, and focus.
• Stabilises mood – Helps ease stress-linked anxiety, sadness, and irritability.
• Repairs gut mucosa – Promotes a more substantial, less inflamed gastrointestinal barrier.
• Balances immune activity – Modulates immune cell signalling and cytokine output.
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Nutritional Profile
• B-complex vitamins and ergosterol (a natural vitamin D precursor).
• Potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and trace minerals such as selenium and zinc.
• Essential amino acids and moderate protein content.
• Fibre and β-glucans that support microbiome and immune balance.
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Herbs / Mushrooms It Pairs With
• Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) – Deep stress resilience, sleep support, and immune balance.
• Cordyceps (Cordyceps militaris/sinensis) – Energy and oxygenation for mental stamina and physical endurance.
• Ginkgo, Bacopa, Rhodiola – Circulatory and neurotransmitter synergy for memory and attention.
• Turkey Tail, Maitake – β-glucan partners to enhance gut–immune axis and long-term immune modulation.
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How to Use
Take with water, preferably with food:
• Daily wellness: 1 capsule once daily with breakfast.
• Ongoing support: 1 capsule twice daily (morning & late afternoon).
• Intensive support: 2 capsules twice daily for 6–12 weeks, then reduce to Ongoing support.
Do not exceed the recommended dose unless advised by a healthcare professional.
Tips for best results
For optimal results, take Lion’s Mane consistently every day rather than occasionally, as benefits accumulate gradually over weeks rather than working like a stimulant. Many people find it best taken earlier in the day, particularly if their mind becomes more alert or focused after use. Combining Lion’s Mane with Reishi may support stress resilience and sleep quality, while pairing it with Cordyceps may enhance mental stamina and motivation. Adequate hydration, restorative sleep, and a nutrient-rich diet will further support its cognitive and gut-linked benefits.
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Contra-Indications & Cautions
Lion’s Mane is generally well tolerated, with occasional mild digestive upset (such as bloating or soft stools) in sensitive individuals. Anyone with a known allergy to mushrooms should avoid it. Caution is recommended in people taking anticoagulant or antiplatelet medicines, or those scheduled for surgery, due to theoretical effects on clotting. There is insufficient safety data for use during pregnancy, breastfeeding, or in young children, so use during these periods should be under professional guidance. Individuals using immunosuppressive, antidiabetic, or antihypertensive medication should consult a healthcare practitioner before use and monitor for any changes in blood sugar, blood pressure, or immune status.
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Disclaimer
This product is a natural mushroom-based health supplement and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information provided is educational and reflects traditional and holistic use. Under the Medicines and Related Substances Act 101 of 1965, this product may be classified as a complementary medicine/health supplement and has not been evaluated by SAHPRA for quality, safety, or intended use. Consult a healthcare practitioner before use, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication, or have a medical condition. Keep out of reach of children. Store in a cool, dry place.
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Cultivation Snapshot
• Prefers cool-temperate to subtropical climates with steady humidity.
• Grown on hardwood logs or sterilised sawdust substrates.
• Requires high humidity, fresh air exchange, and diffused light for quality fruiting.
• Harvested when spines are white/cream and still tender.
• Cultivated production is preferred to protect wild populations and allows consistent potency.
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