The mushroom supplement industry has a dirty secret: most products on the market deliver only a fraction of the therapeutic compounds their source mushrooms contain. The reason is simple, and it comes down to chemistry. Different bioactive compounds in fungtional mushrooms have fundamentally different solubility profiles. Some dissolve in water. Some dissolve in alcohol. If you only use one extraction method, you are leaving half the medicine behind.
Let us be precise about what is at stake.
Fungtional mushrooms contain two broad categories of bioactive compounds. The first are polysaccharides — primarily beta-glucans — which are water-soluble. These are the compounds most associated with immune modulation. Beta-glucans bind to pattern recognition receptors on immune cells (particularly Dectin-1 receptors on macrophages and dendritic cells), activating both innate and adaptive immune responses. They are the backbone of mushroom immunotherapy and the reason Turkey Tail's PSK became an approved biological response modifier in Japan.
The second category includes triterpenes, terpenoids, and other lipophilic compounds that are soluble in alcohol but not in water. In Reishi, for example, over 130 distinct triterpenoid compounds have been identified — ganoderic acids, lucidenic acids, and others — each with specific bioactivities including anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, and anxiolytic effects. These compounds give Reishi its characteristic bitter taste and much of its therapeutic potency. In Lion's Mane, the crucial hericenones — the compounds that stimulate NGF production — are also primarily alcohol-soluble.
Here is the problem: the majority of mushroom supplements use only hot water extraction. It is simpler, cheaper, and faster. And it does effectively capture the beta-glucans. But it leaves the triterpenes, hericenones, and other lipophilic compounds largely untouched. You get immune support, but you lose the neurological, anti-inflammatory, and adaptogenic properties that make these mushrooms truly remarkable.
Dual extraction solves this by performing both processes sequentially. First, the dried fruiting bodies are subjected to prolonged hot water extraction — typically at 80-100 degrees Celsius for 4-8 hours. This dissolves the polysaccharides and beta-glucans, breaking down the chitin cell walls that would otherwise lock these compounds inside the fungal tissue. The resulting liquid is rich in immune-modulating polysaccharides.
Second, the same material (or fresh material, depending on the protocol) undergoes ethanol extraction — soaking in food-grade alcohol at specific concentrations for weeks. This pulls out the triterpenes, terpenoids, sterols, and other alcohol-soluble compounds. The two extracts are then carefully combined to create a full-spectrum preparation.
The difference in chemical profile between single and dual extraction is not subtle. Laboratory analysis of our Reishi extract, for instance, shows triterpene content exceeding 2% by weight — a level virtually impossible to achieve with hot water extraction alone. Our Lion's Mane extract maintains both the beta-glucan content (above 30%) from the water phase and the hericenone content from the alcohol phase.
There is another dimension to quality that warrants attention: the distinction between fruiting body and mycelium-on-grain (MOG) products. Many commercial mushroom supplements are produced by growing mycelium on a grain substrate (typically rice or oats) and then grinding the entire product — mycelium, grain, and all — into a powder. The resulting product may contain as little as 30-40% actual mushroom material, with the remainder being residual grain starch.
This matters because the therapeutic compounds are concentrated in the fruiting body, not the grain substrate. Beta-glucan testing of MOG products consistently shows lower levels of genuine fungal beta-glucans and higher levels of alpha-glucans — starch from the grain, which has no known immunomodulatory properties. A product that tests at "60% polysaccharides" may contain mostly grain starch, not the beta-glucans that drive therapeutic benefit.
At Fungtion, every product uses 100% fruiting body material with dual extraction. Our 10:1 extraction ratio means that each gram of final extract represents ten grams of raw fruiting body — a concentration factor that ensures therapeutic dosing in every serving. We test for both beta-glucan content and alpha-glucan contamination, and we publish the results.
The mathematics of bioavailability are unforgiving. If your extraction method captures only the water-soluble compounds, you have — at best — half a product. If your raw material is diluted with grain starch, you have even less. Dual extraction from pure fruiting body is not a premium feature. It is the baseline for a product that works.
The industry may treat it as optional. We do not.
日本語
キノコサプリメント業界には汚い秘密があります：市場に出回っているほとんどの製品は、原料のキノコが含む治療化合物のほんの一部しか提供していません。理由は単純で、化学に帰着します。機能性キノコの異なる生物活性化合物は、根本的に異なる溶解性プロファイルを持っています。水に溶けるものもあれば、アルコールに溶けるものもあります。
機能性キノコには、2つの大きなカテゴリーの生物活性化合物が含まれています。最初のカテゴリーは多糖類 — 主にベータグルカン — で、水溶性です。これらは免疫調節に最も関連する化合物です。2番目のカテゴリーには、トリテルペン、テルペノイド、およびアルコールに溶解するがに溶解しない他の親油性化合物が含まれます。
問題は、キノコサプリメントの大部分が熱水抽出のみを使用していることです。ベータグルカンは効果的に捕捉されますが、トリテルペン、ヘリセノン、その他の親油性化合物はほとんど手付かずのまま残ります。
二重抽出は、両方のプロセスを順番に実行することでこれを解決します。まず、乾燥した子実体を長時間の熱水抽出にかけます。次に、同じ材料がエタノール抽出を受けます。2つの抽出物を慎重に組み合わせて、フルスペクトラム製剤を作成します。
Fungtionでは、すべての製品が100%子実体素材と二重抽出を使用しています。10:1の抽出比は、最終抽出物の各グラムが生の子実体10グラムを表すことを意味します。業界はこれをオプションとして扱うかもしれません。私たちはそうしません。