Comment · Thu, October 18, 2018 · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
So is Paul Stamet’s Brand Host Defense Garbage in terms of Lions Mane?
Original post in this thread
toinfinityandbyd · 69 points
Im really considering buying Real Mushroom’s Lions Mane product. I just seen so many threads on this and how Host Defense includes mycelium (root of mushroom) thats turned into grain. I should avoid the latter. Im new to the Nootropics game but Im gonna finish this bottle of Host Defense and grab myself another product. What do you yall think?
What they were answering
mysticnumber · 1 points
Ok, like I said its been a while I may be wrong or only looked at certain studies. This is a topic that interests me, mushrooms are amazing things and I think there is a lot we will learn a lot from them.
I'm curious as to why everyone says Stamet's host defense supplements are crap, surely they were created by a leading mycologist, presumably using the best current science, or is this not true at all? Are they effective or not? Why?
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Natrium Health & Nootropics Depot
I've made a couple long and detailed comments surrounding this that I will link here, rather than type it all out again.
TL;DR- All the human clinical research behind lion's mane has used whole fruiting bodies. Host Defense sells mycelium that is grown on rice. They then grind up that rice/mycelium mass, put it into capsules, and call it a mushroom. This not only violates current FDA guidelines, it's misleading consumers. They are not consuming mushrooms. They are consuming myceliated rice. Furthermore, all the testing we have done on Host Defense products show it is mostly starch. The beta-glucan numbers we are seeing in their products are extremely low, or almost nonexistent. You can do a test at home with iodine. Iodine turns dark blue/purple when it hits starch. Make a solution of water and any Host Defense product, then put some iodine in it and watch it turn dark purple. Anyone can do this at home. Then do the same with a real lion's mane product, and notice it does not turn purple. That's because there is no ground up rice in it, but the Host Defense is full of it. It even says "Myceliated Brown Rice" on the Host Defense labels. It's crazy to me!