Frustrated by the lack of quality lion's mane

I am sure there are benefits to the mycelium, when grown and extracted correctly. Just like any other botanical, plant part is only part of the story. Cultivar, cultivation techniques, growing conditions, extraction methods, and standardizations all go into whether or not something is a good product. The issue is that you have to be able to measure these things with sound scientific techniques before you can say you did it right. If we didn't have analytical methods or reference standards for bacopasides, it would be very hard for me to make a good bacopa extract. I could take a shot in the dark and hope for the best, but that's not sound. This is especially true in the absence of human clinical data.

Imagine if we had no ginsenoside reference standards, and all the human clinical data on ginseng was using the roots. Then someone comes along and says the leaves are way better than the roots. However, no human studies have been run on the leaves yet, and no testing methods to quantify the ginsenosides exist. How would someone make a good ginseng leaf extract? You couldn't. You have to be able to measure the actives to determine if things are effective. Luckily we do have ginsenoside reference standards, and we do have analytical methods for quantifying them. So we can have both a root extract and a leaf extract of ginseng. We can do that because I can be scientifically sure it is a quality extract. We are close on lion's mane mycelium, but not quite there yet.

This is my biggest issue, and why I even got into the nootropics industry in the first place. We need to be SURE that what is in the products people are consuming is exactly what they are supposed to be. That's why I have been here on Reddit for the better part of a decade trying to advance the analytical standards of this industry. Before I even started this company, I was a moderator here on Reddit running the testing program on /r/Nootropics. I would get donations from the community to fund testing, then go out and purchase products we thought were fake or impure. Then I would send to labs and call out the vendors that we caught in the wrong. I've been fighting the same fight longer than most people even knew this subreddit existed. I was one of you guys back then, buying from suppliers and having zero idea if what I was taking was correct or pure. I knew something needed to change. So rather than just wait for someone else to come along and do it, I took up the torch. Many people that have only recently gotten into nootropics may not know that backstory, but I have been saying the same things and pushing the same message for almost 10 years now. We NEED to advance and overhaul the scientific and analytical standards of not just the nootropics industry, but the entire supplement industry. I am sick and tired of companies just coming in here and trying to profit off hype, without doing anything to protect consumers and advance the safety and trust of the community. Doing things right is VERY hard and costly, so most people just don't. Most vendors have zero idea what it even takes to do things right. There is no economic benefit to doing things right. When you start looking under rocks, you are going to find things you don't want to find. Then you have to fix them. It's easier for vendors to just do what everyone else is doing, and not even pick up the rock. That's the exact opposite of what I do. I look under every rock to make sure things are not hiding that will bite us later. It's difficult, expensive, frustrating, and time consuming; and yes, it takes us longer to release some things than people would like. However, they know that I looked under every rock, and that if I release something that means I would personally be comfortable taking it or giving it to my family.

So hopefully that gives you a little insight into the situation. I am not here saying for sure the fruiting bodies are better than the mycelium. I am just here saying that all the current human clinical science is one the fruiting bodies, and we can't yet measure the actives in the mycelium to a high enough scientific standard. However, once that is solved, you can be sure we will release a quality extract that has been thoroughly tested. It will be one that I can stand behind. I will look under all the rocks, and find all the shit people might want to remain blissfully ignorant about, to solve those problems before getting to customers.