The mushrooms that are typically used to make mushroom coffee are associated with classic medicine, and many have been used to treat and prevent various diseases over the years. Recently, scientists have been studying these mushrooms and their effects on various diseases.
One thing that sets mushroom coffee apart from whole mushrooms or regular mushroom supplements (like dried mushroom powders or mushroom extracts) is that they often contain additional ingredients, such as ashwagandha or rhodiola, which are used in classic medicine and may offer their own health benefits. “Mushroom coffees can offer caffeine (if they contain coffee beans) and other functional ingredients that aren’t found in the mushrooms themselves,” he says. Edwina Clark, Dietitianowner of Edwina Clark Nutrition in San Francisco.
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If you’re interested in drinking mushrooms for their health benefits, it’s essential to know that there isn’t a ton of research specifically on mushroom coffee. “While the data on mushroom coffee itself is confined, there has been some research on the mushrooms themselves,” Andrews says.
So while the benefits of mushrooms and mushroom supplements may apply to mushroom coffee, there’s no way to know for sure without specific studies. What’s more, most studies on mushrooms have been done in vitro (or in test tubes, not on humans). So these types of studies are considered early evidence and may not show us the full picture of how mushrooms will affect cells in a living human body.
With that in mind, here’s what the existing evidence says about the potential benefits of the types of mushrooms commonly used to make mushroom coffee.
1. Better functioning of the immune system
Although most of the research is preliminary and more evidence (including human studies) is needed, one review found that several laboratory studies have shown that reishi mushrooms may support immune cell function.
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2. Reduced risk of heart disease
3. Cancer Protection
One of the main areas of research into mushrooms is their potential anticancer properties. Several test-tube studies suggest that mushrooms may facilitate fight cancer cells, although it is impossible to know whether this is true in humans without human studies.
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4. Better blood sugar control
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5. Improving cognitive functions
If you look at the marketing for mushroom coffee and mushroom supplements, improved brain health is often one of the supposed benefits. But the evidence is somewhat mixed.
One review examined research on the effects of mushrooms on mood and brain health and found that several enormous population studies had linked eating mushrooms (all types were included, but many studies focused specifically on lion’s mane) with improved cognition and mood. The study authors noted that more detailed research is needed to determine how and whether mushrooms might be more definitively linked to these benefits.
“Medicinal mushroom research is still in its infancy,” Clark reiterates. Each of the potential benefits listed above may have more research supporting them in the future, but it’s too early to tell.
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