Explore the proven benefits of reishi mushroom in immunity, cancer support, fatigue, and sleep—plus forms, dosages, and precautions for safe use.
Today, I’d like to discuss a medicinal fungus that has over 4,000 years of use in Asian countries. It became popular relatively recently, and it’s caught up in a kind of great media fever. The projections for annual sales for 2026 are likely to exceed 8 billion dollars worldwide. You find it in coffees and ready-made preparations designed to optimize productivity, to boost energy and cognitive abilities.
Many people talk about it, especially on social media. We get the impression that it’s the miracle coffee made from a miracle mushroom. And whenever that happens, we should all get our alarm going off. And yes, I’ll admit it, I let myself be tempted. I bought several bags of these coffees, and spent quite an amount of money. But I wanted to try it because there’s nothing like firsthand experience to know what you’re talking about. And clearly, certain chocolate-flavored versions were particularly kind to my taste buds.
Well. The reality is that I really like reishi. It’s a very promising fungus. But I’m going to take you down a path that’s far less marketable than this coffee story. Because we’re going to talk about health issues that are sometimes complex. Because the journey is long and it demands work, patience, the right forms, and the right dosages. And that ain’t sexy. But often—and I’ve been able to see this many times as a practicing herbalist—the benefits are there, the results are real.
We’re going to try to keep things simple and practical. This episode will obviously not be a short one, and we’re going to cover quite a lot of ground.
Before we start, I’d like to remind you that I am neither a doctor, pharmacist, nor healthcare professional. The information shared in this episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace medical supervision.
Let’s do a bit of botany. Reishi is a fungus from the Ganodermataceae family. It’s not used as an edible mushroom. If you’ve ever seen it dry, and knocked on it, you know why. It’s very hard and woody. Its Latin name is Ganoderma lucidum for the official variety, lucidum meaning “shiny,” referring to its somewhat lacquered surface.
In Asian medicine, in the past, different types of Ganoderma were used, such as Ganoderma sinense or Ganoderma tsugae. And we have many Ganoderma species growing in Europe, North America, Asia, even in tropical forests. Each has its own distribution, and they grow on different types of trees: oak, ash, beech, maple. In Japan, according to Christopher Hobbs, 99% of reishi grow on plum trees, and they’re so rare that you’ll find at most a few mushrooms for every 100,000 plum trees. So we have many ganodermas in the world. That said, from now on, we’re only talking about the official species, Ganoderma lucidum.
Reishi has a semi-circular cap, quite wavy and bumpy, covered with a smooth and shiny crust, in a brownish-red color that leans toward blackish. Hopefully you’ve already seen it in photos.
I won’t talk to you about wild reishi because it’s rare, and the sources used today are mainly cultivated.
Alright, let’s start with reishi in Chinese medicine. Over 4,000 years of use in Asia. Now, I’m not a practitioner of Chinese medicine. I haven’t studied Chinese medicine. But I find it quite fascinating. And often I try to give you bits of information based on my very imperfect understanding of this art. So if you’re a practitioner of TCM, I apologize in advance because I’m going to bend quite a few things in my own way.
It’s called Ling Zhi. It tonifies the Qi (the Qi of the heart in particular), nourishes the Blood, and calms the Shen. All of this with capital letters to show that we’re talking about the “Blood” as a concept in Chinese medicine, not physiological blood. Tonifying Qi and nourishing Blood means that we’re going to use it during periods when we’re particularly tired, with shortness of breath, loss of appetite, cold extremities. Overall, energy, blood and warmth are no longer circulating in a sufficient way.
So, making a rather crude simplification, we would position reishi as a tonic that helps us get through periods of fatigue and global deficiency, lack of circulation, and function. In fundamental Chinese medicine texts like the Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (written around 100 BCE), reishi is placed at the very top of the hierarchy of so-called “superior” remedies, characterized by their absence of toxicity and their ability to preserve vitality over the long term. It was rare, precious, and mainly used by emperors.
This function on vitality is something we find in adaptogenic plants, which I’ve already discussed at length in other episodes devoted to this term “adaptogen.” I explained that it’s a term being questioned today, especially in France for its lack of scientific testability. Long story. But I keep that term; I like it because it’s always helped me in my practice. It’s not perfect, certainly, but like any caricature, it allows us to pin down how certain plants work. So here, with reishi, we could speak of a tonic or an adaptogen.
But we add this rather particular part of “calming the Shen.” The Shen can be roughly translated as “Spirit.” It includes our consciousness, our mental functions, our “presence,” our emotional balance. The Shen resides in the Heart, where it withdraws at night to rest. We say that the Shen resides in the Heart and that Blood is its vehicle. It’s via Blood that the Shen circulates through the body. For the Shen to be stable and well-rooted, Blood must therefore be abundant and of good quality.
If the Shen is disturbed, we see sleep problems appearing, anxiety, emotional instability, difficulty staying present and centered. Reishi, by nourishing Blood and stabilizing the Shen through its action on the Heart, will therefore bring emotional stability and facilitate deeper, more restorative sleep.
In modern terms, we could say that it has a calming influence on the nervous system: soothing, helping reduce anxiety, and supporting better-quality sleep. But it’s important to note that it doesn’t act like a sedative that knocks you out: it stabilizes, it grounds.
It also tonifies the Qi of the Lungs, transforms Mucosities, and calms cough and wheezing. Which makes us think of asthma, and we’re going to broaden a little more, to allergic asthma and even further to all allergic situations. We’ll talk more about this in a few minutes.
I’ll stop here with Chinese medicine inspiration, but it’s important to talk about it because you will see that it’s globally a pattern we’ll find in modern indications.
But first, let’s talk about the constituents.
The best-known are polysaccharides. There are many of them. A large part of reishi’s properties can be attributed to polysaccharides, in particular all the immune properties we’re going to discuss. The best-known polysaccharides are beta-glucans. We’re getting into a bit more detail by identifying 1,3 and 1,6-beta-glucans, because they are active, and they make it possible to distinguish between the polysaccharides of the mushroom and those of the substrate on which they’re grown (and thus, incidentally, to detect possible falsifications and manipulations of supplements).
Second important family: triterpenes like ganoderic acids, lucidenic acids, ganoderiols, ganodermanondiol, ganodermanontriol, etc. They demonstrate cytotoxic and antitumoral properties, they are antiviral (they notably inhibit HIV proteases and enteroviruses). They are hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and much more.
We have active proteins and peptides (like fungal immunomodulatory proteins, the most studied being Ling Zhi-8, other proteins like ganoderin, ribonucleases, antioxidant peptides like GLP4, etc.)
Steroids and sterols with names I won’t venture to pronounce, but they’re listed on my website: (5α,8α)-epidioxy ergosta-6,22-dien-(3β)-ol, (α)-spinasterol, etc.
Flavonoids and phenolic acids.
Alkaloids like lucidimines, ganocaclicines A and B, sinensine E, and ganocochlearine.
So a complex cocktail, as usual. A portion will be extracted by water. A portion will be extracted by alcohol. Which brings us to a process that optimizes the extraction of active compounds from mushrooms, called “double extraction.” Water allows extraction of the large family of polysaccharides; alcohol allows extraction of the large family of terpenes, and incidentally alkaloids, steroids and sterols, etc. You can do this at home, you will find several websites that describe the preparation. There are some very high-tech ways to do it with ultrasound machines, vacuum evaporations, etc.
There’s therefore a very wide variety of possible preparations, from the Asian tradition which makes a long decoction, so an extraction that will tend toward polysaccharides and be low on terpenes. To simple tinctures, which will maximize terpenes but will be low in polysaccharides.
In any case, there isn’t one form that works and the others that don’t. There are gradients. I’ve seen people get excellent results with different forms. That said, the state of the art tells us that the optimal form, the most concentrated form, the most complete form, is made by double extraction.
OK, let’s talk about properties and indications. I’ll add scientific references in the article for this episode on my site. Almost all the studies are Asian; primarily Chinese. But I will let the herbal practices of different countries guide this episode. So the main question is: in what situations do we use it exactly, and in what situations does it give results, even if sometimes the science data are partial.
And we’re going to start with something quite fundamental, which is the action on immunity. We owe this action primarily to polysaccharides. Reishi stimulates immunity that’s too low. So we’re thinking here of situations in which the person gets regular colds and infections, and we’d like to help them strengthen their immunity. We see this in elderly people, in people who are immunocompromised for one reason or another (this includes HIV), or perhaps following a long treatment. It can be linked to a period of great fatigue (we’ll talk about it again), given that vitality and immunity are often linked.
Reishi can also help when immunity is dysregulated and attacks harmless substances, whether outside our body (we speak of allergies in this case) or inside our body (we then speak of autoimmune diseases). We could use the term “immune excess” here.
So the overall effect of reishi on immunity is a balancing effect. It can be a good foundation for people with weak immunity, for people with allergic or autoimmune conditions. A “foundation” means that we’re often going to add other plants to the protocol, but it’s a good base for the protocol. In seasonal allergies, for example, we can take reishi for weeks, and on top of that, if necessary, add our classics like plantain, nettle, rosemary, etc., if the situation calls for it.
We are going to seek out this stimulating immune aspect in cancer support. Reishi is widely used in integrative oncology. It’s probably the field where we can find the most scientific studies.
Reishi will bring many benefits here. It will tend to improve:
References: Jin 2012, Zhong 2019, Chen 2023, Lin 2019.
To stay with quality of life, we have a randomized pilot trial in 48 female patients on hormonal therapy for breast cancer that was able to measure an improvement in fatigue, physical well-being, anxiety, depression, and quality of life (Zhao 2011).
Overall, clinical trials remain small and sometimes fragile from a methodological point of view, with very different reishi formulations from one study to another. So it’s hard to compare forms and dosages. In practice, however, I think we have enough data today, from different countries, to say that reishi can really help a person get through these difficult times, to make immunity stronger, to improve vitality, without toxicity.
Obviously, for anything involving the use of natural substances in an oncology protocol, you will need to validate with your medical team to avoid risks of interactions with your treatment.
OK. Now, we’ve talked about reishi as a tonic, a stimulant of vitality, which will give it a nice place in any situation of long fatigue, deep fatigue, chronic fatigue. It can be useful in chronic Lyme disease, in fibromyalgia. You have to give it time here depending on the situation. Sometimes several months.
And at the same time, and that’s what I find so interesting about reishi, it calms the nervous system when it’s overstimulated, and it promotes better sleep. The two states being linked, obviously.
And even in states of great fatigue, sleep is sometimes very disturbed. Which is extremely frustrating for the person—they’re constantly exhausted, and their sleep is very light, very restless. Reishi can help here.
Reishi is hepatoprotective (Chiu 2017). That is, it protects the liver against substances that will damage it. It’s indicated when there’s an elevation of inflammation markers for the liver (transaminases and GGT). It’s not the only plant that has this effect—we know milk thistle is quite suited for these indications. Many other plants like dandelion root, burdock root, or rosemary also have a hepatoprotective effect.
And here is what we can do here. We can begin to combine multiple properties. Imagine a person going through chemotherapy for cancer, who is particularly tired, and who has an elevation of liver markers due to chemo—a very classic situation. Well, reishi could do it all here. Although personally, I would add milk thistle here to move things a bit faster.
We saw a few minutes ago that it was also nephroprotective, that is, protective of the kidneys when there’s a risk of nephrotoxicity. Which can also happen during chemo.
And to be exhaustive, I should tell you that certain cases of hepatotoxicity have been reported in the scientific literature after ingestion of reishi (Wanmuang 2007). Was the product mixed with substances that don’t belong in the product? Is it the reishi itself, given that sometimes we have surprising reactions with plants in certain individuals? We had talked about this in the episode on cases of ashwagandha toxicity if you remember. Here, I don’t have enough information to tell you.
Does reishi have other properties? Gosh yes, it’s one of the most-studied natural substances, and it makes your head spin a bit.
So we could spend a whole day going through all the properties and indications of reishi. And it would be really interesting to go search for all the clinical studies that took place in the 1980s in China and Japan. I understand that it’s a very interesting decade for clinical use of reishi.
But on the other hand, the longer the list, the less we manage to retain things, the less we manage to position reishi in practice.
So I’m back to something simplified:
Alright, now forms and quantities. At this point, if you’re interested in medicinal fungi to any degree, you might be wondering: should we use reishi mycelium, or rather the fruiting body (that is, what we call the mushroom itself), or both? And it’s a big debate in mycotherapy circles. For reishi, we use the fruiting body.
You’ll hear that you need to use liquid forms because we don’t digest chitin and the active compounds are trapped in chitin. It’s not as black and white as that. It’s a matter of gradation of efficacy. I’ve seen beautiful results with very fine powders of reishi fruiting bodies taken in a capsule and well-dosed. But yes, overall, if you make a nice double extraction, the different constituents will be better extracted and absorbed.
Overall, I admit, it’s complicated. There are many different reishi products that make navigation difficult.
Here are some well-tested forms, in order of increasing bioavailability:
We do long cures with daily intake. It is not necessary to take breaks here. And it takes time—be patient.
For product quality, it’s better to get close to the manufacturer and ask about manufacturing processes, quality labels, analysis results, etc. Because as soon as you enter the world of powders and dry extracts, I can tell you there’s a ton of cheating, unfortunately. And a ton of very good products too. It takes time to explore this little world.
In terms of precautions:
And here we conclude this long episode on reishi. Sorry, but it’s the shortest I could make on a mushroom this rich and a supplement market this complex. I hope you find good suppliers because reishi is a pretty powerful tool when you know how to use it.
Thank you for being here. I will see you very soon for the next episode of TheFrenchHerbal.
Global annual sales projections: www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/reishi-mushroom-market-report
Chen, S.-N., Nan, F., Liu, M., Yang, M.-F., Chang, Y.-C., & Chen, S. (2023). Evaluation of Immune Modulation by β-1,3; 1,6 D-Glucan Derived from Ganoderma lucidum in Healthy Adult Volunteers, A Randomized Controlled Trial. Foods, 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods12030659
Jin, X., Beguerie, J. R., Sze, D., & Chan, G. C. (2012). Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi mushroom) for cancer treatment. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 6, CD007731 . https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.cd007731.pub2
Zhong, L., Yan, P., Lam, W., Yao, L., & Bian, Z. (2019). Coriolus Versicolor and Ganoderma Lucidum Related Natural Products as an Adjunct Therapy for Cancers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2019.00703
Zhao, H., Zhang, Q., Zhao, L., Huang, X., Wang, J., & Kang, X. (2011). Spore Powder of Ganoderma lucidum Improves Cancer-Related Fatigue in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Endocrine Therapy: A Pilot Clinical Trial. Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine : eCAM, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/809614
Lin, Zhi-Bin & Yang, Baoxue. (2019). Ganoderma and Health Pharmacology and Clinical Application: Pharmacology and Clinical Application. 10.1007/978-981-32-9421-9.
Chiu HF, Fu HY, Lu YY, Han YC, Shen YC, Venkatakrishnan K, Golovinskaia O, Wang CK. Triterpenoids and polysaccharide peptides-enriched Ganoderma lucidum: a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study of its antioxidation and hepatoprotective efficacy in healthy volunteers. Pharm Biol. 2017 Dec;55(1):1041-1046. doi: 10.1080/13880209.2017.1288750. PMID: 28183232; PMCID: PMC6130508.
Wanmuang H, Leopairut J, Kositchaiwat C, Wananukul W, Bunyaratvej S. Fatal fulminant hepatitis associated with Ganoderma lucidum (Lingzhi) mushroom powder. J Med Assoc Thai. 2007 Jan;90(1):179-81. PMID: 17621752.
