Lion's Mane

Benefits, side effects, and uses of Hericium erinaceus as a supplement: a systematic review.

Menon A, Jalal A, Arshad Z, Nawaz FA, Kashyap R · Frontiers in nutrition · 2025

Hericium erinaceus (HE), commonly known as the Lion's Mane mushroom, is an edible, medicinal fungus containing bioactive polysaccharides. It shows promising properties, including neuroprotective, anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti-proliferative, and anti-inflammatory effects. The mushroom's bioactive chemical components, derived from its fruiting bodies and mycelia (erinacines), demonstrate promising neural-stimulating activity. This systematic review investigates existing literature on the clinical use of HE, outlining its benefits and side effects related to neural stimulation, apoptotic activity, the abundance of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)-producing microbiota, and its role in mood dysregulation, with the aim of establishing a safety profile for the supplement. A systematic literature search was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed was searched for relevant, peer-reviewed articles published between Ja

Therapeutic Potential of Hericium erinaceus for Depressive Disorder.

Chong PS, Fung ML, Wong KH, Lim LW · International journal of molecular sciences · 2019

Depression is a common and severe neuropsychiatric disorder that is one of the leading causes of global disease burden. Although various anti-depressants are currently available, their efficacies are barely adequate and many have side effects. Hericium erinaceus, also known as Lion's mane mushroom, has been shown to have various health benefits, including antioxidative, antidiabetic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antihyperglycemic, and hypolipidemic effects. It has been used to treat cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Bioactive compounds extracted from the mycelia and fruiting bodies of H. erinaceus have been found to promote the expression of neurotrophic factors that are associated with cell proliferation such as nerve growth factors. Although antidepressant effects of H. erinaceus have not been validated and compared to the conventional antidepressants, based on the neurotrophic and neurogenic pathophysiology of depression, H. erinace

Chemistry, Nutrition, and Health-Promoting Properties of Hericium erinaceus (Lion's Mane) Mushroom Fruiting Bodies and Mycelia and Their Bioactive Compounds.

Friedman M · Journal of agricultural and food chemistry · 2015

The culinary and medicinal mushroom Hericium erinaceus is widely consumed in Asian countries, but apparently not in the United States, for its nutritional and health benefits. To stimulate broader interest in the reported beneficial properties, this overview surveys and consolidates the widely scattered literature on the chemistry (isolation and structural characterization) of polysaccharides and secondary metabolites such as erinacines, hericerins, hericenones, resorcinols, steroids, mono- and diterpenes, and volatile aroma compounds, nutritional composition, food and industrial uses, and exceptional nutritional and health-promoting aspects of H. erinaceus. The reported health-promoting properties of the mushroom fruit bodies, mycelia, and bioactive pure compounds include antibiotic, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, antifatigue, antihypertensive, antihyperlipodemic, antisenescence, cardioprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and neuroprotective properties and improvement of a

Potential antidepressant effects of a dietary supplement from the chlorella and lion's mane mushroom complex in aged SAMP8 mice.

Chou MY, Ho JH, Huang MJ, Chen YJ, Yang MD, Lin LH · Frontiers in nutrition · 2022

Since the 1990s, the prevalence of mental illnesses, such as depression, has been increasing annually and has become a major burden on society. Due to the many side effects of antidepressant drugs, the development of a complementary therapy from natural materials is an urgent need. Therefore, this study used a complex extract of chlorella and lion's mane mushroom and evaluated its antidepressant effects. Six-month-old male senescence-accelerated mice prone-8 (SAMP8) were divided into positive control; negative control; and low, medium, and high-dose groups. All groups were treated with corticosterone (CORT) at 40 mg/Kg/day for 21- days to induce depression in the animals, and the effects of different test substances on animal behavior was observed. The positive control group was intraperitoneally injected with a tricyclic antidepressant (Fluoxetine, as tricyclic antidepressant), the control group was given ddH2O, and the test substance groups were administered test samples once daily f

Ameliorating Effect of the Edible Mushroom Hericium erinaceus on Depressive-Like Behavior in Ovariectomized Rats.

Anuar AM, Minami A, Matsushita H, Ogino K, Fujita K, Nakao H · Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin · 2022

Estrogen deficiency during menopause causes a variety of neurological symptoms, including depression. The edible Lion's Mane mushroom, Hericium erinaceus (Bull.: Fr.) Pers. (HE), is a medicinal mushroom that has the potential for a neuroprotective effect and ameliorating neurological diseases, such as depression, anxiety, and neurodegenerative diseases. HE contains phytoestrogens, including daidzein and genistein. However, the ameliorating effect of HE on menopausal symptoms is not well understood. Here we investigated the impact of methanol extract of the HE fruiting body on depressive-like behavior in postmenopausal model rats. The activation of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) causes body weight loss and uterine weight gain. Body weight gain and uterine weight loss by estrogen deficiency in ovariectomized (OVX) rats were reversed with 17β-estradiol (E2) but not with HE. Thus, the phytoestrogens in HE may hardly activate ERα. Estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) is expre