Medicinal Mushrooms & What to Look For
Medicinal Mushroom Non-Negotiables
Mushroom supplements are all over the wellness world right now, for good reason. Medicinal mushrooms are powerful allies for the immune system, nervous system, skin, and long-term resilience. But with so many options on the market (at wildly different price points) it’s important to know what you’re actually getting—and paying for. Because not all mushroom products are created equal, and unfortunately, many can even be downright deceptive.
Here’s how to vet a mushroom supplement so you’re not wasting your money and missing out on the medicinal magic these fungi have to offer.
1. Has It Been Heat-Activated?
The most studied and potent medicinal compounds in mushrooms, aka beta-glucans and other polysaccharides, can’t be broken down by the human body without heat extraction. If your mushroom powder or capsule hasn’t been heat-treated, you won’t be able to get the benefits. Your body simply can’t break down the chitin-rich cell walls to access those deeply healing constituents.
Here’s what to look for:
Capsules & Powders → Look for “extract powder” on the supplements facts panel. This means that they have been heat-activated. This is what we use in all of our SubLuna latte mixes—fully bioavailable and deeply effective, no need to heat or do anything to get the benefits.
Tinctures → Look for minimum double-extraction. That means the mushrooms were extracted in both alcohol (for terpenes and aromatics) and hot water (for polysaccharides). At SubLuna, we go even further with our trademark Mushroom Triple Extracts®, a technique we teach to herbalists across the world for maximum efficacy. If the label doesn’t specify double extraction, assume it hasn’t been done.
Teas → Mushrooms in teas, naturally, will be heat activated during the brewing process to extract the goodness inside! When drinking teas with whole mushroom pieces, like our Detox & Chill herbal coffee or ShroomBerry tea blend, make sure you are brewing as an infusion or a decoction, which involves a longer extraction process to fully break down the tough outer wall of the mushroom, rather than just steeping for a few minutes (this is generally the standard for making all herbal teas, a 3-5 minute steep usually isn’t enough)!
2. How Was the Mushroom Grown?
Mushrooms are alchemists, aka they absorb and transform whatever they grow on. That’s why substrate quality is everything. For real medicinal potency, you want mushrooms that are:
Wood-grown if being farmed
Wild-grown if being wildcrafted or wild cultivated
Di-Dao quality, a gold standard in mushroom cultivation set by Traditional Chinese Medicine for purity and potency.
Avoid mushrooms grown on grain, rice, or oats. These substrates dilute the active compounds and can make for an inferior product. At SubLuna, we work with a TCM company to help us source pristine Di-Dao quality mushrooms for our latte powders, and for our Mushroom Triple Extracts®, we work with local farmers and foragers who have the same standards as we do—wood or wild grown only.
3. What Part of the Mushroom Is Used?
This is one of the biggest tricks in the supplement world. If you take a look at a supplements facts panel of a mushroom supplement, you often may see the word mycelium. Mycelium is a red flag to read on the supplements facts panel, as it is the underground network that acts like the mushroom’s digestive system. When mycelium is harvested, it’s impossible to separate it from its food source (usually grain). So if you’re buying a product made from mycelium, you’re mostly paying for filler. And worse, that filler may be triggering for sensitive systems—especially if you’re avoiding gluten or certain grains.
Why do companies use mycelium? It’s much cheaper, since it’s much less potent.
When working with medicinal mushrooms, you want the fruiting body, the part you actually recognize as a mushroom. That’s where the bulk of the medicinal compounds live. Always look for fruiting body only on the label.
Why We Do It Differently at SubLuna
We always provide you with quality products with premium mushrooms. Every mushroom product we offer—whether it’s our Shroom Brew morning latte, Beauty and Bliss Cacao, ShroomStack Gummies or our Triple Mushroom Extracts®—meets and exceeds every single one of the above standards:
✅ Heat-extracted (triple extraction for tinctures)
✅ Wood, wild-grown, or Di Dao quality mushrooms only (no grains ever)
✅ Fruiting body only (never mycelium)