Lions Mane and the Brain: Scientific Studies
Growing older is a beautiful life experience. It is liberating and exciting to think of an entire lifetime ahead full of the possibility to learn and grow. But, with growing older comes other pitfalls. Sure, there will be smile lines, sagging skin, and aching joints; but what about the memory loss and the frustrating feeling of working harder rather than smarter?
Brain health is not seen as important compared to Botox for the younger generation, yet the brain is the body’s control center!
As I grow older, I want to ensure my cognitive function is constantly improving. Since I believe Mother Earth provides all that we need, I knew there had to be a medicinal plant that improves brain function and reduces brain disease. This cognitive plant comes from the fungi family: mushrooms. Mushrooms have been used for their medicinal properties for decades all over the world. Egyptian hieroglyphics show mushrooms as the plant of immortality, the Aztecs also consumed sacred mushrooms calling them “the flesh of the gods”, ancient Greece and Rome used mushrooms to treat illnesses.
The six most popular adaptogen mushrooms are Reishi, Lions Mane, Turkey Tail, Chaga, and Cordyceps. But for today, we will be looking at one of the most popular medicinal mushrooms: Lions Mane.
The primary active components in Lion’s Mane come from its scientific name Hericium Erinaceus, Hericenones, and erinacines. Hericenones are abundant in the mushroom’s fruiting body. They are known to help the brain produce more Nerve Growth factors. While erinacines are mainly contained in the mushroom’s mycelia and are said to easily cross the blood-brain barrier, which boosts neuron production.
The mycelia and the fruiting body contain extraordinarily large amounts of structurally different bioactive components, which include steroids, polysaccharides, erinacines, hericenones, alkaloids, and lactones. These play a large role in treating, alleviating, and preventing major diseases. This paper investigates five scientific studies on Lions Mane and their results, their pros, and their flaws.
Reduction of depression and anxiety by 4 weeks Hericium Erinaceus intakes
This study was a randomized, in-vivo, double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted over 4 consecutive weeks. It was performed on thirty females to investigate the effects of Lion’s mane (Hericium Erinaceus) on menopause, depression, indefinite complaints, and sleep quality. Scientists used a handful of questionnaires to measure the women’s sleep, depression, menopausal index, and indefinite complaints.
The results of this study showed that Lion’s Mane intake has the possibility of reducing anxiety, complaining, and depression. As for depression, the mean KMI score after the trial was significantly lower than before the trial in the H. Erinaceus group, so there was no significant difference. The study also showed there was no significant difference in sleep quality.
This study could have been conducted more efficiently. Since this was a randomized study there were differences in age, BMI, and lifestyle habits. Some participants in the group were alcohol drinkers which could affect the results, as alcohol is a depressant drug. This study could have been more accurate if all things were held constant.
Another flaw of this study is the dosage of Lions Mane. According to nootropics, expert Lion’s Mane should be taken 1-3 times a day of 500-1000mg. In this study, the women were only having .5 grams of Lions Mane per day, which may not show a significant difference in four weeks. It could also be improved by increasing dosage, the longevity of study, and people with similar lifestyle habits and diets.
Improvement of cognitive functions by oral intake of Hericium Erinaceus
In this randomized, in-vivo, double-blind comparative study, scientists evaluated cognitive function improvements on healthy human adults that orally took Lion’s Mane. One group of participants took 0.8 grams (800 mg) of a Lion's Mane supplement four times a day, while the other took a placebo supplement. The study was conducted for 12 consecutive weeks. They used three structured questionnaire surveys to evaluate cognitive improvement: a mini–Mental State Examination, a test for recognition of functions, a visual retention test, and a standard paired-associate learning test.
According to this study, the intake of Lion’s mane was significantly effective for the improvement of cognitive functions, primarily from the Mini-mental state examination. There was no significant difference in the other examinations. The scores for the Lion's Mane and the placebo group were similar as well, considering both group’s mini-mental state examination results decreased.
There were no significant differences in the visual retention test before and after the Lion's Mane supplement. There was also no statistically significant difference in the standard learning test, but the Lions Mane group did show slight improvement compared to the placebo group.
What I liked in this study was the strict criteria for participants. The participants had to be healthy and over the age of 50 with normal cognitive functions. They ensured to exclude anybody who has or had an illness, disorder, disease, pregnancy, or addiction, as well as other exclusions. They also conducted the study for 12 weeks to ensure more time to remodel nerve structure in the brain. Between the two groups, there was no significant difference in age.
This study could have been improved if they used both the mycelia part of the mushroom and the fruiting body, rather than just the fruiting body. This study also failed to mention if all else (lifestyle and diet) was held constant. Since this experiment was conducted once, there were no other replications.
Saitsu, Y., Nishide, A., Kikushima, K., Shimizu, K., & Ohnuki, K. (2019). Improvement of cognitive functions by oral intake of Hericium Erinaceus. Biomedical Research, 40(4), 125-131
Approximately 1.6 million Americans currently have IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease). That is a lot of people in discomfort and yet a lot of big companies and pharmaceuticals profit off people in constant pain. This clinical study was conducted on rats to see if Lion's Mane relieves IBD by regulating immunity and gut microbiota. In this study, scientists used Lion's Mane extracts which consisted of “polysaccharide, alcoholic extracts, and whole extracts were prepared using solvent extraction methods”.
Rats were induced with IBD by trinitro-benzene-sulfonic acid enema (150 mg/kg) then administered Lion's Mane for 2 weeks. After being IBD induced, the rats had symptoms of reduced activity, weight loss, ruffled fur, lethargy, and bloody stools. However, all symptoms disappeared in 9-10 days. The rats in the Lion's Mane group showed significant improvement, compared to the control group of rats that were not administered, Lions Mane.
This was a controlled group and all things remained constant in this study: diet, water, fasting, and injections. According to this study, Lion's Mane extracts could promote beneficial gut bacteria growth as well as improve host immunity in vivo IBD model.
This study could be improved by reconducting it with human individuals diagnosed with IBD. This study could also be improved by increasing the length, as two weeks is a short amount of time to see improvements with adaptogenic mushrooms. The study also failed to replicate this experiment. Aside from that, this experiment was well conducted and had a placebo group and variables in place.
Yamabushitake mushroom (Hericium Erinaceus) improved lipid metabolism in mice fed a high-fat diet
Obesity is an important health problem in the United States. More people and children are diagnosed as overweight today compared to 10 years ago and the number increases every year. This controlled in vivo study was conducted to see if Lion's Mane could improve lipid metabolism in Mice that were fed a high-fat diet.
In this study, they used two types of Lion's Mane mushroom extract; a hot water extract and an ethanol extract, both containing the fruiting body of the mushroom. The mice were divided into three groups: a control group, a hot water extract group, and an ethanol extract group. Everything including water and food was held constant between groups. The mice had access to fresh food and water during the experiment.
By the end of the 28-day treatment period, the weight of both Lions Mane groups was significantly lower than the control group. Scientists also measured the mice’s mesenteric adipose tissue, which is a tissue that lies between the gut and liver and plays a role in hepatic metabolic disease, and both the Lion's Mane groups were significantly smaller than the control group, about 32.4%, and 38.5% decrease.
Therefore, according to this study Lion's Mane decreased body weight gain, mesenteric adipose tissue weight, and serum and hepatic TG levels in the mice. The pros of this study were that they held everything constant and food intake did not differ among the groups. The mice were weighed every 2-3 days.
This experiment could be improved by using only one form of Lion's Mane rather than two. In addition, the hot water extract contained 200 grams of dried Lion's Mane powder while the ethanol extract contained 400 grams of Lions Mane powder. Although both extracts resulted in a significant decrease, the study could have been improved by using the same amount of mushroom powder. This study could also be replicated in humans rather than animals. They also did not state when and how often they are feeding these mice Lions Mane, or if there were more replications.
According to epidemiological data, obesity is associated with mood disorders. Although there is no direct evidence to support brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) affecting mood disorders and obesity; its involvement in both conditions makes BDNF an important factor to investigate. BDNF controls growth, survival, neurogenesis, and differentiation of a diversity of neurons, primarily those in the hippocampus.
This in-vivo study was conducted on obese humans of both genders that were put on a low-calorie diet. Each participant was tested positive for one or more administered tests for depression, binge eating, and anxiety. The individuals were put into groups where they were given Lion's Mane capsules three times a day for 8 weeks. The capsule contained 80% mycelia and 20% of the fruiting body extract, totaling 1500 mg of Lions Mane a day. Since this was a controlled study, one group received placebo capsules.
After 8 weeks, scientists measured the effects of Lion's Mane with the group that tested positive for anxiety during recruitment time and found a significant improvement of 12.6% in anxiety disorder.
Interestingly, after H. Erinaceus supplementation, they measured a significant improvement in anxiety disorder of about 12.6%. The individuals in the group that fell in the moderate and high degree of depression according to Zung’s depression scale, had a mean score value of 48.8± 1.03. After the 8 weeks of Lions Mane supplementation, their mean score value decreased to 43.5 ± 1.54. This indicates that Lion's Mane significantly decreased depression symptoms.
All participants in the study moved from a score index of the “moderate state” to “low state” for depression and anxiety after the Lions Mane supplementation. On the other hand, the Binge Eating assessment score significantly decreased in the control group and the Lions Mane group. This suggests that Lion's Mane did not exert any effects on Binge Eating and the improvement was due to the low-calorie diet.
Flaws of this study: Although the ages of these participants were close, it did not count for their activity level throughout the day or any other constant. The study could be improved by holding all variables constant and having multiple replications. It could also be improved further by conducting it on one gender rather than both.
In conclusion, Lion's Mane had a positive effect on most of these studies. The mushroom itself and its extract have been shown to have a variety of health benefits. The research found that lion's mane may reduce mild symptoms of depression and anxiety, help repair nerve damage, improve gut health, and improve cognitive function. While the current research is promising, more human studies are needed.
Since I'm adamant about improving brain health, I started incorporating Lions Mane into my diet. I like to pan fry it and eat it with some sea salt or make a sandwich out of it. There are also a lot of great Lions Mane supplementation in the market, but my favorite is Mudd Wtr. With four other mushrooms (Cordyceps, Chaga, and Reishi), and superfoods like cacao, turmeric, and cinnamon. It’s a wonderful (and tasty) addition to my morning routine. Check it out here.