Podcast:
One Thing
Episode 130: Why Your Mushroom Supplements Don't Work (and How to Fix It)
With:
Dr. Adam Rinde
January 25, 2026
I loved talking shop with Dr. Adam Rinde, a fellow naturopathic physician, on the One Thing podcast. We dug into why so many people take a mushroom supplement and feel nothing: extraction order, dose, timing, and products that are mostly grain. Then we went deep on lion's mane as a gut-brain medicine, ergothioneine, cordyceps for burnout, reishi and turkey tail, and a few safety questions I get asked all the time.
Conversation starters
[For awkward dinner parties, silent elevator rides, grocery store lines, and your favorite barista]
“The largest mushroom company on the market is not really mushrooms.”
“If you boil lion's mane first before doing an alcohol extract, then you're going to be destroying the hericenones, which are one of the main components that you want in lion's mane.”
“It's just like powdering up tempeh and putting it in a capsule.”
Key Topics
[02:11] 🔬 From wildcrafting and lab research to prescribing mushrooms in clinic
[14:42] 🧪 What "dual extracted" on a label does (and doesn't) tell you
[16:25] 🔥 Why boiling lion's mane first destroys hericenones, and my favorite fix: Soxhlet extraction
[18:41] 🍄 Fruiting body vs. mycelium, and the one mushroom where mycelium matters
[26:26] 🌾 Myceliated grain: why some "mushroom" products are mostly oats and rice
[29:52] 🦁 Lion's mane as a psychobiotic: healing the gut to support the brain
[32:44] 🛡️ Ergothioneine, the antioxidant backup system your cells store for a month
[36:48] 🔋 Cordyceps for burnout, low cortisol, and mitochondria
[44:39] 🌿 Reishi for stress and sleep, and turkey tail alongside cancer care
[54:32] ⚠️ Safety notes: shiitake, lion's mane and endometriosis, reishi and blood thinners
Spores for Thought
“I really think about lion's mane as a psychobiotic.”
“If you're consuming mushrooms on a regular basis, you've got this backup ergothioneine system that comes into play.”
“Medicinal mushrooms are not synonymous with mycotoxins. These mushrooms we're talking about do not make mycotoxins.”
Resources
Nammex (wholesale mushroom extracts)
Textbook of Natural Medicine (medicinal mushrooms chapter)
Bastyr University (where I did my Rosy Polypore research)
Go Deeper
Substrate Matters: HR (Host Relations) for mushrooms (white paper)
Lion’s Mane: a Psychosomatic Psychobiotic (blog post)
Ergothioneine: The Elusive Amino Acid (blog post)
Ergogenic Potential of Medicinal Mushrooms (blog post)
Shameless Plugs
NEUROADAPT - A five-mushroom formula for focus, memory, and everyday stress resilience, with lion's mane, reishi, cordyceps, golden oyster, and tremella.
IMMUNE - Reishi, turkey tail, and maitake, the three most recognized mushrooms for immune support, to help your immune system stay balanced day in and day out.
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