A highly valued medicinal mushroom in both Classical Chinese Medicine and modern clinical practice. In China it is called "winter worm, summer grass", and the "caterpillar mushroom". Cordyceps is found in the highlands of China, Tibet, and Nepal, above 10,000 feet. Cordyceps attracted the attention of the general public and the health profession in 1993 when a group of Chinese runners broke nine world records in the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Germany. Afterwards the coach attributed those results to the athletes regular use of a cordyceps based tonic. Because Cordyseps helps increase stamina, energy levels, and endurance, it has become one of the top selling sports supplements amongst the worlds' elite competitive athletes. Clinically, Cordyceps is used to support immune health. Cordyceps Sinensis Cs-4 The wild fruiting form of Cordyceps used in Traditional Chinese Medicine is extremely rare in the wild and because of this it is very expensive. Chinese scientists spent many years looking for a vegetative form of Cordyceps that would produce the same active compounds as the fruit body; the result of that research is the Cordyceps strain Cs-4. All of the published clinical research has been conducted with hot water extracts of the mycelium of the Cs-4 strain of Cordyceps, the same strain MushroomScience uses to produce their high potency extract. Clinical Research There has been a significant amount of research done on Cordyceps. Studies have looked at the immuno-modulating and immuno-regulating activities, uses in supporting renal health and respiratory health.

Formerly known as Immune Builder, 5 Mushroom Formula is a powerful blend of medicinal mushrooms, all of which are notable for their high content of the immune system supporting, connective-tissue building, and skin youthening molecules known as beta-glucans. Beta glucans is a specific type of polysaccharide (glyconutrient) similar to those found in yacon, goji berries, kelp, and aloe vera. Each of the mushrooms in 5 Mushroom Formula contains beta-glucans with unique shapes, allowing each of them to fit into special receptor sites on different immune cells in the human body. Once the ‘key’ of a beta-glucan fits into the ‘lock’ of the receptor site on an immune cell, a specific immune response is generated. The different shapes of these beta-glucans produce a wide array of immune responses. In this way, immune-enhancing benefits may be linked to diets rich in foods containing glyconutrients (polysaccharides and beta-glucans) from many different sources. The combination of medicinal mushrooms in Immune Builder has been carefully formulated to offer each of us a high level of fortification against the daily assaults faced by the body’s immune system, as well as possible protection against threats posed to the body by more serious health challenges.The polysaccharides and beta glucans found in the mushrooms in 5 Mushroom Formula are concentrated through a combination of hot water and hot water/alcohol extraction processes. Every form of extraction, including precipitation with alcohol, requires a heated liquid solution to release the beneficial polysaccharides from the cell walls of the mushroom fruit body and mycelium. The hot water extraction technique has been used for the past three thousand years in order to make the immune-enhancing polysaccharides found in medicinal mushrooms more bio-available. In addition, extraction methods employing heated liquid solutions are the only ones used when preparing medicinal mushrooms for modern-day clinical use and research.For maximum benefit, one may wish to combine 5 Mushroom Formula with any one of the following superfoods with high polysacchride content: Goji Berries, Fresh, Raw Aloe Vera, and Sun Warrior Organic Activated Barley. This potent blend of medicinal mushrooms contains the following medicinal mushroom ingredients: Agaricus blazei fruit body extract, Coriolus versicolor PSP extract, Reishi (Ganoderma lucidum) fruit body extract, Shiitake (Lentinula edodes) extract, Standardized Patented Extract derived from Maitake Mushroom (Grifola frondosa).

MaitakeGold is a potent Maitake mushroom extract developed by Dr. Hiroaki Nanba, PhD., the inventor of Maitake nutraceuticals. MaitakeGold represents such a significant improvement in Maitake formulations that it was recently granted a U.S. Patent (U.S. Patent # 5,854,404). The only Maitake product that carries Dr. Nanba's personal endorsement, MaitakeGold is organic, and is extracted from Maitake mushrooms grown by the Yukiguni Maitake Company of Japan. Clinical Research The research on Maitake fractions has focused primarily on immuno-modulating properties. Although no controlled human clinical studies have yet to be completed studies involving the use of MaitakeGold for immune support are in progress at Sloan-Kettering. The results of the in vitro research and uncontrolled human clinical research suggest significant immuno-modulating properties including activation of Natural Killer cells.

The Reishi mushroom is one of the most revered herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Now known as Ling zhi in China, there are references to its use in that country as far back as 100 B.C. where it was referred to as the "Herb of Spiritual Potency" and the "Ten-thousand Year Mushroom".The focus of Traditional Chinese Medicine is on actively promoting good health and prevention. Reishi is one of the most highly regarded herbs for this purpose and the mushroom most often used as a general health tonic.Modern clinical research also supports many of the uses for this mushroom as described in traditional medicine. It benefits immune health, cardiovascular health, and liver function. Reishi is also frequently used by mountain climbers to combat altitude sickness and is contained in many of the performance enhancing herbal formulas used by Chinese athletes. This extract is a 20 x 1 super strength full spectrum extract, and is not diluted with un-extracted mushroom material like most commercially available Reishi products. It is carefully processed, at low temperatures, with both water and alcohol to ensure the presence of all the important bio-active compounds.With a guaranteed minimum potency of 12% beta glucans (polysaccharides) and 6% triterpenes, Mushroom Science's Reishi Mushroom Extract is from a strain specially developed that consistently delivers the best this mushroom has to offer, and  matches or exceeds the quality of any Reishi extract now available on the market, and is the most cost-effective method of delivering the many benefits of this fine medicinal mushroom.