Very few medicinal mushroom companies worldwide specify the

bio-available main active ingredients. This is mainly because often what is sold includes very little or even no active ingredients.

Although it is compulsory to have a Certificate of Analysis, very few companies share this info as their results are not their main selling point. Oriveda shares its Certificates of Analysis with customers.

All third-party test results are available by clicking here.

Heavy metals / trace elements were tested at CWC Labs, Beta-Glucans / Polyphenols were tested at Eurofins and Ganoderic acids, Cordycepin and adenosine were tested at Alkemist Labs.

Some companies emphasise that their products are grown in the wilderness or semi-wilderness or the original environment (e.g in China), often accompanied with nice images of pristine nature.

Whilst it is true that fresh mushrooms in the forest are premium treasures, in case of most medicinal mushrooms it is simply not viable, nor sustainable, to harvest from pristine nature in the origin country and sell commercially in health-food stores across 'first world' countries.

So when the company selling mushrooms says "semi-wild" on package, it may mean that perhaps 1-5% of the mushrooms are grown in the wild, with the rest grown in mushroom farms.

Wild harvesting should also not be an excuse for not having the mushrooms tested for key active ingredients. Why not do both?

Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with growing the mushrooms in contrived evironments, providing it is done with care and experience.

Putting herbs or herbal powder in a bottle together with alcohol and/or water is called 'cold-extraction'. Liquid extracts or alcohol tinctures are effective with herbs, but never with mushrooms. Alcohol or water does not break down chitin, the main structural ingredient of fungal cells that our body cannot digest. Some directly exposed bioactive compounds will dissolve in the liquid, but the percentages are very low. Mushroom tinctures therefore rarely specify bio-active compounds on their supplement facts label, because these levels are entirely unpredictable and in general below the level of detection. At least 95% of the tincture is just liquid and the therapeutic potency is minimal, if any.

Value for money is determined by the amount of bioactive ingredients you get for your money, not by just the weight or the size of the package, nor the beautiful branding/story.

In case of Oriveda, globally highest percentages of third-party proven bio-active compounds are guaranteed to be present. Oriveda products may be more expensive than some mushroom supplements, however the bio-active compounds present are often dozens of times higher, making the purchase money well spent!

Knowing what is listed on the official supplement facts label (not just the the package/website) is essential to determining value for money.

A product without guaranteed levels of bio-actives cannot be valued objectively and as a consumer, one has no clue what is being sold. Accurate dosing is impossible because you don’t know the amount of bio-actives.