🔬Coffee with Lion's Mane & Chaga: The Science-Based Benefits

Looking to upgrade your coffee? — Lion’s Mane and Chaga mushrooms can elevate your mental clarity, physical endurance, and overall health!

These well-known mushrooms have been shown to support brain health and function, boost immunity, promote gut health and even more!

In this blog, we’ll explore the scientifically proven benefits of these remarkable fungi and show you how they can transform your daily coffee into a health-boosting elixir☕

 

 

Lion's Mane

Let's start with Lion's Mane.

Studies have shown that Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) may lead to the following benefits*:

• 🧠 Brain Health & Cognitive Enhancement **
• 🌞 Better Mood **
• 🍏 Gut & Gut Microbiome Health
• 🍀 Antioxidant & Anti-inflammatory
• 🛡️ Immune Health
• ⚡ Physical Endurance
• 🍸 Reduce alcohol damage
• 🧬 Rejuvenation & Longevity

** Reported in Human studies

 

🧠 Brain Health & Cognitive Enhancement

In recent years, extensive research of Lion's Mane in animal and human studies has demonstrated neuro-protective, neuro-regenerative, and nootropic properties of this mushroom. [1, 2, 3]

 

Bioactive Compounds

Lion's Mane contains bioactive compounds like hericenones, erinacines, polysaccharides, and ergothioneine. [4, 5]

Erinacines are present in Lion's Mane's mycelium, and Hericenones are present in its fruiting body. Polysaccharides and ergothioneine are present in both. [5, 6]

• Erinacines and hericenones can stimulate nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) synthesis, which is crucial for neuroplasticity and memory, and overall brain health. [7, 8, 9] They also improve neurite outgrowth through other mechanisms [5], and enhance neurogenesis (new brain cells formation) in the hippocampus. [10, 11]
• Polysaccharides have shown immunomodulatory and antioxidant activities. [5, 12, 13]
• Ergothioneine is a potent antioxidant that can reduce oxidative damage. [14, 15, 16]

A summary of active substances of Lion's Mane and their biological activities (adapted from Qiu Y. et al., 2024)

 

Animal & Cell Culture Studies

The neuroprotective mechanisms involve nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) synthesis stimulation (key molecules for memory formation), antioxidant effects, and anti-inflammatory activities. [2, 3, 17-21]

• In mouse models, Lion's Mane extracts improved memory, and reduced amyloid plaques and inflammation in Alzheimer's disease models. [17, 18]
• Lion's Mane treatment increased neurogenesis (new brain cells production) markers like doublecortin in the hippocampus of aged mice. [10, 11, 19]
• In vitro (in cell cultures), Lion's Mane stimulated neurite outgrowth (which is crucial for neuroplasticity and memory), and protected neuron cells from toxicity. [20, 21]
• Also, the 2025 in vitro study has concluded: "...Hence, our findings emphasize the therapeutic promise of myo-inositol compounds of the H. erinaceus [Lion's Mane] aqueous extract in ADHD conditions." [83]

 

Human Studies

• In a study on 30 people with mild cognitive impairment, Lion's Mane improved cognitive scores compared to placebo. [22]
• A study on people over 50 has found that Lion's Mane prevented short-term memory decline and improved cognition. [23]
• In people with mild Alzheimer's disease, supplementation with Lion's Mane mycelium's molecule erinacine A improved cognitive function and daily living scores. [24]

 

 

🌞 Better Mood

• 2 small clinical studies have found reduced depression and anxiety symptoms within 4 weeks of Lion's Mane intake. [25, 26]
• 1 more non-randomized clinical study of 77 people has also found that: "H. erinaceus (Lion's Mane) promoted an improvement in mood disorders of a depressive-anxious nature and of the quality of nocturnal rest. These effects persisted after eight weeks of H. erinaceus wash-out, suggesting that H. erinaceus might affect neuronal plasticity as expected by a NGF or BDNF like effect." [27]

 

 

🍏 Gut & Gut Microbiota Health

Studies on animals indicate that Lion's Mane extract exhibits gastroprotective, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and prebiotic effects, promoting beneficial gut bacteria while alleviating gastrointestinal diseases.

• A 2013 study on rats has shown a significant gastroprotective and regenerative activity of Lion's Mane extract in gastric ulcer models. [28]
• A 2017 study on mice and cell cultures has shown that Lion's Mane's proteins provide immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects through regulating the gut microbiota. [29]
• The same year study on rats has shown that Lion's Mane extracts relieve inflammatory bowel disease by regulating immunity and gut microbiota. [30]
• A 2023 review summarized more than 10 studies of the efficiency of different Lion's Mane's compounds against numerous gastrointestinal diseases and has concluded that the results are promising. [31]
• Finally, a 2024 study on mice, published in Biology, has concluded that Lion's Mane "promotes the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, parallelly reducing pathogen bacteria, therefore revealing its prebiotic effect. Additionally, this oral supplementation had a positive impact on cognitive function, also leading to a decrease in inflammation in the hippocampus, a brain area crucially involved in memory formation and consolidation. Overall, these findings support the notion that changing the gut microbiome composition through nutrition modulation could trigger longevity-promoting effects, protecting from age-related cognitive decline." [6]

Lion's Mane's Beneficial Effects on Gut–Neuroinflammaging–Cognitive Axis (adapted from Priori, E. C. et al., 2024)

 

 

🍀 Antioxidant & Anti-inflammatory

Antioxidant

4 studies on animals [32, 33, 34, 35] have shown that Lion's Mane has significant antioxidant activities, which can contribute to its anti-fatigue and anti-aging activities. [36]

 

Anti-inflammatory

Numerous animal studies have shown that anti-inflammatory action is one of the main mechanisms of Lion's Mane benefits — from reducing neuro-inflammation in preventing Alzheimer's disease [18, 37] to improving gut and overall health by reducing inflammation and modulating healthy gut microbiota, which produces anti-inflammatory molecules. [6, 29, 30]

 

 

🛡️ Immune Health

A large number of in vitro (on cell cultures) [38, 39, 40, 41, 42] and in vivo (on animals) [29, 43, 44, 45, 46] experiments have confirmed Lion's Mane's immunomodulatory activity:

• Lion's Mane polysaccharides improve immune function by functionally enhancing cell-mediated and humoral immunity, macrophage phagocytosis, and NK cell activity. [44]
• A hetero polysaccharide fraction (HEP-W) from Lion's Mane possessed protective effects against cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression in mice by significantly enhancing immune organ index, splenocyte proliferation, NK cell activity, IL-2 production as well as improving the macrophage phagocytosis. These findings suggest that HEP-W could be explored as a natural and effective immunomodulatory agent. [45]
• Lion's Mane polysaccharides could regulate composition of gut microbiota... [and] could regulate the immune function via NF-кB, MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. [46]

 

 

⚡ Physical Endurance

One quality study on mice has shown that after 28 days of Lion's Mane treatment, "Exhaustive swimming times in the [3 different dosage Lion's Mane] groups were significantly longer than that in the Control group, by 18%, 37% and 58%, respectively. These results indicated that Lion's Mane had significant anti-fatigue activity and was capable of elevating the exercise tolerance in mice." [34]

 

 

🧬 Rejuvenation & Longevity

Although by 2024 there were no human studies on Lion's Mane efficiency in human rejuvenation and longevity, some animal studies have shown promising results:

• ...Supplementation with erinacine A-enriched H.erinaceus mycelia extended the lifespan in both Drosophila melanogaster and senescence-accelerated mice by a maximum of 32% and 23%, respectively, compared to the untreated controls...these findings suggest that erinacine A-enriched H.erinaceus mycelia supplement could promote longevity, mediated partly through the induction of endogenous antioxidants enzymes. [47]
• ...Lion's Mane polysaccharides significantly enhanced skin antioxidant enzymes, MMP-1, TIMP-1 activities and collagen protein levels in a dose-dependent manner. It can be concluded that H. erinaceum (Lion's Mane) polysaccharides possess anti-skin-aging activities. [48]
• Also, Lion's Mane extracts significantly reduced locomotor frailty index and cognitive frailty index in old mice [49]
• Ergothioneine (EGT) (a bioactive compound of Lion's Mane) acts as a master food ingredient in promoting longevity via combating oxidative stress, modulation gene expression and signal transduction cascades related to ageing. EGT with the ability to scavenge free radicals, promote upregulation of antioxidants via the Nrf2 pathway and chelate metal ions, has an essential role in preventing the progression of the ageing process. [16]
• It has also been shown that Lion's Mane supplementation could restrain the hepatic damage caused by acute alcohol exposure. [50]

 

 

 

Chaga

If you want even more — here you have it!😎☕

Studies on Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) have shown that Chaga intake may lead to lots of health benefits, including*:

• 🍀 Antioxidant & Anti-inflammatory
• ⚡ Physical & Mental Endurance
• 🔥 Weight Loss & ❤️ Blood Lipids Control
• 🍏 Gut Microbiome Health
• 🧠 Brain Health
• 🍬 Blood Sugar Control
• 🛡️ Immune Health & 💚Overall Health

 

🍀 Antioxidant & Anti-inflammatory

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) mushroom is one of the most powerful antioxidants in the world. [51] (up to 2 times more powerful than acai berries)

Different biomolecules from Chaga have shown strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in lots of studies on cell cultures and animals (here are just some of them):

Polysaccharides

• "...The antioxidative activities of water-soluble and alkali-soluble polysaccharide constituents from I. obliquus might contribute to diverse medicinal and nutritional values of this mushroom." [52]
• "Inonotus obliquus polysaccharides possessed strong antioxidant activity for scavenging free radicals..." [53]

Lanostane triterpenes & triterpenoids

• "The results demonstrate the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of I. obliquus melanin and triterpenoids, which could potentially justify the consumption of this increasingly popular “edible” fungus." [54]
• "These results indicated that the potential anti-inflammatory effects of inonotusols I and L in microglial BV-2 cells may be imparted through suppression of iNOS. These results may support the use of I. obliquus for food and medicinal application." [55]

Polyphenols

• "The isolated compounds exhibited radical scavenging activities in a dose-dependent manner" [56]
• Styrylpyrone polyphenols of Inonotus obliquus origin have the potential to be a source of vigorous free radical scavengers and antioxidant enzyme activators. [57]

Whole Chaga mushroom extract

• "Data presented here... highlights the important anti-inflammatory properties of Inonotus obliquus..." [58]
• "...Results indicated that various Chaga extracts have significant anti-inflammatory activity on LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells [macrophages]..." [59]
• "...effectively prevented the negative impacts of inflammatory agents on flies... elevated reactive oxygen species levels and cell death were alleviated by Inonotus obliquus aqueous extract, suggesting that this extract inhibited intestinal inflammation." [60]

 

 

⚡ Physical & Mental Endurance

4 animal studies have shown a significant role of Chaga in alleviating fatigue.

• "The swimming time to exhaustion was significantly longer in the Inonotus Obliquus Polysaccharides-treated groups [of mice]: IOP-100 (154 min), IOP-200 (210 min), IOP-300 (241 min); compared with the control group (115 min)... Blood lactate was significantly lower in the IOP-treated groups...glycogen contents were significantly higher in IOP-treated groups in the liver and muscle..." [61]
• The free fat mass (FFM) was significantly higher in the IO-1 (1.12-fold), IO-2 (1.14-fold), and IO-3 (1.12-fold) groups than in the vehicle group...increase in muscle volume in the IO-1 (241 mm2), IO-2 (230 mm2), and IO-3 (227 mm2) groups compared with that in the vehicle group (189 mm2) was observed...the grip strength of the vehicle, IO-1, IO-2, and IO-3 group mice was 206.9, 235.0, 259.4, and 288.3 g, respectively...The exhaustive treadmill times of the IO-1, IO-2 and IO-3 group mice were significantly higher (3.39-fold, 3.09-fold, and 4.12-fold, respectively) than those of the vehicle group..." [62]
• Our current data suggest that IO is a promising natural agent in enhancing muscle regenerative capacity and oxidative metabolism thereby preventing muscle wasting. [63]
• Therefore, current study indicated polysaccharide PIO-1 not only has great potential to postpone physical fatigue but also shown potential to improve mental fatigue. [64]

 

 

🔥 Weight Loss & ❤️ Blood Lipids Control

• "...the administration of I. obliquus extract for 12 weeks can obviously control the body weight and attenuate the lipid accumulation accompanied with the decreased levels of FFA (free fatty acids), TG ( triglycerides), and TC (total cholesterol) in the serum, liver, and adipose tissue... The extracts of I. obliquus may be a potential anti-obesity agent..." [65]
• "Moreover, Inonotus obliquus polysaccharides reduced the bodyweight and blood lipid levels of mice induced by high-fat diet." [66]
• "In conclusion, Inonotus obliquus and its compounds attenuate hepatic lipid accumulation in Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by inhibiting liver lipogenesis." [in mice and cell cultures] [67]
• "These findings indicated that the IOP-A can regulate the dyslipidemia of hyperlipidemia rats, and its mechanism may be through regulating the [genes] expression in the metabolism of lipids, and correcting the imbalance of intestinal flora structure caused by a high-fat diet." [68]
• "The results showed that IOP-A2 may exert its hypolipidemic activity by promoting cholesterol metabolism and regulating the expression of the cholesterol metabolism-related proteins" [69]

 

 

🍏 Gut Microbiome Health

2 animal studies have shown that Chaga provides some beneficial changes in the gut microbiome, which may partly explain its health benefits.

• "...Inonotus obliquus polysaccharide increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria, such as Clostridia_UCG-014 and Prevotellaceae_NK3B31, and reduced that of harmful bacteria, such as Colidextribacter and Desulfobacterota in the intestine of both male and female rats..." [70]
• "...there is an increase in the number of beneficial bacteria, such as the Eubacterium coprostanoligenes group and g.Lachnospiraceae NK4A136 group, while the levels of metabolites that are linked to obesity or diabetes, such as 1,5-anhydrosorbitol, are reduced" [71]

 

 

🧠 Brain Health

3 studies on cell cultures [72, 73, 74] and 1 study on rats [75] have shown that Chaga's compounds may provide a neuroprotective effect.

• The present study successfully demonstrated the protective effect of Inonotus obliquus polysaccharides (IOPS) against Alzheimer's disease, and revealed the possible mechanism underlying the ability of IOPS to modulate oxidative stress, especially Nrf2 signaling, and mediate mitochondrial apoptosis. [73]
• "In aging rats, Inonotus obliquus extracts (IOE) can decrease the production of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and the levels of Aβ plaques in hippocampus...Our findings indicate that IOE has potential neuroprotective actions against Aβ-induced neurotoxicity" [75]

 

 

🍬 Blood Sugar Control

3 animal studies have shown promising results:

• "Inonotus obliquus significantly improved the blood glucose level, blood lipid level, and inflammatory factor level in Type 2 diabetes mellitus mice...showed significant hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects with evident anti-inflammatory activity." [76]
• "Inonotus obliquus reduced the levels of blood glucose, restored body weight, and enhanced insulin sensitivity along with insulin tolerance and glucose tolerance in diabetic mice." [77]
• "In conclusion, Inonotus obliquus protected against type 2 diabetes mellitus by ameliorating intestinal barrier dysfunction and might serve as a novel drug candidate for type 2 diabetes mellitus." [78]

 

 

🛡️ Immune Health & 💚Overall Health

There were too many studies on the different potential benefits of Chaga on Immune and Overall Health, so here are short summaries from the 3 latest scientific reviews on Chaga studies:

• Many different properties of extracts or substances derived from I. obliquus have been described to date. These include antiviral, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antiparasitic, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, anticancer properties in vitro, and recently antifatigue effects. [79]
• Various extracts and compounds isolated from I. obliquus possess promising anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiviral properties. In addition, I. obliquus has been found beneficial for the amelioration of various human ailments such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, hepatic disorders, renal diseases, and fatigue, thus making it an attractive natural alternative to pharmacological interventions. [80]
• In conclusion, this review highlights the remarkable potential of Chaga Mushroom as a source of diverse health benefits and their significance in the medicinal industry... The examined literature demonstrates the multifaceted properties of Chaga, including its noteworthy anticancer, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and immunomodulating effects. [81]

A healthy gut microbiome and a diet rich in fiber may enhance the bioavailability of valuable fungal molecules. [82]

 

Conclusion

From enhancing cognitive function and mood to supporting gut health and immunity, the benefits of Lion’s Mane and Chaga mushrooms are as impressive as they are diverse.

When combined with the natural energy boost of coffee, these powerhouse ingredients can help you tackle your day with focus, resilience, and vitality!

Ready to experience your new favorite coffee? Whether you’re pursuing peak performance or just want to feel your best, coffee with Lion’s Mane and Chaga is a delicious and easy step toward a happier you!