The claimEvidence C · limited
Lion's Mane regrows neurons
The evidence
Raised nerve growth factor has been seen only in cells and rodents; the human evidence on thinking and memory is small, short-term randomized trials.
The mechanism, in brief
Lion's mane (known in China as the monkey-head mushroom, houtou gu) is an edible mushroom that in recent years has been sold as a brain mushroom that improves memory and even reverses Alzheimer's disease. First, the plain fact: the human evidence for these claims is thin, and most of it is marketing.
Sources (1)
- Lai, P.-L., Naidu, M., Sabaratnam, V., Wong, K.-H., David, R. P., Kuppusamy, U. R., et al. (2013). Neurotrophic properties of the Lion's mane medicinal mushroom, Hericium erinaceus from Malaysia. International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms, 15(6), 539-554. Cell culture only (NG108-15 neuroblastoma-glioma cells; MRC-5 fibroblasts for toxicity): an aqueous H. erinaceus extract was not cytotoxic, induced NGF secretion and neurite outgrowth, and together with 10 ng/mL NGF gave the largest outgrowth (+60.6%); it failed to protect the cells against oxidative stress, so the authors call it neurotrophic but not neuroprotective. It measures no BDNF, no blood-brain-barrier passage and no animals, which this record once claimed (abstract, PMID 24266378).