Reishi

A mushroom from Asian tradition, taken for tiredness, stress and antioxidant activity.

People take it for

Tiredness and stress
Immune activity
Antioxidant activity
Cholesterol and blood sugar

A plain-English overview, not advice. Written from published reviews and trials and from what people say in public forums.

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What is reishi?

Reishi is a mushroom that has been part of East Asian traditional medicine for more than two thousand years, known in China as lingzhi. Two groups of compounds draw most of the research interest: polysaccharides, long chains of sugar units, and triterpenoids, a family that includes the various ganoderic acids. In Britain it is sold as capsules, powders and extracts, made from the fruiting body, the mycelium it grows from, or the whole dried mushroom. It has become popular well beyond Asia as a general wellness supplement, taken more for overall wellbeing than for any single, specific use.

Why do people take reishi?

Tiredness and stress

The thinking. Reishi has a long history as a general tonic, taken for tiredness and for feeling run down, and more recently people have taken it for everyday stress. The thinking behind this draws on its traditional reputation for restoring vitality, and on research that has looked at physical stamina and psychological wellbeing together, rather than as two separate things.

What research has found. Two small trials have looked at this so far. In healthy young women, measures of fitness and exercise capacity improved alongside anxiety, mood and general wellbeing scores after a month at the higher of two doses tested. A separate trial in women with fibromyalgia found improved endurance, flexibility and speed over six weeks, though that trial compared reishi with a different plant rather than a placebo. Research here is still young: a few studies so far, mostly pointing the same way.

Immune activity

The thinking. Reishi has long been associated with the immune system, and taking it as a general, everyday supplement for this reason is one of the most common uses reported. The thinking comes from laboratory work on its polysaccharides and triterpenoids, described as acting on immune cell signalling, though most of that research has been done in cells and in animals rather than in people.

What research has found. One trial, in older women taking an eight-week course of reishi extract, found several changes in immune cell activity: white blood cells responded more readily when stimulated in the laboratory afterwards, several genes involved in immune regulation were more active, and the balance between two types of helper immune cell shifted. The researchers described the overall pattern as anti-inflammatory, though one specific pathway for cell proliferation was not affected. Few studies have measured this yet, so there is little to go on either way.

Antioxidant activity

The thinking. Reishi is also taken as a general antioxidant supplement, often alongside its reputation for immune activity. The idea is that compounds in the mushroom, particularly its triterpenoids and polysaccharides, act on the body’s own antioxidant systems, mopping up reactive molecules that build up in the body’s cells.

What research has found. A six-month trial in healthy adults found several markers of antioxidant capacity improved, alongside lower levels of markers linked to liver stress. A separate, shorter trial in people with or at high risk of heart disease found some antioxidant markers improved significantly and others did not, so the picture across the two trials is not fully consistent. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.

Cholesterol and blood sugar

The thinking. Reishi has also become popular outside Asia as a complementary supplement for cardiovascular health, particularly among people thinking about their cholesterol or blood sugar. The thinking follows the same idea as its antioxidant reputation: that compounds in the mushroom may act on how the body handles fats and sugars, as well as on oxidative stress.

What research has found. The largest piece of evidence is a systematic review of five trials in people with type 2 diabetes, which found no clear improvement in blood sugar, blood pressure or cholesterol. Individual trials since have been mixed: most found no clear difference or only a partial one, but the newest and largest of them, in people with raised cholesterol, found significant drops in cholesterol and triglycerides over twelve weeks. A fair body of trials has looked at this, and most point the same way.

What does reishi do in the body?

Most of the research interest in reishi centres on two groups of compounds. Polysaccharides are long chains of sugar units, chiefly beta-glucans, that make up much of the mushroom’s structure and have been studied for a wide range of biological activities. Triterpenoids, a family that includes the various ganoderic acids, are a second major group, and along with the polysaccharides are the compounds most often linked to the mushroom’s effects on the immune system.

Beyond these two groups, reishi also contains alkaloids, sterols, proteins and nucleosides, giving it a broad and varied chemical profile for a single mushroom. Almost all of this chemistry has been worked out in cells and in animals rather than in people, and reviews of the mushroom describe a large gap between this laboratory picture and the amount of good-quality human trial evidence available.

What do people say about taking reishi?

These are anecdotes people have shared, not evidence.

What people like

All four threads read come from one general parenting and lifestyle forum, so this is a narrow slice of opinion rather than a broad picture.
One person with an autoimmune condition described taking reishi daily and felt their immune system was much stronger afterwards.
One person taking reishi alongside ashwagandha called it a big change for their sleep, though could not say which ingredient mattered.
One person gave reishi extract to a relative with suspected early-stage dementia and felt their memory-related symptoms had eased.

Common complaints

One person, in an unrelated thread about mushroom gummies causing strange effects, blamed reishi specifically for an unusual and unwelcome mental reaction.

How people take it

People describe taking reishi as an extract, in a two-ingredient blend with another herb, or as part of a mixed mushroom gummy.
More than one person combines reishi with another supplement rather than taking it on its own, making it hard to credit reishi alone.
The one account of ongoing use describes taking reishi every day, rather than as an occasional or short course.

Read from these public discussions:

To ask for immunity supplement recommendations please? (Mumsnet, 2022)
Supplements to improve memory (Mumsnet, 2021)
3am wake up - what helps (Mumsnet, 2026)
Have mushroom gummies made me haunted? (Mumsnet, 2025)

What forms of reishi are there?

Form	What’s different	Per serving, on products we list
Fruiting body extract	A concentrated extract made from the mushroom’s fruiting body, the part that grows above ground.	800 mg
Mycelium	The thread-like network the mushroom grows from, rather than the fruiting body itself.	not in our price tables yet
Whole mushroom powder	The whole dried mushroom, milled to a powder rather than concentrated into an extract.	not in our price tables yet

What else is worth knowing about reishi?

Doses in the trials varied widely, from 225 mg a day up to 6 g a day, and trial lengths ranged from six weeks to six months. Labels give the amount per serving, and a serving may be more than one capsule.
One review noted that people taking reishi for around four months reported adverse events more often than those on placebo, although the difference was not statistically significant and none of the events were serious.
A couple of small trials measured liver enzyme levels alongside their main results and reported these improving over several weeks to months; neither trial set out to test liver health on its own, so this is not a settled finding.
One small trial in people with a specific chronic illness (Gulf War Illness) found symptoms rated as worse at a higher daily dose of reishi than at a lower dose or a placebo.

If you take medication, are pregnant, or have a health condition, check with a pharmacist or GP first.

The research behind this page (15 studies)

How much does reishi cost?

That depends on the form and the pack, so we work out the price of the same dose of every reishi product we can find and rank them.

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