About Mushrooms Mushrooms are unique, stationary like a plant, yet built from chitin, the same material contained in the shell of a lobster. Understanding the properties of chitin is critical to understanding how to choose an effective, high-quality medicinal mushroom product.
Chitin is indigestible by humans.
Yet chitin, which makes up the cell walls of mushrooms and mushroom mycelium, contains the potent immune stimulating compounds common to all medicinal mushrooms, the polysaccharides. Only a heated liquid solution can break down the indigestible chitin and release the active compounds into a concentrated, bio-available form. When used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for chronic conditions or immune health medicinal mushrooms are always prepared with heat and water, as a tea or a decoction. Scientific research backs this traditional preparation method. Every form of extraction, including precipitation with alcohol, requires a heated liquid solution to first release the polysaccharides, the primary active compounds, from the chitinous cell walls of the mushroom and mushroom mycelium.