Written by Huw Griffiths, Founder of MYCOBIO & Acupuncturist of 35+ years
(Please note anything in italics is from AI Euria, or Google Scholar. All sources and information double checked for accuracy)
How do functional mushroom tinctures help your health and wellbeing in daily life?
Functional mushroom tinctures are the distillation of the ‘goodies’ hidden within the ancient knowledge of fungi natural healing, put into a 50 ml bottle.
I use the word Functional to differentiate from Prescriptive. Many of you will have heard me saying; “ I would like you to take back control of your own health and wellbeing. Through paying attention and ‘listening’ to your body’s needs”.
Prescriptive refers to an approach that establishes rules, norms, or standards for how something should be done. Current Western medical approach. Mushroom tinctures aids you to revive your personal agency over your own health. You can affect the changes needed to regain your internal balance in your own way, which only your body knows how to do.
I suggest we all go for the Functional and intuitive personal empowerment and agency route to our health and wellbeing, let the mushrooms weave their magical instructions.
(Caveat: Western medicine and the NHS are phenomenally good at helping with the gross health problems. But they have a blind spot when it comes to those daily stresses and concerns which turn into physical illnesses due to their complex and real roots of just getting through life.
Functional Fungi have a way of guiding you subtly to what you already know but haven't got round to doing yet in your life and more!
My History, and Why Mushrooms
After 37 yrs as an acupuncturist, I completely know and believe that I do not heal those who come to see me. I just set the palate and then let their body’s wisdom do the work. I am nothing more than a catalyst to set the scene straight and balanced. It is you, the individual, the interconnected being, who do the work, as your body always wants to heal itself.
It is just a matter of regaining your internal balance and then your vital energy.
Simple really!
Mushroom tinctures initiate this possibility. Allowing you to reach your full potential for your age and past health experiences, regaining your health and wellbeing as much as possible. Therefore, improving your life experience and wellbeing, all from within yourself.
To facilitate this end, I have investigated, to my own limited abilities, the powers of the Bioactive Compounds found within the Fungi Kingdom.
Through Mycobio I have now enrolled the help of the Fantastic Four...
1. Lion’s mane Mushroom
2. Reishi Mushroom
3. Cordyceps Mushroom
4. Turkey Tail mushroom
Which all have had, throughout history, many attributes given to them but only recently been verified through the scientific microscope.
Below are a few abstracts from papers published on Google Scholar for you to read with the full papers reference included.
Lion’s mane (Hericium erinaceus)
The mushroom's therapeutic potential is rooted in its novel bioactive constituents. Hericenones (in fruiting bodies) and erinacines (in mycelia) are diterpenoids that stimulate nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesis, supporting neuronal function. Furthermore, immunomodulatory β-glucans, antioxidant phenolic compounds, and ergothioneine contribute to its overall health benefits.
First published IFT: 29 March 2026
https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.71026
Reishi (Ganoderma Lucidum)
The pharmacological potential was observed in diabetes, inflammation, epilepsy, neurodegeneration, cancer, anxiety, sedation, cardiac diseases, depression, hepatic diseases, and immune disorders; however, most of the studies are preclinical with a number of drawbacks.
First published: 19 August 2021
https://doi.org/10.1002/ptr.7215
Cordyceps (Cordyceps Militaris)
Cordyceps spp. mushrooms have a long tradition of use as a natural raw material in Asian ethnomedicine because of their adaptogenic, tonic effects and their ability to reduce fatigue and stimulate the immune system in humans.
2021, 10(11), 2634; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10112634
Turkey Tail (Trametes versicolor)
This mushroom contains an abundance of physiologically bioactive compounds, most notably β-glucan polysaccharides, which are responsible for antioxidant, neuroprotection, hypolipidemic effects, immune-modulating effects, and anticancer effects. Trametes versicolor has also been revealed to have wound healing, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, antifibrotic, neurotrophic, and anti-inflammatory effects among other therapeutic efficacies.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2024.101191
These effects have been known for millennia. In the Far East, India and China these properties have been and often still are used today for helping with, curing and aiding the people to regain health, wellbeing and a balanced lifestyle. It is only recently have these properties been written out of our common knowledge and usage. (I will go into this in detail at a
later date). Which Mycobio would like to help write back into common usage for your health.
Maybe, this is the science behind why Mycobio’s Triple Blend is such an amazing tonic.
There is nothing new in what we at Mycobio are doing. The tinctures are simply the distillation of this ancient wisdom and placed gently and carefully into small bottles for you to use to help you re-find your health and wellbeing.
What is the Fungi Kingdom?
Underneath our feet, at this moment, there is a whole living being tucked away in the soil of the earth. It is the mycelia of the Fungi kingdom. Which is a whole network of interconnected consciousness of a living being. As real as the trees and the plants of the Plant kingdom and as real and as diversified as all the species in the Animal kingdom.
Estimates suggest that in the Fungi Kingdom the mycelial threads (hyphae) in a single teaspoon of healthy soil can stretch anywhere from 10 meters (32 feet) to as much as 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) if laid end to end.
And nobody ever told me about this creature which speaks with the trees and the plants, which shares water and minerals and trace elements in exchange for the sweetness of the sugars produced in photosynthesis. It is only recently that it dawned on me that maybe, just maybe this was something I needed to learn about!
Ref:
Simard, S. W. (2016). "The hidden life of trees: What they feel, how they communicate." (Book summarizing decades of research).
There are thousands more mushrooms out there and contained in their cells a multitude of interesting biochemicals which are relatively ‘new’ to us modern human beings. These biochemicals can and do affect our bodies' cells and blood and brain in differing and often
very positive ways.
What is a Mushroom?
Mushrooms are the reproductive flowers of the great mycelia networks. They pop up out of the ground or cling to the sides of trees, or push their way through rotting debris on the ground.
These flowers, (Mushrooms ), are the masters / mistresses of enticement. Their whole design purpose is on how to achieve reproduction and growth. (More on this later.)
These mushrooms carry all the knowledge, wisdom and power within their cells just as we carry this in our DNA, And are genetically similar to us! Seems that we were very close until a billion years ago, it is as if we fell out with our cousins and went a different way.
Reference:
Current Biology Volume 32, Issue 21, 7 November 2022, Pages R1242-R1244
Animals and fungi are closely related. Well… not that closely related - they shared a common ancestor over 1 billion years ago [1,2]. At first glance, humans and mushrooms do not share many characteristics, but when we dive a bit deeper, there are notable genetic similarities between animals and fungi.
Us and the Fungi Kingdom
A little more about our connection to the Fungi Kingdom, as it gives you the understanding as why they are so effective when taken as a tincture.
The mushroom’s Bioactive compounds are collected and concentrated into the tincture so that when you take your daily 1-1.5ml pipette dose, you are reviving the qualities which aid health and wellbeing from ‘old friends’ on a DNA level as well as Biochemical level.
Ai Synopsis
Mushrooms (fungi) are genetically more similar to animals than they are to plants. While there is no single fixed percentage for "total DNA similarity" because genome sizes and non-coding regions vary wildly, genetic analysis confirms they share a much more recent common ancestor with the animal kingdom.
• Evolutionary Lineage: DNA sequencing shows that fungi and animals diverged from a common ancestor approximately 1 to 1.5 billion years ago, whereas the lineage leading to plants split off much earlier. This makes fungi the closest major kingdom relatives to animals.
• Shared Genes: Studies indicate that fungi share a significant number of homologous genes (genes derived from a common ancestor) with humans—far more than they share with plants. Some research suggests the number of human genes with fungal counterparts is double that of those found in simpler organisms like yeast alone, highlighting deep conservation in cellular machinery.
• Biochemical Similarities: Reflecting this genetic link, fungi and animals share key biological traits that plants lack:
- Cell Walls: Fungi have cell walls made of chitin (the same material found in insect exoskeletons), whereas plants use cellulose. Animals lack cell walls
entirely but share the chitin connection via arthropods.
- Energy Storage: Both fungi and animals store energy as glycogen, while
plants store energy as starch.
- Metabolism: Like animals, fungi are heterotrophs (they must consume
organic matter for energy) rather than autotrophs like plants (which
photosynthesize).
Reference:
"Phylogenetic analyses place the divergence of the fungal and animal lineages at approximately 1 billion years ago, forming the supergroup Opisthokonta (Jirsová et al., 2022; Ruiz-Trillo et al., 2008). Despite this ancient split, comparative genomics reveals that humans share approximately 50% of their protein-coding genes with fungi, particularly in essential cellular machinery (Saccharomyces Genome Sequencing Project, 1996; NHGRI)."
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