The best way to consume Cordyceps militaris
Impregnated with molecules of immense pharmacological potential (cordycepin, cordycepic acid, adenosine, polysaccharides, etc.), Cordyceps militaris has exhibited promising anticancer, antioxidant, antiaging, immunomodulatory, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral properties, improvement of male fertility, and many others. With its excellent antiallergic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, bidirectional immunomodulatory, adaptogenic effects, and many more, it can hopefully act as the perfect survival kit for Disease X. By acting as the most potent adaptogen, its regular consumption can greatly improve physical and psychological wellbeing.
To get maximal benefits from Cordyceps militaris, it must be prepared in the correct way. To reach the conclusion, we shall gradually proceed through the availability and forms of usage.
1. Extract & Tincture vs Wholesome Cordyceps
Like other organisms, the Cordyceps militaris fungi is composed of the same four classes of biomolecules namely Carbohydrate, Protein, Lipids, and Nucleic acid, of these nucleic acids have no nutritional importance. Some of carbohydrate and proteins are soluble in water while others are not. Lipids show higheeer solubility in organic solvents.
Few of the molecules in the soluble and insoluble fraction of Cordyceps militaris extract are listed below.
| Soluble (Water / Ethanol) Fraction | Insoluble Fraction | ||
| Cordycepin | Antitumor, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, etc. | Exopolysaccharide Fraction | Anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, Immunomodulatory |
| Adenosine | Anti-inflammatory, Anti-tumor | Acid polysaccharides | Antioxidant, Immunomodulatory effect |
| Cordycepic acid | Diuretic, anti-tussive and anti-free radical activities | CPS-1, CPS-2 | Antioxidant, Cell proliferation inhibition |
| Ergosterol | Antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-arrhythmic effects | PS-A | Inhibits cholesterol esterase, anti-tumor |
| Cordymin | Anti-diabetic effect, antifungal | CME-1 | Antioxidant |
Visit Health Benefits of Cordyceps militaris for a complete list of molecules and benefits.
While the soluble fraction includes cordycepin- pharmaceutically most important molecule of this mushroom, the insoluble fraction generally consists of various polysaccharides. These polysaccharides exhibit antitumor and anticancer properties and must be included in usage.
Since aqueous and alcoholic extracts generally discard the polysaccharides (insoluble fraction), use of wholesome cordyceps militaris is always far superior than that of extract and tincture.
2. The worthiness of Cordyceps militaris extract?
Aqueous and organic extracts are prepared to isolate the target molecule(s) from the substrate matrix. Moreover, it can also be used to obtain the desired molecule(s) (say, cordycepin) in much more concentrated form than the original source (the fruiting body).
Most of the Cordyceps militaris extracts and tinctures do not mention cordycepin content, the active molecule that determines the pricing of Cordyceps militaris; the higher the cordycepin content, the higher the price.
One manufacturer mentions “4 g dried fruiting body extracted to 25 mL liquid, and to take 2 mL daily; with a price tag of INR 1500 (USD 15.0)”. That is, this tincture costs approx. INR 375.0 (USD 3.75) / g or INR 3,75,000 (USD 3750) / kg dry mass of the fruiting body.
Extraction itself is a resource consuming method that would increase the price several times depending on the complexity of the process and the purity of the extracts. However, this 4-5 times costlier price tag for the extract, when compared to the dried fruiting body, does not justify its benefits in proportion.
For this case, 2 mL of the extract is equivalent to 0.320 g (4 g fruiting body x 2 mL daily does / 25 mL extraction volume) of dried fruiting body. This quantity is lower than the required quantity of 2-gram dried fruiting body of average quality (cordycepin content 8-10 mg/ g). Such tincture, extract will provide some benefit but will be less than the optimal level. Moreover, the extract is also devoid of the health benefits of the polysaccharides because of their exclusion from it.
3. Is the Cordyceps militaris extract even relevant?
Solubility of cordycepin in water at 250C is 7 mg mL-1. This solubility remains nearly the same in the pH range of 4.5 – 12.0. [Ref: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiosc.2015.04.008%5D.
Consider a good quality sample of dried cordyceps militaris with cordycepin content of 10 mg per gram dried fruiting body. A tea cup (150 mL) volume of water can dissolve around 7 mg mL-1 x 150 mL = 1050 mg cordycepin, equivalent to 105 grams dried fruiting body- far beyond the daily required dose of 2-4 grams for adults in general, and 6-8 grams as an adjuvant for cancer treatment.
This 4-gram dried fruiting body with higher cordycepin content and greater health benefits costs around INR 280.0 (USD 2.88) whereas the extract of same quantity of fruiting body costs INR 1500 (USD 15.0).
In terms of both cost and health benefits, the dried fruiting body has higher value than the extracts and tinctures.
4. Dried Fruiting Body: Intact vs Powder form
In previous sections, it was evident that the cordycepin content and pricing of dried fruiting bodes are far better than those of the extracts.
Now, let us try to elucidate if the intact fruiting body or powder form would be the best to consume.
In general, smaller particle sizes facilitate higher extraction efficiency.
Assuming a simplified case, the size of a cylindrical-shaped dried fruiting body is 4 cm (length) x 0.4 cm (diameter), with a surface area of 5.28 cm2 and a volume of 0.5 cm3 or 0.5 mL. Further, this fruiting body is ground to a spherical particle size of 50 microns, or 0.05 mm or 0.005 cm.
Now, the volume of one spherical particle is 6.54 x 10-8 cm3
The surface area of a particle is 7.85 x 10-5 cm2
So, the number of particles in powder is 0.5 cm3 / (6.54 x 10-8 cm3) = 7.65 x 106
And, total surface area of powder = surface area of one particle x total number of particles
= 7.85 x 10-5 cm2 x 7.65 x 106 = 600 cm2
That is, grinding a fruiting body with a surface area of 5.28 cm2 yields a total surface area of 600 cm2, i.e., a (600 cm2 / 5.28 cm2) = 114.29 times increase in surface area. In other words, with keeping the assumptions simplified, grinding into powder increases the surface area, and in turn, extraction, by 114 times.
In summary, the powder form yields around 100 times better extraction than the intact fruiting body.
5. Choices of the Power forms
Crude powder, Capsule, Tea bags
So far, it is obvious that the ground powder form is far superior to the intact fruiting body, extract, and tincture.
There are several forms of powder on the market, including crude powder, capsules, and tea bags. Out of these, the crude powder and tea bag offer hot water extraction, whereas the capsule and tablet forms are ingested as such. Different people may prefer different forms depending of their knowledge about the form, availability, cost, ease of usage, etc.
6. Ease of Use
The extract, tincture and capsule are the easiest to use as they don’t require any preparation. Choose the capsule over the tincture because it gives the wholesomeness of benefits, whereas the tincture and extract deliver only a fraction. The capsule can be carried without hurdles during a security check at airports.
7. Speed of Observed Effect
The tea prepared from crude powder and tea bag exerts effect within 30 minutes to 1 hour of consumption in cases of common cold, throat sores and other infections of the upper respiratory tract because of the absorption of cordycepin (and other water-soluble molecules) in that area. The digestion of capsule material, the release of powder from the inert capsule and its subsequent absorption take a few hours, so it takes longer to exert effects.
The extract and tincture may also present the same effect as the tea. But, since it is diluted and taken in small volumes, the magnitude of the benefits would be less than those of the teas.
8. Wholesomeness of Benefits
As mentioned in Section 1 above, both the soluble and insoluble fractions are crucial for obtaining optimal effects. From this perspective, the crude powder and capsule would be the best forms to obtain most of the health benefits of Cordyceps militaris mushroom.
Since the tea bag, extract and tincture supply only the soluble fraction, these don’t offer the wholesomeness of the benefits of this mushroom.
9. Boiling to Enhance Digestibility and Bioavailability
Cordyceps militaris is a fungus. Chitin, the principal constituent of its cell wall, resists digestion as the human body doesn’t produce the chitinase enzyme for its digestion. Boiling it in hot water partially lyses chitin and releases the cellular content in the aqueous medium. Chitin itself is an excellent source of dietary fiber and antioxidants.
Boiling the powdered mushroom cooks it in 2–3 minutes. The granules appear soft and palpable in touch. Boiling also kills most of the biological contaminants, if any, present in the powder.
The boiled Cordyceps militaris powder presents better digestibility and bioavailability of both the soluble and insoluble fractions. So, it is the best form of this mushroom to consume for maximum health benefits.
10. Summary
It is difficult to present an exact comparison table for the different forms of Cordyceps militaris. To simplify it, the following generalizations are opted-
I. An arbitrary comparison scale of 1-5 is chosen where 1 is the least recommended and 5 is the best.
II. The cost is equated with 1 gram of the dried fruiting body in any form. The cost of the tea bag could not be fetched as such teas were mixed with other foreign ingredients like herbs, lavender leaves, etc.
III. The efficacy of the extract and tea bag is accounted the same because the extract has greater diversity of molecules in it but has lower cordycepin content (3.60 mg in 2 mL extract) than the tea bag (10 mg in 1 g tea bag).
IV. Digestibility accounts the ease of digestion (wherever applicable, like Capsule vs boiled powder). Bioavailability indicates the diversity and abundance of molecules being adsorbed in our body upon consumption.
| Powder FB | Intact FB | Capsule (Powder FB) | Extract | Tea bag (Powder FB) | |
| Digestibility & Bioavailability | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Ease of Use | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Wholesomeness of Benefits (At quantity instructed by manufacturer) | 5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Cost (for 1 g dried mushroom in the form) | INR 72.0 USD 0.72 | INR 72.0 USD 0.72 | INR 75.0 USD 0.75 | INR 120 USD 0.12 | Not available |
