Shroom Boom! Medicinal mushrooms in focus: ‘As Covid Hit, people were stuck at home and started searching for immune health ingredients…’

From Reishi to Lion’s Mane, medicinal mushrooms are gaining traction in foods, beverages and supplements, buoyed by interest in ingredients that may support immunity, mood and cognition. FoodNavigator-USA has caught up with California based organic mushroom grower Sempera Organics and natural ingredients specialist Orgenetics, which distributes Sempera’s products, to learn more about the shroom boom.

“Mushrooms have been used forever in the traditional chinese medicine and in other cultures,” said Nirmal Nair, founder and CEO Sempera Organics.”But we’re seeing a trend here towards food as medicine and people are discovering that mushrooms have a lot to offer”.

If you’re looking for some more specific recent drivers, he said, “One was of course COVID. People were stuck at home and started searching on Google for immune health ingredients. You can see that Google trends and see that sudden spike.

There are also a study out of John Hopkins that shone a spotlight on mushrooms, and people started asking, what else can we do?

Large CPG companies as well as startups are starting to explore the medicinal mushroom trend.

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