Chaga: Benefits, Side Effects, Best Time to Take It & More

Chaga

(Inonotus Obliquus)

Evidence: Low
Possible Benefits: High
Safety: Reasonable

What is Chaga?

Inonotus obliquus, also known as Chaga, is a type of mushroom with a long history of use as a traditional medicine in many places around the world. This mushroom is often used as a supplement for reducing inflammation and improving immune health. This article is about the main benefits of Chaga, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.

Possible benefits

All of the potential benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. As with other adaptogenic mushrooms, there is a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get most of the benefits without causing meaningful side effects or tolerance buildup in the body. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.

Major benefits

Improved immune system – Chaga stimulates white blood cells and promotes the formation of beneficial cytokines that regulate the immune system. It can also prevent the production of harmful cytokines.
Cancer prevention and reduction – In mice studies, the mushroom can reduce tumor size by as much as 60%. It has also been shown to prevent the growth of cancer in human liver cells. This also likely applies to cancer cells of the lung, breast, prostate, and colon.

Minor benefits

Lowered blood sugar levels – While human studies are needed to confirm this effect, studies done on mice consistently show reductions in blood glucose as high as 31%.
Improved cholesterol levels – Chaga has been shown to reduce LDL and total cholesterol while increasing HDL cholesterol levels in rats. Human studies are needed to confirm this benefit applies to our species as well.

Possible side effects

The side effects below are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.

Nausea – This side effect is most common when people take the mushroom on an empty stomach.
Diarrhea – Just like nausea, diarrhea caused by the supplement can usually be prevented by taking the mushroom with food.
High oxalate content – This mushroom is high in oxalates, which can contribute to multiple problems in the kidneys. This should not be a concern as long as you stick to regular doses. There are 6.72–97.59 milligrams of oxalate per gram of Chaga.
Toxicity – As an adaptogenic mushroom, Chaga acts as a mild stressor on the body. That is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, stressing the body too much can be counter-productive and cause multiple side effects, including toxicity. While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking high amounts of this mushroom could lead to chronic toxicity and cause some health problems over time. To prevent chronic toxicity or the buildup of tolerance, it is best to stay below 10 grams of dry powder a day unless you have a great reason to take more.
Contamination – If growing conditions are not properly controlled, Chaga can be contaminated with bacteria, molds, and other potentially harmful microorganisms. The mushroom can also be contaminated because of poor harvesting, processing, and packaging practices. Some growers also use fungicides, chemical compounds designed to kill or prevent the growth of other fungi. Many fungicides can have detrimental effects on human health. Choose the brand you get mushrooms and mushroom supplements from wisely.

Who should not take Chaga?

You should probably avoid taking the mushroom if you:

are allergic to Chaga or mushrooms in general
experience a severe adverse reaction after taking the mushroom
are pregnant or breastfeeding (while it may be safe to take the adaptogen during pregnancy or breastfeeding, it can act as a stressor and should likely be avoided during this period)
suffer from an autoimmune disease (adaptogenic mushrooms can stimulate the immune system, which can worsen symptoms of autoimmune diseases, such as lupus or multiple sclerosis)
are on a tight supplement budget (there are more cost-effective supplements on the market for most people)

Who will benefit the most?

You should consider taking the supplement if you:

wish to live as long as possible (we don’t fully know if Chaga prolongs lifespan or not but all studies so far suggest it might)
struggle with high inflammation
have a high budget for supplements and are willing to experiment with a variety of them (Chaga appears safe and is unlikely to do more harm than good in most people)

How much Chaga should you take?

Because Chaga can be considered an adaptogenic mushroom, it acts as a mild hormetic stressor on the body, which allows your body to adapt and become more resilient in the long term.

As with other adaptogens, a higher dose does not necessarily lead to bigger benefits. Instead, there appears to be an inverted U-shaped dose-response pattern. In other words, you want to find a sweet-spot dose that allows you to get the benefits of Chaga without putting too much stress on the body or quickly causing the body to develop tolerance to the mushroom.

The sweet-spot dose typically ranges between 3-5 grams of dry Chaga powder daily. This amount should provide most of the benefits without meaningful side effects.

The higher end of this range usually provides slightly more benefits in the short term. If you plan to take the mushroom for a longer time (multiple months or years), the lower end is probably a better way to go since you’d develop tolerance faster if you were to take higher doses.

While higher doses are generally safe, taking more than the sweet-spot dose daily would be counter-productive as your body would develop tolerance rather quickly. Additionally, very high doses can put too much stress on your system and cause some health problems if you take the supplement for a prolonged period.

Just like with most other adaptogens, it is best to cycle Chaga and stay off of it for about 2 days per week to reset your tolerance. This will allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.

Keep in mind that the effects of this mushroom are cumulative. Therefore, you must take it for at least 2-4 weeks to notice the benefits. But again, cycling the mushroom and not taking it at least twice a week is necessary to prevent tolerance in the long term.

Best time to take Chaga

Whether you take Chaga in the morning or the evening doesn’t matter much.

To maximize the absorption, take this mushroom on an empty stomach and at least 30 minutes before eating.

Chaga can cause nausea and stomach discomfort when taken on an empty stomach. If you keep experiencing these unpleasant effects even after one week of taking the supplement, it’s usually better to take the supplement with food.

Interactions

Blood thinners
Chaga may have similar mechanisms of action to blood thinners and the effects of these supplements/medications may be additive.

Where to buy Chaga?

Amazon is the best option for ordering Chaga and other mushroom supplements in most countries. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the internet.

Some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.

FAQ

As with most other mushrooms and mushroom supplements, it is best to cycle Chaga and stay off of it for about 2 days per week to reset your tolerance back to baseline. This will keep your body sensitive to the mushroom and allow you to keep getting the benefits in the long term.

Yes. This mushroom should not impact sleep quality in any negative way. Whether you take it in the morning or the evening doesn’t matter much.

This mushroom should not become harmful once it exceeds the expiration date but it can lose potency over time.

Keep the supplement in a cold, dark, and dry place, and it should remain just as potent for many months or even years.

As an adaptogen, Chaga acts as a mild stressor on the body. This is usually a great thing as it allows your body to adapt to specific forms of stress and become more resilient. However, putting too much stress on the body can be counter-productive and cause multiple side effects, including toxicity. While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking high amounts of this mushroom could lead to chronic toxicity and cause some health problems over time. To prevent chronic toxicity or the buildup of tolerance, it is best to stay below 10 grams a day unless you have a great reason to take more.

Chaga contains a variety of bioactive compounds, such as beta-glucans, polyphenols, and triterpenoids. Most of these have a half-life of between an hour to a day.

The effects of this mushroom are cumulative. Therefore, you must take it for at least 2-4 weeks to notice the benefits. But again, cycling the mushroom and not taking it at least twice a week is necessary to prevent tolerance in the long term.

Yes, Chaga is vegan-friendly. If you buy the mushroom in a capsulated form, beware that the capsules often contain animal-based gelatin. Instead, find a brand that puts its products into cellulose capsules.

Chaga should not break a fast unless you take a very high dose at once. If you practice time-restricted eating, take this mushroom during your eating window so it doesn’t break your fast.

References

Most of the information provided in this guide is supported by scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything said in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.

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