Wood Ear Mushroom

(Auricularia auricula-judae)

Evidence: Low
Possible Benefits: Reasonable
Safety: Reasonable

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is the wood ear mushroom?

Auricularia auricula-judae, also known as the wood ear mushroom, 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 improving heart and immune health. This article is about the main benefits of the wood ear mushroom, 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.

Minor benefits

  • Anti-bacterial properties – At least one in vitro study shows that this mushroom can have anti-bacterial properties. In the study, the wood ear mushroom was effective at blocking the growth of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, two types of infectious bacteria.
  • Improved immune system – While more human studies are needed to determine whether or not this mushroom can improve immune health, mushrooms in general tend to positively impact immunity in most people, mainly because of their high beta-glucan content.
  • Anti-cancer properties – Polysaccharides in this mushroom may inhibit tumor cell proliferation and induce tumor cell apoptosis. Whether or not taking the mushroom as a supplement can protect a person from cancer and slow down tumor growth in humans is yet to be determined but the research we have available shows promise.
  • Improved blood sugar levels – Most mushrooms, including Auricularia auricula-judae, can positively affect blood glucose levels because of their polysaccharide content. This potential benefit mainly applies to diabetics and people with unhealthy blood sugar levels.
  • Improved cholesterol levels – The wood ear mushroom may improve cholesterol levels by lowering LDL cholesterol and increasing HDL cholesterol but more studies are necessary to prove this.

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.
  • Toxicity – As an adaptogenic mushroom, Auricularia auricula-judae 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 30 grams of dry mushroom a day unless you have a great reason to take more.
  • Contamination – If growing conditions are not properly controlled, the wood ear mushroom 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 the wood ear mushroom?

You should probably avoid taking the mushroom if you:

  • are allergic to the wood ear mushroom 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)
  • have liver disease (this mushroom might make the symptoms of the liver disease worse)
  • 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:

  • experience high levels of inflammation
  • don’t suffer from any autoimmune disease but wish to improve immune health
  • have a high budget for supplements and are willing to experiment with a variety of them (the wood ear mushroom appears safe and is unlikely to do more harm than good in most people)

How much Auricularia auricula-judae should you take?

Because the wood ear mushroom 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 the wood ear mushroom 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 anywhere between 10-15 grams of whole dry mushrooms. 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 the wood ear mushroom 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 the wood ear mushroom

The main bioactive compounds in the wood ear mushroom are fat-soluble so to maximize the absorption, take this mushroom with a meal.

Whether you take this mushroom in the morning or the evening doesn’t make much of a difference. Both options are fine.

Where to buy the wood ear mushroom?

Amazon is the best option for ordering dry wood ear mushrooms 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 Auricularia auricula-judae 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, you can. This mushroom should not impact your sleep in any negative way. Whether you take it in the morning or the evening doesn’t make much of a difference. Either way, take the mushroom with food to maximize the absorption of its fat-soluble components.

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, the wood ear mushroom 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 30 grams of dry mushroom a day unless you have a great reason to take more.

This mushroom consists of many bioactive compounds, each of which has a different half-life in the body. Some of these components should be fully metabolized within hours while some of them will stay in the body for a few days.

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, the wood ear mushroom 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.

Auricularia auricula-judae 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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We hope this guide has helped you determine if you should add the wood ear mushroom to your supplement stack and how to do it right.

If you have any further questions or want to share your feedback, feel free to email us!

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