There’s an underground renaissance in wellness culture.

Whether it’s advertisements like those of MUD/WTR offering coffee replacements or your hippie cousin swearing by a capsule to aid your memory problems, mushrooms are the stars of the alternative health world at the moment. 

There are many reasons people venture into alternative medicine. Some people don’t trust public health institutions or they just want to jump on the next trend. However, some individuals are deeply invested in the study of mushrooms and how they can improve our lives.

Take Paul Stamets: an important figure in fungi discourse and advocacy for its medicinal prospects, Stamets is the people’s mycologist. His company Host Defense Mushrooms works to provide mushroom supplements alongside a blog, recipe books, and other articles that strive to educate customers. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he worked as a logger. He has an honorary doctorate from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland and in 2014, received an Invention Ambassador award from the American Association of Science.

Stamet’s book “Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World” poses mushrooms as the potential solution to many health and environmental concerns.

“The cascade of toxins and debris generated by humans destabilizes nutrient return cycles, causing crop failure, global warming, climate change and, in a worst-case scenario, quickening the pace towards ecocatastrophes of our own making,” Stamets writes in the book. “I believe we can come into balance with nature using mycelium to regulate the flow of nutrients. The age of mycological medicine is upon us. Now is the time to ensure the future of our planet and our species by partnering, or running, with mycelium.”

Market research completed by business research company IMARC reported that the global mushroom market size reached $63 billion in 2022. The research predicts the market will reach $90.4 billion by 2028.

Sophomore Emma Turner takes Stamet’s MyCommunity Capsules, a blend formulated to support the immune system.

“I heard about mushroom supplements through my naturopath,” Turner said. “She recommended them because I have a weakened immune system and I get sick often. They definitely help with supporting my immunity because I feel like when I take them, I can fight off sicknesses better.”

Although mushrooms are seeing an uptick in popularity, they are far from a new source of interest. According to Stamets’ and Heather Zwickey’s journal article “Medicinal Mushrooms: Ancient Remedies Meet Modern Science” which was published in the National Library of Medicine, there’s nothing new about the health benefits of mushrooms. Greek physician Hippocrates classified the amadou mushroom (Fomes fomentarius) as an anti-inflammatory agent. Ancient Chinese medicine has cited ling zhi (Ganoderma lucidum) as an immune booster and a promoter of cardiovascular health, among other body systems. 

“The surge in interest is not only related to the deep cultural history of their use, but it is also due to modern methods for tissue culture of mycelium and new methods for testing the activity of individual constituents and their synergies,” the journal article states. 

Even though fungi’s history runs deep, consumers’ knowledge may not. With the rise in companies trying to capitalize off of the mushroom market, some risks emerge in the form of actual efficacy. Much like any other supplement, consumers should be aware of certain fillers that are put in their products and should note the actual amount of mushrooms they are actually ingesting. 

“There’s a general trend of people trying to find beneficial things to put in their body,” Associate Professor of Biology Christopher Heckel said. “Being well-informed and doing our homework on the substances we are consuming is important.”

With their rise in popularity in mainstream culture, new research alongside anecdotal experience looms on the horizon. The days of thinking about mushrooms as a niche foraging interest or an acquired culinary taste are long behind us. Really, they never were just that. Mycology may be a trend in business, but it offers a historically significant and promising approach to health.