17/07/2025
Why Don’t Extraction Ratios Accurately Reflect Quality in Mushroom Extracts?
Extraction ratios like “10:1” or “20:1” are common in marketing — but they’re often misleading and don’t reliably indicate quality. Here's why:
1. Extraction Ratios Tell You Nothing About Bioactive Compounds
A “10:1” extract means 10 kg of raw material made 1 kg of extract. But it says nothing about what was actually extracted — bioactives like ganoderic acids, beta-glucans, or hericenones, or mostly starch and degraded biomass.
Without chemical analysis, the ratio is meaningless.
2. Poor Starting Material = Poor Extract
High ratios can come from:
๏ Low-quality mushrooms
๏ Substrate-grown mycelium
๏ Reused or “spent” biomass
Even a 20:1 extract is weak if the starting material is bad.
3. Weak or Inappropriate Extraction Methods
A high ratio doesn't mean effective extraction. Little is gained if:
๏ Temps are too low
๏ Extraction time is too short
๏ Wrong solvents are used
Water extraction can yield triterpenoids like ganoderic acids (if optimized). LC-MS proves it.
Alcohol isn’t always essential. Water extracts can contain ganoderic acids under high-temp or long-duration methods. Claims that they contain “zero” triterpenes are outdated.
There are many recycled myths in mushroom extract marketing. One favorite: chaga “fruiting body” extracts — despite chaga not being a mushroom and not producing visible fruiting bodies used in supplements.
These myths persist because people repeat what others say. We did too. But no longer. We want data, not dogma.
4. Extraction Ratios Can Be Manipulated
Let’s not detail shady tricks used by unethical processors. The point:
๏ A 5:1 extract could be rich in triterpenes
๏ A 20:1 could be mostly bitter fibre
What Actually Matters:
๏ LC-MS quantified compounds (ganoderic acids, hericenones, etc.)
๏ NMR species validation, purity, fruiting body content
๏ Organic certification
๏ Transparency: Real data > marketing claims
If you're making, researching, or buying mushroom extracts, ask for independent analytical data (LC-MS, NMR). If budgets are tight, HPLC and HPTLC are also valid.
