Lion's mane
Hericium erinaceus, also called yamabushitake or bearded tooth, from the Hericiaceae family
An edible mushroom with long white spines, used in traditional Chinese medicine and studied mostly for thinking skills and mood. Here is every study in people we could find, sorted from each study's summary.
- Part used: fruiting body or mycelium
- Doses mostly 1 to 3 g
- Often 4 weeks or less
From every paper to the studies that matter
Most research on lion's mane is in the lab or about the mushroom's chemistry. Only a small share tests it in people, and that is what this page is about.
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776 papers mention lion's mane. Every record in PubMed, all years
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21 are about people. The rest: 400 lab and animal studies, 85 reviews, 270 on chemistry, farming and more
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13 give lion's mane on its own. 5 more test it inside a blend
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8 are randomised against a placebo. The strongest kind of study
Bar lengths use a square-root scale so the small numbers stay visible.
How much research there is
- 13 studies giving lion's mane to people
- 8 of them randomised against a placebo
- 390 people taking part, where studies say
- 9 systematic reviews pooling the trials
Studies in people, by year published
Lion's mane on its own.
What the studies looked at
Each study can measure several things. Choose a topic to see its studies in the list below.
Studies in people with a diagnosed condition are counted here and listed with their population. We describe what they measured, not what they might treat. Most studies also report safety; see below.
What was tested, and how much
Studies used very different forms of lion's mane, from the dried whole mushroom (one gave 10 g a day baked into muffins) to fruiting body extracts and mycelium, the root-like threads the mushroom grows from, enriched with a compound called erinacine A. So the same number of milligrams can mean very different amounts of the mushroom's active compounds, and doses don't line up from one study to the next. Two studies gave a single dose shortly before testing.
Daily amount, one dot per study
Studies per extract
Named extracts are the maker's brand. "Not named" means the study didn't say.
All studies in people
Filter the list, then open a study on PubMed. Each row comes from the study's published summary.
| Study | Who took part | People | Extract and daily dose | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimitrov 2026Single-arm or open-label | Children with mild intellectual disability and autistic traits | 147 | Not named | 52 weeks |
| Evans 2026Single-arm or open-label | Healthy adults 18-55 | 10 | Not named, 2,000 mg | 4 weeks |
| Surendran 2025Crossover, placebo | Healthy young adults 18-35 | 18 | Fruiting body extract 10:1, 3,000 mg | – |
| Docherty 2023RCT, placebo | Healthy young adults 18-45 | 41 | Not named, 1,800 mg | 4 weeks |
| La Monica 2023Crossover, placebo | Healthy adults | – | Nordic Lion's Mane, 1,000 mg | – |
| Grozier 2022RCT, placebo | Healthy college-age adults | 24 | Not named, 10,000 mg | 4 weeks |
| Xie 2021Single-arm or open-label | Healthy adults | 13 | Not named | 1 weeks |
| Li 2020RCT, placebo | Patients with mild Alzheimer's disease | – | Erinacine A-enriched mycelium, 1,050 mg | 49 weeks |
| Vigna 2019Single-arm or open-label | Adults with overweight or obesity and mood or sleep problems | 77 | Not named | 8 weeks |
| Saitsu 2019RCT, placebo | Adults tested for cognitive function | – | Not named | 12 weeks |
| Nagano 2010RCT, placebo | Women | 30 | Not named | 4 weeks |
| Mori 2009RCT, placebo | Older adults with mild cognitive impairment | 30 | Yamabushitake, 3,000 mg | 16 weeks |
| Xu 1985Other | Patients with chronic atrophic gastritis | – | Not named | – |
What's known about safety
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In trials
Side effects were few and mild in a review of the trials so far, mostly stomach discomfort, diarrhoea, nausea, headache and skin rash. In one 16-week trial, mild stomach upset was about as common on placebo.
Menon 2025, review of 5 placebo-controlled and 3 pilot trials; MSK About Herbs, updated June 2024
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In the UK
The mushroom itself (the fruiting body) can be sold as food. Dried mycelium powder counts as a novel food, which needs approval before it is sold, and we found no approval for it in Great Britain.
EU Novel Food Status Catalogue; AESAN status consultation, Oct 2019; FSA novel foods guidance and register, Oct 2026
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Check first
Single case reports describe a serious lung reaction, thought to be allergic, in a man taking an extract, and a skin allergy in a man who handled the mushroom at work. It hasn't been studied in pregnancy or breastfeeding, so speak to a pharmacist or doctor first if either applies or you take regular medicines.
Nakatsugawa 2003 and Maes 1999, case reports; MSK About Herbs, updated June 2024; no trials in pregnancy found, Oct 2026
Where these studies come from
We list every published study of lion's mane in people. This first version is built from each study's summary; full-paper checks come next.
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We search
PubMed, the world's main library of medical research, for every paper on L-theanine.
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We keep studies in people
Lab and animal work is counted but left out of the list, because it doesn't tell you what happens in people.
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We note the basics
Who took part, how many, how much and for how long, from each study's published summary. A second check corrects what the first read gets wrong.
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We read them in full
Results appear once we've read the whole paper and checked every number. The date at the top shows when this entry was last updated.
Download the study list
Every study in people as a spreadsheet, 13 rows, free to reuse with a link back.
Versions
Each update to the data gets a new version number, so you can tell what changed and when.
See every version
1.0 · 19 Oct 2026. First release. Every published study giving lion's mane on its own to people is listed from its summary. None is read in full yet.
Related
- Lion's mane: the complete guideWhat is lion's mane good for? Here's what the human research on this mushroom shows for focus, memory and mood, how much people took, when to take ...
- When to take lion's mane, how much and for how longThe doses, timings and lengths used in lion's mane trials, how much is too much, whether food matters, and who should check first.
