Adaptogenic mushrooms have become a staple of the US wellness crowd, with mushroom coffee brands like Ryze and Four Sigmatic promising mood-boosting effects and reporting eight-figure annual revenues. However, the fungi-forward trend has remained on the fringes in the UK, until now…
Earlier this month, M&S launched Yay Mushrooms, a nine-strong functional drinks range containing “two key fungi” lion’s mane and reishi. Claimed to be the “first” own-label range of its kind, the drinks were developed in partnership with scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. But do they deliver any real benefits?
According to M&S product development manager Claire Richardson, the inspiration for Yay Mushrooms came from a recent trip to Expo West in Los Angeles. In LA, there’s “barely anything you can buy without a mushroom in it. It might be an ice cream, a muffin, a coffee, a juice, a crisp, a sweet… I was kind of like, ‘wow, this is big’. And if it’s already big in LA, it’s going to come to the UK.
“From that, we started to think: OK, what are the right areas to do functional mushrooms in? And is the UK ready?”
The product development team decided to innovate in drinks first because it’s “broadly affordable”, explains Richardson.
Even so, “when you’re doing something a little bit ‘woo-woo’ then you need to have a certain amount of credibility behind you” – and that’s where Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew came in.
Kew’s credible fungi
Boasting one of the largest fungi collections on the globe, Kew’s Fungarium holds over 1.25 million dried fungi specimens from seven continents. “These are taxonomically verified specimens, so we can use those verified samples to evaluate what people are using,” explains Monique Simmonds, deputy director of science at Kew.
After helping M&S’s product developers decide which species of mushrooms to use in their products, Simmonds’ team tested their powdered ingredients to ensure they were “good quality”, which isn’t always guaranteed.
“As a plant-based product becomes more popular, that’s often when you’ll get what we term as ‘adulterants’ entering the trade that are potentially toxic,” says Simmonds. “That’s why you need to have this authentication so you can be absolutely sure it’s the right species, and it contains the chemical fingerprints that are associated with good quality.
“For something like lion’s mane, the main emphasis on brain chemistry has been associated with terpenoid compounds. These are compounds that have been shown to have a cognitive effect on neurons in the brain. With reishi there’s a lot of information about its effect on the immune system. Here, you’re often dealing with a group of compounds called polysaccharides.”
Simmonds’ team has confirmed these compounds are indeed present in M&S’s powdered mushroom ingredients. However, the products themselves only contain a very small amount of this verified mushroom powder – presumably to keep costs down and make them taste delicious.
The Yay Mushrooms AM Shot, for instance, contains less than 1% lion’s mane powder in the 100ml portion.
“We worked in conjunction with Monique and her team to identify what we’ve classed as an effective, safe amount that will give you some benefit,” stresses Richardson, adding that one shot is equivalent to eating “five lion’s mane mushrooms” as the powder is “very pure, and potent in terms of bang for your buck”.
M&S’s vague mushroom claims
Even so, the fact there is currently no RDA or government guidance on suitable, safe or effective adaptogenic mushroom levels muddies the waters.
On-pack claims are necessarily vague. The AM Shot features the caption ‘Bring the zing’, while the PM Shot is ‘Absolutely dreamy’. All products feature a statement on the back of pack to say they are not suitable for children, pregnant or breastfeeding women.
“That’s purely because, at M&S, we err on the side of caution,” says Richardson. “It’s not because there’s any evidence that it is damaging.”
Simmonds agrees there is “very little information that is negative”. However, there is still an insufficient body of research to start making specific claims. When asked about taking adaptogenic mushrooms to help with ADHD symptoms, for example, she says “there’s evidence that it would have an effect, but I think you really need to get strong evidence to be able to support that [claim]”.
So, the jury’s still out on whether taking M&S’s mushroom shots will offer any tangible health or wellbeing benefits.
Even so, they’re tasty and “broadly affordable” at £1.60 per 100ml, which is competitive with the broader juice shots category. A little bit of “woo-woo” can’t hurt…
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