When you think of a fungus, typically, nerve repair is the furthest thing from your mind; however, Lion’s Mane mushrooms have a long history of use in traditional Chinese medicine. These mushrooms were a tonic to support heart health, promote digestion, and increase longevity.
Now, in modern times, due to extensive research done on this unique-looking mushroom, Lion’s Mane plays a unique role in supporting brain and peripheral nerve health.
What is Lion’s Mane?
The scientific name for Lion’s Mane is Hericium (hare-rhi-see-um) Erinaceus (Eri-nashous), sometimes pronounced Eri-nay-see-us.
Lion’s mane mushroom, also known as Yamabushitake or Monkey Head Mushroom, is well known for its unique appearance. It’s large, white, and shaggy, resembling a Lion’s Mane with a long-standing history of medicinal uses throughout the ages.
As early as 450 BCE, the Greek Physician Hippocrates identified this mushroom and others as potent anti-inflammatory agents.
What are Lion’s Mane Health Benefits?
Lion’s Mane provides various benefits, including improving your nerve’s health. Some of these benefits include:
- Reduces inflammation and oxidation
- Promotes neurite outgrowth and myelin repair
- Protects peripheral nerves, the brain, and spinal cord from damage
- Improves mental clarity and cognition
- Protects against mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease
- Boosts the immune system
- Promotes gut health by protecting against gastric ulcers and gastritis
- Enhances the quality of sleep
- Improves mood
One of the most remarkable aspects of this mighty mushroom is its ability to stimulate nerve growth factor (or NGF), which orchestrates the growth, maintenance, and repair of nerve cells. The stimulation allows Lion’s Mane to play a pivotal role in nerve protection and growth.
How Does Lion’s Mane Help the Nervous System?
Lion’s Mane mushrooms have been studied extensively because of their neurodegenerative properties. Studies have uncovered its ability to reverse the effects of nerve injuries and damage in the peripheral and central nervous systems, which are your brain and spinal cord.
Lion’s Mane’s ability to reach the brain is thanks to its main components, hericenones and erinacines. Both of these easily cross the blood-brain barrier to boost the production of new healthy neurons, also known as Neurogenesis.
Protects from Oxidative Stress
Lion’s Mane provides nerve protection through its rich source of beta-glucans and oligosaccharides, which serve as powerful antioxidants that shield nerves from oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress and inflammation can cause damage to peripheral nerves and neurons in the brain over time, leading to peripheral neuropathy and neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system like M.S., Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Cerebral Ataxia, and many more.
Furthermore, unlike complex carbohydrates found in grains, oligosaccharides act as prebiotics for your gut, improving gut health. They also improve glucose tolerance and can aid in reducing blood sugar levels.
Rebuilds the Myelin Sheath
The myelin sheath is the protective coating around your nerves, including those in the brain and spinal cord. Like electrical wires transmitting signals in your body, the myelin sheath is the insulation around your nerve. Its job is to help the electrical signals travel smoothly and quickly along the nerve.
When the myelin sheath is damaged, the insulation is worn or stripped away. Without proper insulation, the electrical signals in your nerves can become slower or weaker and get mixed up or distorted.
These mix-ups can result in bizarre symptoms like shock-like pain and burning sensations. Or, the signals get lost along the way, resulting in symptoms like numbness. This destruction of the myelin is called demyelination–common in peripheral neuropathy and multiple sclerosis.
Research revealed that Lion’s Mane has demonstrated the ability to promote remyelination of the nerves. This is a significant finding because most sensory neuropathies and hereditary neuropathies involve myelin damage.
How Does Lion’s Mane Help Blood Flow?
Lion’s Mane also protects your nerves from damage caused by ischemia. Ischemia is a condition where blood flow is restricted or reduced in a part of your body, resulting in decreased oxygen and nutrients.
Ischemia can cause nerve damage because your peripheral nerves depend on sufficient blood flow to receive the vital nutrients necessary for proper function.
Medical conditions that can cause ischemia are:
- Coronary artery disease (hardening or plaquing of the arteries)
- Diabetes
- Peripheral arterial disease
- Chronic kidney disease
- High blood pressure
- Obstructive sleep apnea
Even smoking and vaping have been found to result in ischemia.
How Much Lion’s Mane Do I Need?
Research has shown that you need between 500-1000 mg daily to repair the peripheral nerves. However, for neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system like Alzheimer’s, MS, or Parkinson’s, you’ll need to take up to 3000 mg daily.
When dealing with peripheral neuropathy specifically, Lion’s Mane is extremely helpful but requires additional help when repairing nerve damage.
Dr. Coppola and Dr. Monteiro did a trial run to see how well 1000 mg of Lion’s Mane performed independently without the other critical nutrients. They found that, although Lion’s Mane showed benefit with peripheral neuropathy, it wasn’t potent enough to stand alone and potentiate maximum nerve repair and regeneration.
How Much Lion’s Man is in Nuphoria cm Gold?
While 1000mg is beneficial, Dr. Coppola and Dr. Monteiro chose to use a little over 500 mg of Lion’s Mane in our new formula instead of the total 1000 mg.
The first reason is that Nuphoria cm Gold has other critical nutrients in this formula, like R-alpha lipoic acid, Methylcobalamin, Benfotiamine, P5P, and folate, synergistically elevating the therapeutic effect. When they added Lion’s Mane, however, the results drastically improved.
The second reason is that higher doses of Lion’s Mane can act as a blood thinner. Dr. Coppola and Dr. Monteiro know many of their patients are on anticoagulant or blood-thinning medications. To ensure their safety, they decided to make sure it wouldn’t cause adverse effects with the medication.
Staying safely under one thousand milligrams did not create further blood thinning issues for these patients. They monitored PT-INR levels for an extended period to make sure there would be no problems.
Struggling with Neuropathy?
Book a consultation with one of America’s leading experts in peripheral neuropathy. Dr. Coppola and Dr. Monteiro have worked with neuropathy patients for almost 20 years and conduct seminars to help patients and doctors improve and reverse neuropathy.
To schedule an appointment, visit nuphoria.com or call our customer service representatives at (844)400-0101. They are available Mondays through Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm EST.
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