Reddit mentions of Host Defense, MyCommunity Capsules, Advanced Immune Support, Mushroom Supplement with Lion’s Mane, Reishi, Vegan, Organic, 120 Capsules (60 Servings)

What are your thoughts on products by Host Defense such as this one? Are these effective products?

I spent some time looking into this awhile back.

Mycelium is part of the mushroom. You would never have fruit bodies without mycelium and fruit bodies are basically just densely layered, laminated mycelium that have started to lose vitality as they move away from active growth and into spore production.

And of course, you can read the label and see that while Host Defense widely uses mycelium, they also include fruitbodies, even in their top product:

https://www.amazon.com/Host-Defense-MyCommunity-Capsules-Mushroom/dp/B002WJ1BZK/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1519140270&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=Host%2Bdefense&th=1

The Amazon reviews are super positive, it seems there are huge numbers of people that love the product - whatever the debate may be about fruit body vs mycelium. And you see their product line everywhere, it seems it is very popular with health food store buyers,

A third party immunology lab also tested their stuff, and the products tested very well:

http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Immune-Benefits-of-Mushroom-Mycelium-Cultured-Substrate-Confirmed-1002362606?op=1

Part of what this research showed is that the mycelium works.... and the rice cultured by the mycelium also works to support the immune system. Rice is often considered a healthy food on its own... and data suggests that mycelium transforms the rice into something even healthier.

This is actually a really cool gateway into understanding the complexity of mushroom organisms. Fruit bodies are great sources of nutrients and the mycelium itself contains many of the same compounds. But why would cultured rice have more immune benefit than plain rice? What is going on?

You have to think about how the organism actually works. Mushrooms are decomposers. They break down organic matter, absorb it and use that energy to grow. As mycelium grows in its environment, it is releasing digestive enzymes from the mycelium.

If you follow Stamets’ work (he creates Host Defense), he is really focused on these enzymes from the mycelium. There are a lot of new compounds found there that appear to be very powerful. His work with the Dept of Defense BioShield program focused on these types of extracts.

And, he’s on to this whole new exploration around mycelium extracts and bees. Washington State University has partnered with Stamets and his team and they are finding that mycelium extracts help reduce viruses in bees and keep them alive longer. They’re only using mycelium extracts, not fruit body!

https://youtu.be/Y_lqIUlON1s

https://news.wsu.edu/2015/02/17/video-can-mushrooms-save-the-honey-bee/

With Host Defense, you get product that is widely used and popular, tested to actually work for immune support and the people that make it have decades of experience and are pushing some really amazing research forward. If you look at the bigger picture, it’s a great choice.

Do you have thyroid gland problems? Reishi can enhance those

and: https://www.amazon.com/Host-Defense-MyCommunity-Comprehensive-Resilient/product-reviews/B002WJ1BZK/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_hist_1?filterByStar=one_star&pageNumber=1

http://www.amazon.com/Host-Defense%C2%AE-MyCommunity%C2%AE-Capsules-Comprehensive/dp/B002WJ1BZK/

These are really surprisingly strong/effective, especially with your recommended amount of vitamin D daily. They've helped me out a ton over the last few years.

Definitely pricy, though. I take them for short periods of time (how mushroom supplements are recommended to be taken anyway). Feel free to read through the reviews for better information.

(This is all in addition to the aforementioned sleep and fluids.)