How Products Were Selected:
Products tested represent those popular among members of ConsumerLab.com and commonly sold and/or available in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers, and direct sales companies. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers.Testing Methods:
Products were tested in one or more independent laboratories for the following:- Identification of polysaccharides (glucans) from Ganoderma lucidum fruiting bodies and mycelium by High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) (USP41-NF36).
- Quantification of fruiting body triterpenoic ganoderic and ganoderenic acids, calculated on the dried basis as a sum of ganoderic acids A, B, C2, D, F, G, and H and ganoderenic acids B, C, and D (USP-DSC 2024).
- Quantification of 1,3:1,6-beta-D-glucan and alpha glucan (Megazyme K-YBGL Revised 09 2025).
- Quantitative analyses of all products for lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS).
ConsumerLab.com may modify or use other appropriate test methods if necessary to test special product formulations.
Identities of products were not disclosed to the laboratories performing the testing.
Passing Score:*
To be "Approved" by ConsumerLab.com, a product must meet the following requirements:
- The HPTLC chromatogram for a product labeled as containing reishi fruiting bodies (including those labeled as "reishi mushroom" or as "reishi" with no description of parts) or mycelium must be consistent with the respective HPTLC profile for reishi mushroom polysaccharides (Ganoderma lucidum) fruiting body or mycelium.
- A reishi fruiting body product, excluding extracts, must provide at least 0.3% triterpenoic ganoderic and ganoderenic acids (as defined above) by USP-DSC HPLC methodology. Extracts in which less than 0.3% is found will be noted.
- A product claiming to contain reishi fruiting body must provide 1,3:1,6-beta-D-glucans at an amount no less than 10% of the listed amount of fruiting body (Sari, Food Chem 2017), or 20% if an extract (AOAC 2016), and a minimum of 100% of any labeled amount of 1,3:1,6- beta-D-glucan. If the product claims more fruiting body than mycelial mass, product must provide more 1,3:1,6-beta-D-glucan than alpha-glucan.
- A product claiming to contain reishi mycelium powder must provide 1,3:1,6-beta-D-glucan at an amount no less than 1% of the listed amount of mycelium, and a minimum of 100% of any labeled amount of beta-D-glucan (AOAC 2016).
- Heavy Metals: Products must not exceed the following limits:
Lead:- Products marketed for use by children under 12 years of age or by pregnant or nursing women may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving with an additional allowance of 0.8 mcg if the product contains more than 1,000 mg/day of calcium.
- Products with a single serving weight of less than 5 grams that are not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving (above which a warning regarding reproductive harm, birth defects, or cancer risks is required in California) with an additional allowance of 0.4 mcg if containing 250-999 mg/day of any combination of elemental calcium, magnesium and potassium or 0.8 mcg if containing more than 1,000 mg/day of any combination of these minerals. An additional allowance of 0.5 mcg is provided if containing 250-999 mg/day of whole herb (not extract) or 1.0 mcg if containing 1000 mg/day or more of whole herb (not extract). However, total lead allowance must not exceed 2 mcg per daily serving.
- Products with single serving weights of 5 grams or more that are not marketed for children under 12 years of age may not exceed 2.5 mcg per serving nor 4.0 mcg per daily serving.
- If marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 3.0 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (based on Canada's limit for a child weighing 75lbs). If not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 4.1 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (above which California's Prop 65 law requires a "reproductive harm" warning due to developmental toxicity and male reproductive harm).
- Contain less than 10 micrograms of total arsenic per daily serving (based on Canada’s limit per daily serving of a natural health product, and U.S. EPA and state of New Jersey limit in 1 liter of water). Products found to exceed this amount were tested for inorganic arsenic and must not contain more than 2.1 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per daily serving (Canada's additional limit in natural health products).
- May not exceed 2 micrograms of inorganic mercury per daily serving (based on EPA limit for mercury in 1 liter of water).
- Be in compliance with FDA labeling requirements.
* Passing scores allow for specific margins of technical error associated with each analysis. ConsumerLab.com reserves the right to disqualify a product at any time from passing its testing if it considers such product to display unacceptable variation in quality, present a safety risk or to provide misleading or inaccurate information in its labeling.
